Developing Intercultural Competence - Part II

Summary

This script discusses the importance of intercultural competence in enhancing workplace effectiveness and personal relationships. It emphasizes recognizing diverse backgrounds and values in individuals, which leads to different perspectives and behaviors. The speaker shares insights on how understanding and navigating these differences can lead to better communication and innovation. Strategies for developing intercultural skills, such as self-awareness and asking questions, are highlighted as crucial for managers to create inclusive environments that foster creativity and productivity.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Intercultural competence is crucial for recognizing and respecting the diverse backgrounds, experiences, values, and beliefs of individuals in any interaction.
• 🤝 Developing intercultural competence enhances workplace effectiveness by allowing individuals to navigate and engage with diverse perspectives more adeptly.
• 👥 Cultural self-awareness involves understanding one's own values and behaviors, which is foundational for appreciating and interacting with others' cultural norms.
• 🐸 The metaphor of 'the fish not knowing the water' illustrates how we often overlook our cultural context until we develop intercultural competence.
• 💡 Intercultural competence can lead to innovative solutions by fostering an environment where diverse ideas and perspectives can be openly shared and challenged.
• 🗣️ Effective communication, especially asking the right questions, is a skill enhanced by intercultural competence, leading to deeper understanding and stronger relationships.
• 👩‍💼 As a manager, understanding and valuing the unique recognition preferences of each team member can lead to a more inclusive and motivated team.
• 📈 Recognition and inclusion are key components of a workplace culture that values diversity and can contribute to higher employee engagement.
• 🔍 Continuous learning and self-reflection are essential for developing and maintaining intercultural competence.
• 🌟 Intercultural competence is not just a 'nice to have' skill; it's becoming a critical competency for future workforce success and innovation.

Q & A

What is intercultural competence?

Intercultural competence is the ability to recognize and understand that every individual comes from different backgrounds, experiences, values, and beliefs, which shape their perspectives. It involves being in tune with one's own behaviors and values and comparing them with others to navigate effectively in diverse environments.

How does developing intercultural competence help in the workplace?

Developing intercultural competence helps in the workplace by allowing individuals to understand and appreciate different perspectives, which is crucial for effective communication and collaboration. It aids in managing and navigating diverse teams, fostering inclusion, and enhancing innovation.

What is the importance of cultural self-awareness?

Cultural self-awareness is important because it helps individuals understand their own values, beliefs, and behaviors. This awareness allows them to recognize how they might unknowingly project their own cultural norms onto others and adjust their approach accordingly.

Can you provide an example of how cultural differences might manifest in the workplace?

Yes, an example given in the script is the concept of recognition in the workplace. Different team members may have different preferences for how they like to be recognized for their work, such as public praise or a private note, reflecting their cultural backgrounds and personal values.

How can a manager effectively manage a diverse team?

A manager can effectively manage a diverse team by first gaining self-awareness of their own values and beliefs, then taking the time to understand each team member's preferences and needs. Regular check-ins, maintaining open communication, and being adaptable to changes over time are also crucial.

What role does intercultural competence play in innovation?

Intercultural competence plays a key role in innovation by fostering an environment where diverse ideas and perspectives can be openly shared and challenged. This leads to the creation of new and innovative solutions, as innovation often arises at the intersections of diverse cultures.

Why is it beneficial to develop intercultural skills?

Developing intercultural skills is beneficial as it enhances one's ability to communicate effectively, understand and value diversity, manage teams more effectively, and contribute to a more innovative and inclusive workplace.

How can intercultural competence improve relationships with colleagues?

Intercultural competence can improve relationships with colleagues by fostering a deeper understanding of each other's values and perspectives, leading to more effective communication, increased empathy, and a more inclusive work environment.

What are some strategies for developing intercultural competence?

Some strategies for developing intercultural competence include self-reflection to understand one's own cultural biases, engaging in open dialogues with people from different backgrounds, seeking out diverse experiences, and continuously learning about other cultures.

How can an organization support the development of intercultural competence among its employees?

An organization can support the development of intercultural competence by providing training programs, encouraging diversity and inclusion initiatives, creating opportunities for cross-cultural exchanges, and fostering a culture that values and respects different perspectives.

What is the connection between intercultural competence and effective questioning?

