What makes people enjoy working together? Shared ambitions, interesting challenges and colleagues they can rely on all play a part. But in an international team, there is another important ingredient: the ability to understand different perspectives and use them to strengthen collaboration.
That was the focus of a team-building day at Fort bij Vechten for the Renewables & Energy Storage team at AFRY Netherlands, home to AFRY’s Global Offshore Wind Competence Center.
For Mazzi-Inc., it was a welcome reunion. After a highly appreciated Cultural Awareness workshop in 2025, AFRY invited us back to take the next step: building on awareness to develop stronger intercultural collaboration.
Context: investing in people and collaboration
AFRY operates in an international environment where professionals collaborate across borders on complex energy projects. Within the Renewables & Energy Storage team, colleagues bring different backgrounds, experiences and areas of expertise to their work.
Like many organisations in technically specialised sectors, AFRY faces the challenge of attracting qualified professionals. Investing in an environment where people feel connected, valued and motivated is therefore equally important.
The team-building day reflected this commitment. It offered colleagues an opportunity to strengthen relationships, exchange experiences and continue developing together.
The previous workshop had introduced Cultural Awareness: recognising how our own values, assumptions and experiences influence the way we interpret other people's behaviour. The enthusiastic response created a natural opportunity to build on that foundation.
The opportunity: turning different perspectives into a team strength
Even when colleagues share the same professional goals, they may have different ideas about how to achieve them.
Consider ownership. For one person, taking responsibility means acting independently and making decisions. For another, it means consulting colleagues, aligning expectations and involving others before taking action.
Both approaches can reflect commitment and professionalism. Yet without understanding the reasoning behind them, people may interpret the same behaviour very differently.
Similar differences can arise around hierarchy, communication and decision-making. They are shaped not only by national cultures, but also by professional expertise, organisational experience and personal backgrounds.
The opportunity is not to eliminate these differences, but to make better use of them.
That requires more than recognising that other perspectives exist. It requires perspective taking: the ability to explore how another person sees a situation, question our own assumptions and consider alternative interpretations.
For AFRY, the workshop offered an opportunity to strengthen these capabilities within an already engaged and enthusiastic team.
Mazzi-Inc.'s approach: from awareness to perspective taking
Building on the previous training, Mazzi-Inc. designed an interactive workshop that encouraged participants to explore different perspectives through dialogue, reflection and shared experiences.
Trainer Laura invited colleagues to reflect on insights from the first session and connect them to their experiences of working in an international environment.
The cultural iceberg was one of the tools used to explore how values, beliefs and personal experiences influence visible behaviour. More importantly, it provided a starting point for conversations about the different perspectives colleagues bring to the team.
These conversations were not just about understanding cultural differences. They encouraged participants to look beyond their own interpretations, ask questions and become genuinely curious about one another's experiences and expertise.
An essential condition for this is psychological safety: an environment in which people feel comfortable sharing their views, asking questions and expressing uncertainty without fear of embarrassment or negative judgement.
Laura encouraged open exchange and adapted the workshop to the questions and experiences participants brought into the discussion. This created room for colleagues to share personal insights and explore different ways of seeing familiar situations.
This reflects Mazzi-Inc.'s approach to developing intercultural skills. Rather than teaching fixed rules about cultural behaviour, we help people practise curiosity, perspective taking and conscious reflection on their own assumptions.
These capabilities enable teams to move beyond simply acknowledging differences and start using different perspectives constructively.
The impact: engagement, openness and new insights
The positive atmosphere of AFRY's team-building day was clearly reflected in the workshop.
Participants were highly engaged, contributing personal experiences, questions and insights. The discussions offered opportunities to discover more about colleagues' backgrounds, perspectives and ways of thinking.
The feedback from participants was very positive. They particularly appreciated the opportunity to exchange experiences, better understand their colleagues and connect the learning to their international working environment.
One participant captured the value of the experience:
"The team being invited to share quite personal things, leading to valuable insights."
AFRY's management team also expressed its appreciation for the workshop, particularly Laura's flexibility and her ability to respond to the group's interests and contributions.
Roeland Steenhuis, Head of Renewables & Energy Storage Netherlands, reflects on the experience:
"After a successful training last year, we asked Mazzi-Inc. back to deepen the topic even more. The team enjoyed discussing each other's 'cultural icebergs', mapping values and beliefs behind behavior, as a framework to understand cultural differences in international collaboration. As AFRY Global Offshore Wind Competence Center we collaborate with colleagues and clients globally, so besides being a lot of fun the training was packed with insights to apply in our daily work."
The combination of learning, personal exchange and team building made the workshop both enjoyable and meaningful.
Looking ahead: putting intercultural skills into practice
The AFRY experience illustrates that investing in collaboration is valuable not only when teams face difficulties, but also when organisations want to build on existing strengths.
Cultural awareness helps people recognise how different frames of reference influence behaviour. Perspective taking enables them to explore those differences more deeply. And psychological safety creates the conditions for sharing perspectives openly and learning from one another.
The next step is translating these capabilities into everyday interactions.
Laura will return to AFRY for a follow-up session focused on giving and receiving feedback in an international working environment. This will provide another opportunity to explore how different communication styles and expectations influence collaboration.
For AFRY, the journey continues: from recognising differences to developing the skills that help colleagues understand one another, communicate effectively and work together across cultures.
Thank you to the AFRY team for your openness, curiosity and enthusiastic participation. We look forward to continuing the conversation!
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