A Cultural Humility Primer: Bridging the Gap Between Knowledge & Authentic Connection

Discover how cultural humility fosters lifelong learning, equity, and authentic connection beyond cultural competence. Learn actionable steps for meaningful engagement.

By: Sarah Prince, PhD, TIVC Curriculum Developer

Difference is a defining feature of the American experience. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the United States will become a majority-minority nation by 2045.[1] Beyond its growing racial and ethnic diversity, the country has long been shaped by immigrant populations, varied religious beliefs, generational perspectives, regional identities, and diverse communication styles. These layers of diversity create both opportunities and challenges, especially in fields like business, government, education, and social services, where understanding difference is critical for successful communication and productive workplaces. ?

To work effectively in cross-cultural situations, cultural competence emerged in the 1980s as a framework to develop and assess practitioners’ cultural awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and skills.[2] However, while cultural competence expands collective cultural knowledge, on its own, it often falls short in addressing power imbalances, intrapersonal biases, individual dimensions of diversity, and the dynamic nature of culture, which makes true “competence” unattainable.

Cultural humility, first created in 1998, complements cultural competence by focusing on self-reflection, openness, and a commitment to lifelong learning.[3] It encourages practitioners to examine their own biases and approach clients, partners, employees, and colleagues with curiosity and a willingness to listen and understand. By fostering cultural safety and authentic engagement, cultural humility creates space for equitable, meaningful interactions that support growth and progress, leading to more productive communication, better outcomes, and increased psychological safety.

Cultural Competence: The Product of Knowledge

As globalization and diversity initiatives gained momentum in the 1990s—2000s, businesses began adopting cultural competence frameworks to navigate cross-cultural communication, workforce diversity, and global markets. While there is no single agreed-upon definition of cultural competence, it is typically defined as teaching four key elements—cultural awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and skills[4]—that can be “learned, trained, and achieved.”[5] In other words, cultural competence is a finite body of knowledge that is achieved when the professional (i.e., the coach or leader) understands enough about a unique cultural context to provide effective support, guidance, or empowerment.

While understanding the cultural intersections of an organization’s customers, employees, and partners is a valuable first step, cultural competence remains limited when treated as a standalone approach. The term “competence” implies an endpoint—the idea that one can fully grasp everything of relevance about another culture. Yancu et al. challenge this notion, arguing that cultural knowledge is not fixed or finite: “In practice, cultural diversity is manifested in a broad range of ever-changing behaviors, beliefs, rituals, restrictions, traditions, norms, institutions, and relationships that form the basis of cultural knowledge. This makes cultural mastery something akin to trying to grab onto a cloud.”[6] The goal of competency, then, is an impossibility, as culture is fluid and constantly intersecting and changing, there is always something more to know.

Additionally, cultural competence, especially at the collective level, often causes conflation of individuals with their collective culture, overlooking individuals' unique characteristics and identities. This can reinforce stereotypes and assumptions, leading to strained relationships, miscommunication, and ineffective communication and support in the workplace. Without self-reflection, professionals using cultural competence may also unintentionally perpetuate power imbalances, as traditional models often preserve the roles of "expert" and "recipient.” Instead of fostering partnerships, in certain situations, these roles can undermine trust, diminish engagement, and limit the effectiveness of support, empowerment, and growth.

Cultural Humility: The Process of Growth

Cultural humility addresses the limitations of cultural competence by shifting organizational leaders’ focus from achieving mastery (a product) to cultivating an ongoing mindset of openness and learning (a lifelong process). First introduced by Tervalon and Murray-Garcia in the healthcare field, cultural humility is a “lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique, to redressing power imbalances.”[7] It has since been adopted more broadly in fields like education, social work, and counseling, and defined more generally as “an orientation toward caring for others through self-reflexivity and assessment, appreciating an individual’s lived experiences, sharing power, and lifelong dedication to learning.”[8]

TIVC extends this cultural humility approach to coaching and leadership practices in organizations. Instead of detached mastery of a finite body of knowledge, cultural humility encourages coaches and leaders to challenge their own biases and assumptions as the foundation for building authentic connections, fostering mutual respect, and creating spaces where individuals feel valued, understood, and empowered.

