3 Engaging Ways to Increase Intercultural Competence

Diversity was the business term of the 1990s. By the 2000s, it was generally accepted that companies could benefit from building a multicultural workforce and that cross-cultural training made good business sense.

Yet, a 2014 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey found that many companies don’t have policies or resources in place to promote inclusion or to support minorities, and a 2018 Atlassian report indicated that diversity fatigue, the notion that people are tired of discussing multiculturalism, may be partially to blame. How, then, can your organization re-energize its diversity initiatives and increase its intercultural competence? 

What Is Intercultural Competence?

Intercultural competence is the ability to interact appropriately when working with people who belong to other co-cultural groups, and being sensitive to cultural differences when conducting business overseas. It’s respecting the importance that Mexican American employees place on family obligations and understanding the significance of arriving five-to-ten minutes early when meeting with German clients.

Cultures are complex, composed of a set of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, but there are so many variations from culture to culture that it’s impossible to know them all. Instead, the goal should be to give employees the tools to recognize cultural differences, to be curious about these differences, and to know how to learn about them. Here are three simple ways to learn about other cultures, each so entertaining and engaging that they are unlikely to contribute to diversity fatigue. 

Top 3 Suggestions for Promoting Intercultural Learning 

#1 - Diversity Flicks and Chill

One Friday afternoon per month for the last couple of hours of the work day, host a movie that showcases a different ethnic, racial, religious, or national culture, making sure to leave a little bit of time after each film for discussion. These films will help employees learn about the customs and values of others.

For example, by watching the film, Arranged, a 2007 American film, employees can gain a better understanding of arranged marriages in the Orthodox Jewish and Muslim communities, and, by watching the 2017 South Korean film, A Taxi Driver, employees can learn about Korean history while also learning about the power of Korean friendships.

Which movies should your organization screen? Ask your employees for their intercultural movie recommendations. They will surely prove to be great resources, so reward them with lots of movie snacks.

#2 - A Book Club with a Purpose

Workplace book clubs have become increasingly popular in recent years, and your organization can use this momentum to promote intercultural awareness and to nurture knowledge generation. The titles that top the New York Times Best Seller List may provide some good choices for your organization’s intercultural book club, but there are so many others that should also be considered.

Caribbean New Wave: Contemporary Short Stories, a 1990 anthology edited by Stewart Brown, can give employees insights into the lives of their Afro-Caribbean co-workers, for instance. Once again, your organization’s employees may prove to be your best resources for selecting titles that represent the experiences of your own multicultural workforce, so consider adding a suggestion box to your lunchroom.

Schedule book club lunches once a month, giving employees more than an hour to eat lunch, socialize, and discuss the month’s diversity topic. It will be worth everyone’s time investment.

Your organization should, of course, provide the books at no cost to participating employees, and your organization should consider establishing an intercultural library that offers an array of multicultural books and movies for employees to borrow in addition to the official selections featured each month as well.

#3 - Further Afield Trips

Companies have softball teams and host happy hours, so why not also sponsor field trips that teach employees about other cultures? Host an outing to an African American museum so employees can gain an appreciation for a racial group’s history, and organize a trip to a Swedish St. Lucia's Day celebration so employees can observe an ethnic group’s unique cultural practices. Also, consider hosting a dinner at a Japanese restaurant so employees can learn about Japanese dining etiquette, a skill set that will be useful when attending dinners with Japanese business partners.

Many communities welcome musicians and art exhibits from around the world, and your organization will benefit if it promotes these cultural learning opportunities on bulletin boards, in newsletters, and across your organization’s social media channels. Further, it would be beneficial to encourage employees to volunteer for organizations that support minorities by offering flexible schedules and incentives for their volunteer work.

Great Minds Think Interculturally 

If employees are given the opportunities to learn about other cultures in settings outside of formal cross-cultural training, they may not succumb to diversity fatigue. In fact, they may actually find that they enjoy learning about Buddhist holidays in Bhutan and business greetings in Nicaragua. As employees expand their multicultural repertoire, they may even come to recognize their own biases and may come to challenge their own misconceptions, certainly positive outcomes for the individuals and your organization.

To develop true intercultural competence, however, employees need to do more than just watch movies, read books, and go on intercultural outings. These are wonderful ways for employees to be introduced to new cultures and to develop some intercultural knowledge, but they also need to get to know people from diverse backgrounds personally. They need to listen to these multicultural individuals with open minds, ideally developing empathy, the ability to see things from the perspectives of others.

These others are important organizational stakeholders. They’re your business partners, clients, customers, employees, stockholders, and vendors. Your organization’s universe is inherently multicultural, and this is why it’s so important to invest time and resources into fostering diversity initiatives and increasing intercultural competence. When done well, employees shouldn’t find your organization’s diversity program tiresome; they should find it thought provoking, awakening, and, believe it or not, fun. 

References

Martin, J. & Nakayama, T. (2018). Intercultural communication in contexts (7th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Education.

Trenholm, S. (2001). Thinking through communication: An introduction to the study of human communication (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.