Our Staff

When it comes to facilitation expertise and the design-and-delivery of teamwork and leadership learning for the most demanding and results-driven of senior corporate teams — who are additionally facing the challenge of being comprised of diverse nationalities — the name Rob Davies stands out as the “complete professional facilitator,” both in Thailand and the Asian region.

Rob is a 46-year old Canadian, completely fluent in English and Thai, which he uses interchangeably and seamlessly in his seminars and workshops. For more than 15 years, Rob has designed and facilitated programs for more than 160 Fortune-500 companies (see a partial list below), plus dozens of embassies and UN organizations, which have reached participants from more than 70 different nationalities. Outside of Thailand, he has facilitated and guided teams in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam. His signature offsite programs are steeped in accelerated learning design. They are unconventional, playful, and – always – highly results-oriented. The things people learn really stick.

Apart from leading hundreds of workshops in Cross-Cultural Management and Teamwork, Rob has several advanced qualifications to tackle complex leadership challenges. He initially polished his ability to understand and later explain cultural differences within an organization after having worked for Thai bosses as a young Canadian in Asia, and then, as a trainee-colleague of Dr. Henry Holmes (author of “Working with the Thais”). Rob also has earned a BEd in Adult Education from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada; has Certification as a Master Coach from the Behavioral Coaching Institute (BCI) Graduate School of California, USA; a Qualification in Team Simulation-Game Design from N.A.S.A.G.A.; Certification with Belbin Team Roles™ and TKI Conflict-Management Assessments™; and is also a thoroughly versed practitioner of DiSC™ Communication and Leadership Tools.

Why is this rich background of knowledge and skills so important to our clients? It means they can look to Rob and Cross-Cultural Management Company to tackle and highly-tailor team learning to a host of topics. A few examples: Reducing and managing internal conflict amongst culturally-diverse leadership teams; Becoming a better change-equipped and more customer-centric team; ‘East-west’ leadership style adjustment, to effectively motivate and manage performance; How to struggle (and succeed) with virtual, geographically dispersed team dynamics; and M&A national and organizational culture integration in the Asian region.

Personally, Rob enjoys ocean kayaking and triathlon-distance cycling, running and mountain biking. He describes his biggest cross-cultural challenge and passion in life to be the raising of his two bi-lingual, bi-cultural Thai-Canadian kids in his adopted home town of Hua-Hin, Thailand.

Seasoned Professional Staff

Cross-Cultural Management’s team consists of eight professional senior trainers and consultants , representing six nationalities, all of whom are bilingual or trilingual. They are backed by three skillful support staff.
Here are some bio-data bits about our facilitators and trainers:

• A Harvard graduate, with a doctorate in Anthropology and co-author of the essential guide to managing in Thailand, WORKING WITH THE THAIS, plus two other books, and many newspaper articles in Thai and English, for Thais who work with foreigners.
• A Thai national, with Thai-Irish parentage, holds a PhD in Economics. He is, naturally, fluent in both English and Thai.
• A Frenchman who has lived in Thailand since 1970, and for 8 years a former senior manager at Bangkok’s Regent Hotel/ He speaks Thai so well that he has starred in over 70 Thai soap operas.
• An Indonesian with a recent Ph.D. in rural development, who has successfully worked with Westerners for over 15 years in international companies and NGOs.
• With over 20 years of experience at senior management levels, this Thai woman is the Executive Director of a foreign Chamber of Commerce.
• An American, bi-lingual (of course), with an MA In Southeast Asian History, has served a a senior consultant for an international book company. He’s a specialist on both English and Thai languages and cultures. And he speaks Chinese.
• A Canadian, arriving in Thailand when he was 18, has been living here for over half his life and has a deep understanding of rural Thailand where he spent five years. His training innovations and skills at facilitating are renowned in the region.
• This Thai professor, with a US PhD, regularly appears on national media as the Thailand’s top expert in American politics.
• An American who speaks Chinese and Thai fluently, spent his teenage years in the Philippines, then moved to China before completing an MA in Southeast Asian History.

“Your coaching on leadership models that work — and more importantly those that don’t work — within Thai working culture –was very valuable.”
– – Bosch & Siemens, Home Appliances