Intercultural competence enhances the ability to ask effective questions by fostering curiosity and a desire to understand different perspectives. This leads to more insightful and empathetic questioning, which can uncover deeper understanding and promote innovative thinking.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Developing Intercultural Competence

The paragraph discusses the importance of developing intercultural competence to be more effective in various social settings, especially in the workplace. It emphasizes recognizing that every individual comes from a unique background with different values, beliefs, and perspectives. The speaker uses the analogy of 'water' to describe how culture is often unnoticed but pervasive in our interactions. The speaker also shares their personal journey of developing intercultural confidence, which has allowed them to better understand and navigate conflicts and challenges in a cultural context. An example is given about how different people may value different forms of recognition, highlighting the need for understanding individual preferences within a cultural framework.

05:02

🤝 Managing Diversity in the Workplace

This paragraph explores how to manage a diverse team, emphasizing the need for self-awareness and understanding one's own values and beliefs around recognition. The speaker suggests getting to know each team member individually, possibly through surveys or one-on-one meetings, to understand their preferences for recognition. The importance of maintaining and updating this understanding over time is highlighted, as preferences can change. The speaker also discusses how developing intercultural skills can improve one's ability to ask questions and engage in conversations that lead to better understanding and innovation within a team.

10:02

💡 The Link Between Intercultural Competence and Innovation

The final paragraph connects intercultural competence with the concept of innovation. It argues that to foster an innovative environment, it's crucial to create a space where diversity is valued and individuals can contribute their unique ideas and experiences. The speaker mentions that innovation often arises at the intersection of different cultures and perspectives. The paragraph also touches on how intercultural competence can help in achieving workplace goals related to continuous improvement and innovation. The speaker encourages ongoing learning and engagement with the topic, suggesting that there are many benefits and reasons to develop intercultural competence.

Keywords

💡Intercultural Competence

Intercultural competence refers to the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations. It involves recognizing and understanding different cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors. In the video's context, it is highlighted as essential for effective communication in the workplace and building relationships. The speaker mentions that recognizing everyone's unique backgrounds and perspectives is key to developing this competence.

💡Cultural Self-Awareness

Cultural self-awareness is the understanding of one's own cultural identity and how it influences one's behavior and values. The video emphasizes the importance of this awareness as a foundation for intercultural competence. The speaker uses the metaphor of 'the fish not knowing the water' to illustrate how we might be unaware of our own cultural norms until they are pointed out.

💡Recognition

Recognition in the script refers to acknowledging and valuing the contributions and expertise of individuals in a team or workplace setting. It is tied to the concept of intercultural competence because recognizing others effectively requires understanding their cultural preferences for acknowledgment. The speaker gives an example of how public praise might be appreciated by some but not by others, indicating a need for cultural understanding.

💡Inclusion

Inclusion is the act of involving and valuing all team members, including their unique perspectives and contributions. It is closely related to intercultural competence as it requires understanding and respecting different cultural backgrounds. The speaker mentions that valuing uniqueness is a part of inclusion, which is essential for creating a diverse and innovative environment.

💡Values and Beliefs

Values and beliefs are the principles and standards that guide an individual's behavior and decision-making. In the video, understanding one's own values and beliefs is emphasized as a critical step in developing intercultural competence. The speaker suggests that recognizing these personal values helps in navigating cultural differences effectively.

💡Behaviors

Behaviors refer to the actions and reactions of individuals, which can be influenced by their cultural background. The video script discusses how different behaviors might be deemed valuable or effective in different cultures. Understanding these behaviors is crucial for effective intercultural communication.

💡Diversity

Diversity in the context of the video refers to the variety of characteristics among individuals, including race, ethnicity, culture, and perspectives. The speaker argues that diversity is a key ingredient for innovation and should be paired with intercultural competence to foster an environment where everyone can contribute to creative problem-solving.

💡Innovation

Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. The video script connects innovation with intercultural competence, suggesting that diverse perspectives and cultural understanding can lead to new and creative solutions. The speaker references 'The Medici Effect' as a resource that supports this idea.

💡Curiosity

Curiosity is the desire to learn or know something. In the video, the speaker highlights curiosity as an important attitude for developing intercultural competence. By being curious and asking questions, one can better understand others' cultural backgrounds and perspectives, leading to more effective communication and problem-solving.

💡Coaching Conversation

A coaching conversation is a dialogue that aims to help individuals explore their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to achieve personal and professional growth. The video script mentions that asking questions out of curiosity can lead to coaching conversations, which can be beneficial in understanding cultural nuances and fostering a supportive work environment.

💡Projection

Projection is the act of attributing one's own feelings, beliefs, or attitudes to someone else. The speaker warns against projecting one's own values and beliefs onto others, especially in a diverse team. Understanding and respecting the differences is crucial for effective management and communication in a multicultural setting.

Highlights

Intercultural competence involves recognizing and understanding the diverse backgrounds, experiences, values, and beliefs that individuals bring to interactions.

