Only when understanding the lived-in world of your culturally different colleagues or partners you´ll be able to cooperate and create business successfully.
I support individuals, corporate teams and families with a variety of well-designed training and coaching programs.
Business professionals – both from Indonesia and foreign countries – learn to overcome daily misunderstandings. You discover how to communicate and cooperate successfully with your teammates or partners from different cultures and create a thriving cross-cultural team work or partnership.
Expat families find out how to create a new temporary home in Indonesia and to settle in with ease in the new cultural environment.
From all my programs you gain long-term personal benefit: Living, learning and working with people from different cultures enriches your life and – not least – is fun. I support you in applying skills that make your cross-cultural experience successful, inspiring and deeply satisfying.
To achieve this I work with lots of techniques that help to apply new knowledge and skills easily. I stimulate learning processes also by using Brain Gym© exercises that make my training and coaching sessions a unique experience.
Hello, my name is Silke Irmscher and I am your expert for intercultural cooperation in Indonesia. Originally from Germany, I have lived and worked in Indonesia for more than 15 years and know the country and its people very well. I was part of successful diverse teams as well as groups that suffered from complicated communication across cultural borders. Since 2012, I have shared my intercultural experiences with others: enriched with academic knowledge and professionally prepared by using practice-tested skills.
I graduated in Business Management (BA) and Communication Psychology (MA) and also completed a University based certification for Intercultural Trainer. I am fluent in German, English and Bahasa Indonesia and able to conduct training and coaching in any of these languages.
In the past I researched about Javanese culture, organized cultural programs for the Goethe-Institute Jakarta and worked many years for the development aid program of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) in different regions of Indonesia.
Today I live in Jogja together with my Indonesian husband and our 2 children. Our family unites at least 2 cultures and we speak in 3, sometimes 4 different languages. I would not want to miss cultural exchange in my life. I practice it daily in my extended Javanese family, with uncountable neighbors, many expat friends, and colleagues from all over the world.
I really enjoyed your cross-cultural training workshop. As someone who has already had many multicultural experiences, it still opened my eyes to some issues and it was refreshing to see it in a different light.
Alicia B., University of Melbourne/Australia
about an Introductory Training to Indonesia
I found the cross-cultural training delivered by Silke most useful. I would recommend to every newcomer to Indonesia to have this session in the first weeks of the arrival, so that they can get the most out of it.
Tanuja, Danone Indonesia
about a Welcome Training to Indonesia in 2017
Excellent training, thanks! This should be mandatory for all foreigners working in Indonesia.
Sandra B. from Germany, Siemens Indonesia
about a 1-day Intercultural Training Indonesia
I had the pleasure to work together with Silke in a 1:1 coaching that aims at supporting professionals working in an intercultural context. She not only knew how to guide me in order to understand what lies behind the cultural problems I face, but also how to improve my self-awareness and to develop my own approach for working successfully in a diverse environment. I also benefited very much from her practical tips to communicate more precisely in Bahasa Indonesia. Thank you!
Julia Baur
President Director at German Centre Jakarta, 2017
State of the art contents, very good methods and a highly competent trainer that responds excellently to the needs of the participants. Top!
Richard G. from Germany
about a 2-days Indonesia introduction training, July 2018
Thank you once again for the very exciting days that have given us a lot of (thought-provoking) input. I’m so (!) glad that I have become clear through you that I should ask as much as possible (and that this is not considered impolite – as in Germany). In this way I have learned so much from my colleagues. Who knows, without the workshop I probably would have been classified as very arrogant (since we Germans are still very used to respecting the privacy of others and not exceeding certain “limits”, especially in the office,). Now everyone here knows, I believe, that I am the second of four children – haha, I never thought that this question really would be asked so often!
F. Ochsenfeld, BORDA South East Asia
about an Intercultural Introductory Training to Indonesia, 2012
Dear Silke Irmscher, I found the realization very qualified, friendly and target oriented responding to the group´s needs. Intercultural seminars are an essential element of our concept for the ‘Weltwärts-Bremen’ volunteer support service and you realized this concept in an excellent and creative way.
Dr. Fritz Heidorn, econtur Bremen/Germany
about an Intercultural Seminar for German Weltwärts-volunteers and their mentors from Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, 2013
In my opinion Silke´s intercultural training is a very important one that helps us to understand situations that we face day to day. The most important information I received was “the other side of the coin”-perception which means to understand how we are perceived by the local culture. It gives me confidence and support to see that there are many situations that can be changed if we manage to “turn on” the switch, obviously with bi-lateral effort.
Luis S., Tenaris SPIJ
about an Introductory Training to Indonesia for Expat-managers
The participants of the first course held by Silke Irmscher were positively engaged and well-stimulated in the discussions on cultural differences and similarities. The outcome of the course module shows that the participating staff members were made aware that eventually perceived cultural differences are a matter that are important to be clarified and communicated.
Mira Zakaria, GIZ Indonesia and Timor Leste
about an Intercultural Introductory Course for all new employees, 2013
In one word: it was great, very interesting and totally matched my (high!!) expectations!
Lamine M. from France
about an Indonesia introduction training, May 2018
