What do migrants choose to take with them when they leave their homes and families forever – to help remind them of the life and the people they left behind? (I picked up this from www.globaldimensions.org.uk an online resource  promoting global learning)

In Memento, a moving two-part documentary broadcast on 2nd October, the BBC meets four refugees in Britain who had to make that tough choice. For Fazli, an Afghan child refugee, it’s a pen given to him by his father. And for Fungayi, a political activist from Zimbabwe, it’s an mbira – a traditional musical instrument that reminds him of better times. They tell their stories through the keepsakes, or mementos, they treasure most. Find out more, and listen to the programmes at the BBC World Service website.

Ingenuity, innovation and invention are words to use in connection with the efforts people in Africa have made in their use of recycled materials. Read the New Internationalist’s ‘Majority World Blog’ to see how much can be done with so little. It includes some great pictures of recycled products and links to websites for further info. Definitely worth a look – then go on to the home page and bookmark it as a major site for blogs from all over the world.

Making us laugh with his ‘Pollyannaism‘ (people who only look on the brightside) and ‘Eyorism‘ (people who only see obstacles), Dr Dick McCann gave a very insightful keynote session on the Dynamics of High Performing Teams at the Conference on High Performing Global Teams.  Bringing into focus the recent financial crisis, he compared the failure of many teams that, until recently, would have been thought of as high performing…

With a wealth of quotes and references from other notable interculturalists, Peter Franklin’s session on ‘Mindfulness: what it has to do with language use in effective international teams’  was ‘education on tap’ and introduced us to many  concepts and models that endeavour to explain what makes effective communication in international teams.

Explaining that the concept of Mindfulness was adopted from the one introduced by Ellen Langer in 1989, Peter then discussed global competencies as discussed by Kuhlman and Stahl (1998).  The main message of the presentation was about how you should consciously create understanding within global teams and that the building of meaning needs to happen on the same ‘construction site’. Other concepts introduced are examined in the book, The Mindful Manager, that Peter co-authored with Jeremy Comfort.

“You can’t fix a problem in Iraq with an 8,000 mile-long screwdriver!” proclaimed Terry Brake in his session on collaboration in virtual teams, at the Conference on High Performing Global Teams. I’d never met Terry before but am a fan of his work – and just like his books – his session was filled with insights and practical information. As he described, no longer do we have a simple ‘work place’ but agile ‘workwebs’ that are virtual and protean. And, a global virtual team consisting of  people distributed across time and space, whose task it is to collaborate, is a form of this. Terry’s session focused on his integrated set of virtual team perfomance indicators…

A serious topic, but Fons Trompenaars had us laughing, smiling and entertained in his usual inimitable fashion during his keynote address at the conference for High Perfoming Global Teams held in York, UK, last week. His main message to the audience was that creative individuals are a necessary but not sufficient part of a team for it to be effective. High performing teams need not only a diversity of roles but in particular leadership where the dilemmas between these roles are reconciled. This is the role of the Servant-Leader, reconciler-in-chief. However, his debunking of Michael Porter’s ‘Added-Value’ concept was interesting …

With sessions by Dr Fons Trompenaars and Dr Dick McCann to start off each day at the international conference on High Performing Global Teams, I knew I was going to be in for a treat.  The conference, organised by Jeremy Comfort (York Associates) and Dr Peter Franklin (Dialogin), was such an outstanding success that delegates asked for it to be extended to three days next year. A line up of ‘who’s who’ in the intercultural and team working fields ensured that there were some key practices to be shared and new thinking to be learned. Whether you were a business person, practitioner in the field, trainer, academic or researcher, there was something for everyone. For those who missed it – make sure you don’t next year!

The Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (literally ‘Head of the Year’) marks the first and second days of the Jewish New Year. It is also the Day of Judgement and the Day of Remembrance. It’s a time for some serious thought about life and a chance to ask questions about your actions throughout the year.

Find out more about Rosh Hashanah.

Chusok Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday in South Korea.

The Chusok Harvest festival is one of the most important festivals in throughout the world, whatever culture or religion it might be, or however it is named; Thanksgiving in America, Pongal in India and Chusok in Korea. This festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth Lunar month of every Lunar year. Let us see more about the Festival of Chusok, its Legacy, its rituals and what it means to the people of that culture.

Find out more about the Chusok Festival in South Korea

I was recently sent this photo taken by Jules Hersman which I have named The Colours of Diversity.  What occasion it is and where it was taken, unfortunatley, I do not know. I just smiled when I saw it. A Google search has not enabled me to find Jules Hersman though I did find reference to a voluntary worker of the same name.  Are you out there Mr. Hersman? I’d love to hear from you and the story behind the photo.