Being in tune with one's own behaviors, values, and comparing them with others is pivotal for effective communication.

Culture can be likened to water or air, often unnoticed but always present and influencing interactions.

Cultural self-awareness is about realizing what we don't know because we navigate our culture so well.

Developing intercultural confidence allows one to see challenges through a cultural lens and find solutions.

Recognition in the workplace is valued differently; understanding these differences is crucial for effective management.

Different individuals have unique ways they prefer to be recognized, which can impact their feelings of value.

As a manager, it's important to spend time gaining self-awareness and understanding the values and preferences of your team.

Organizations can facilitate self-surveys during onboarding to understand how new employees prefer to be recognized.

Preferences for recognition can change over time, requiring ongoing dialogue and relationship maintenance.

Developing intercultural skills helps in knowing what questions to ask and paying attention to team relationships.

Intercultural competence is linked to innovation, as diversity and inclusion are key drivers of creative problem-solving.

Innovation often occurs at the intersections of diverse cultures and ideas.

Intercultural competence is essential for creating an environment where everyone can contribute to innovation.

The ability to ask questions and navigate culturally sensitive topics is a skill that comes from intercultural competence development.

Intercultural competence is beneficial for improving workplace dynamics and fostering innovation.

Strategies for developing intercultural competence include self-reflection, understanding team values, and maintaining ongoing dialogue.

Transcripts

so one question that comes to mind is

how does intercultural are developed

developing intercultural competence help

me be more effective in my workplace or

with the relationships that I have with

folks in general absolutely I think

something that's very key and kind of

building upon our conversation of what

is intercultural competence is really

recognizing and that every individual

that you are engaging with whether

that's in the workplace you know the

classroom studying right even out

day-to-day you know in our daily lives

that everybody really is coming at

whatever activity experience with very

different backgrounds different

experiences different values beliefs and

those really produce different

perspectives so you know even as folks

approach you know the same kind of

concept or topic which I'll give you an

example in just a moment

likely the behaviors at which they would

deem is valuable right or effective

could likely look very different from

your own and that's why being in tune

with you know kind of your own behaviors

and values and then being able to kind

of compare and contrast with others so

it's really pivotal to recognize that

you are in a place and if you can think

of oftentimes work in the swimming you

know culture in as the water in that

realm we're swimming in a place with all

sorts of different perspectives so to be

really effective and appropriate in the

workplace or classroom setting we need

to be in tune and be able to engage and

navigate those effectively and so yes

know yeah yeah I like that you talked

about water because that always makes me

think about you know how the you know

the story where the Frog asked the fish

how's the water and the fish said what

water yes because everything is around

and sometimes we just don't see it

I think that when we are talking about

cultural self-awareness sometimes we

don't know what we don't know because we

just navigate our culture so well

exactly and so I've been dedicating a

lot of time and effort really in

developing my own intercultural

confidence and so I will say the more I

learn and generate the more that I can

see the water I see the air that we're

breathing I can see you know as someone

poses a challenge you know where someone

is kind of disagreeing or questioning

something I'm able to really put that in

cultural terms a lot more and I think

that really helps us get at the heart of

what's happening and what's going on and

really think of various solutions to

move forward and you know along this

whole idea I love giving an example you

know when I was talking about folks

coming from all sorts of perspectives

one prominent one for example is you can

think of let's say in the workplace

context right the idea of recognition

your organization or team may really

support you know in value recognition

right and so perhaps everyone on the

team really agrees and recognize that

it's valuable you know a lot of research

shows how it engages employees you know

being able to be recognized with what

you contribute and your expertise and

inclusion also means valuing uniqueness

as well now the important piece to

recognize with that cultural

self-awareness is spending that time to

recognize how do I appreciate this idea

of recognition right so what actions and

behaviors might someone do to really

make me feel like I'm recognized and

really contributing in a positive way

and beyond that then really being able

to recognize and understand what

behaviors and actions really would be

positive and effective for all those

that are around you cuz you'll likely

find that different folks have different

ways that they like to be recognized so

for example I am someone that I like to

talk in front of folks I like more of

the you know extrovert outgoing space

and so

you know right so if you would at all

recognize or give me compliments but how

great I am you know in front of the team

or group I appreciate that you know

that's that's just fine you know let's

be open about that I like being

transparent now it's important to

recognize other folks that is not the

way to go and actually they may end up

feeling more embarrassed or you know the

idea that you really don't know me then

and it actually detracts from what you

were hoping so instead of recognizing

someone that actually feel less valued

because they feel perhaps ah maybe

you're just recognizing me the way you

like to be recognized and you don't

really understand or get me so you can

even see even within recognition how

culture and understanding those

behaviors really beneficial well so ok

so let me complicate life a little let's

say I have I am the manager of a team of

15 people I work with them and they

probably manage other number of people

as well but this is my team right now 15

how do I manage all of this that you

were talking about with a group of

people that I work with

absolutely so I've already talked a

little bit about it spending some time

to gain your own self-awareness what are

your own you know values and beliefs and

behaviors around recognition really

getting clear what that might mean

because you may find you're projecting

that on all 15 people and that example

right and then it really involves that

time to really get to know everyone you

may directly ask I've seen some

organizations as a part of their

onboarding they will actually you know

do a kind of a self survey we want to

get to know you better

and you may ask folks you know when you

you know are recognized what do you

really want others to do whether that's

your supervisor your peers the broader

organization what is the best way to

really recognize you as an individual so

some do it in the onboarding process

others hold more

Dajuan meetings you don't spend some

time just really getting you know other

folks and maintaining in that

relationship and please know that can

kind of shift over time as I've worked

with folks you know throughout their

careers some may say oh when I was

younger yes Amy your example of public

praise and you know throwing you know

some sort of celebration absolutely you

know as time went on though things have

shifted for me and so I actually prefer

a note right or a card you know

something written directly for my

supervisor so even over time you're

maintaining that relationship which is

key and make sure that you're able to

track and stay organized with that piece

too so I don't know if you're kind of

keeping notes you know on what really

would be helpful for your employees what

you can do to better support them but I

think that would really go a long way

even with recognition and helping you to

manage and navigate that piece as a

manager so can I say that developing my

intercultural skills will help me know

what questions to ask and want to pay

attention to in terms of my relationship

with my my team I really appreciate that

my said yes I think when I have noticed

especially especially more recently our

colleagues really complementing and

recognizing my ability to ask questions

and I would say that is something that

has definitely come from my

intercultural competence development

continuously being in tune with you know

what are my values and beliefs you know

what am I thinking as well as being very

curious remember those attitudes of

curiosity discovery I'm really trying to

understand where folks are coming from

and it often times actually turns into a

coaching conversation you know because

I'm just curious and asking questions

and what I find is other folks kind of

feel a sense of relief they've had a

chance to really process and think

through you know dynamics that they

themselves had entertained before and so

I'm really glad that you picked up on

that piece because you will find your

ability to ask questions about a whole

host of topics

and you know culturally sensitive topics

or you know even in your own culture

what may be considered taboo right so in

our culture's we're oftentimes taught

what we may talk about and what not to

so even being able to navigate those

different you know dynamics can be

really beneficial all right so we talked

about what intercultural competence is

and we talked about some reasons to to

work on developing those so yes I do

have even more if you're wondering the

why right so why is this beneficial how

might it help a little bit more

something that's really prominent that

I'm seeing just in the broader workforce

and I'm even thinking of you know future

skills and abilities that are really

being sought after is this idea of

innovation and what I really find

valuable and so important and there are

theorists that you know definitely back

me up within this piece to for example

the Medici effect by Joe Hanson would be

a great book to look into is really the

idea that you need to pair diversity

inclusion intercultural competence with

innovation because what we're finding

out is to really create an innovative

space we need to create the environment

in which each individual that might be a

part of you know the classroom

environment a research lab right a part

of our workplace team etc and Beyond

really create an environment where

everyone can fully show up to the extent

that they would like to and really be

able to leverage all of the ideas you

know their unique experiences you know

and backgrounds within that realm to

really get to an innovative space

because often times we're finding is

innovation really happens at the

intersections of diversity of various

cultures you know different ideas and

really being able to openly share you

know and and challenge and productive

ways to really create something truly

remarkable more and more that's the

space that we need to be generating so

as we

I cannot be more effective in the

workplace you know oftentimes our goals

whether that's annually or a short-term

really around continuously improving you

know what we're doing right or thinking

of new ways of doing our work right or

teaching and you know that type of thing

and so that's another prominent aspect

you know that really folks should

recognize that intercultural competence

plays a key role in innovation there's a

lot to think about that right now

there is and I could go on and I could

keep sharing you know more and more and

I think we'll get at more pieces of it I

think as we really talk about the house

right so how do I continuously you know

engage and continue this learning where

do I start you know where do I begin

we've talked about some strategies thus

far and I think even more so as we talk

about be how you will recognize and

understand even more benefits and

reasons as to why intercultural

competence can make you more effective

in your role