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Openness to Individual Perspectives & Self-Reflection Cultural humility begins with self-reflection, requiring coaches and leaders to uncover biases and assumptions while fostering openness to others' perspectives. Unlike cultural competence, which emphasizes generalized knowledge about cultural groups, cultural humility focuses on understanding an individual’s unique narrative, fostering authentic relationships, improving communication through bias-aware engagement, promoting equity by valuing individual experiences, enhancing adaptability to diverse needs, and ultimately leading to more effective and meaningful outcomes and results.

Address Power Imbalances Cultural humility emphasizes partnership over hierarchy. Coaches and leaders acknowledge the limits of their cultural knowledge and embrace opportunities to learn from the individual they are serving. By creating a safe, inclusive space, they foster mutual trust and understanding.

Other-Centric: Fosters Intarpersonal Cultural Comfort & Safety Creating a safe environment where individuals feel comfortable sharing their unique cultural contexts is central to cultural humility. Ramsden describes "cultural safety" as fostering a workforce that is self-reflective, open-minded, and nonjudgmental.[9] When coaches and leaders use this approach, they not only build trust but also ensures that individuals they engage with feel valued and respected.

Lifelong Commitment to Learning Cultural humility recognizes that learning is never complete. Coaches and leaders continually seek to expand their understanding of cultural differences, both at the group level and the individual level, while challenging their own unconscious biases. This ongoing commitment ensures that growth remains at the center of their practice.

Why Cultural Humility Matters

Cultural humility addresses both intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of engagement. Internally, it challenges individuals to confront their own assumptions and biases, cultivating a mindset of continuous learning. Externally, it prioritizes relationships between two individuals, ensuring that interactions are characterized by respect, empathy, feelings of safety, and shared power. This dual focus makes cultural humility a more holistic and adaptive framework than cultural competence alone. This approach transforms the coaches and leaders’ engagement with employees, ensuring they are set up to hear, understand, and support employees. To help coaches and leaders adopt this mindset, TIVC has crafted the following questions to serve as a guide for cultivating cultural humility in daily interactions.

Questions to Cultivate Cultural Humility

• Am I aware of my own cultural background and biases, and how they influence my perceptions and interpretations of others?
• Do I engage in active listening and empathetic communication, allowing space for others to share their unique experiences and perspectives?
• Do I actively seek to learn about and understand different cultural perspectives, values, and experiences without making assumptions?
• Am I self-aware of my reactions and emotions in diverse situations or with people from different cultural contexts?
• Am I willing to suspend hasty judgment, instead being open-minded and considering alternative viewpoints and interpretations?
• Am I willing to challenge and unlearn stereotypes or preconceived notions that may influence my perceptions of others?
• Do I validate and appreciate the strengths and contributions of diverse cultural backgrounds in my interactions with others?
• When appropriate, do I seek feedback from others to understand how my actions and words may impact them based on their cultural contexts?

Competence & Humility: Knowledge & Growth

Cultural humility offers a transformative approach for engaging across difference, moving beyond acquiring knowledge of cultural competence to embracing a dynamic, lifelong process of self-reflection, learning, and connection. By adopting cultural humility, organizational coaches and leaders can prioritize individual narratives, address power imbalances, and foster cultural safety, creating the conditions for genuine relationships, mutual respect, and meaningful outcomes. By building on cultural competence and embracing cultural humility, the next generation of culturally responsive leaders can foster environments of inclusion, respect, and mutual understanding, bridging the gap between cultural knowledge and authentic connection.

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[1] Vespa, J., Medina, L., & Armstrong, D. (2014). Demographic turning points for the United States: Population projections for 2020-2060. United States Census Bureau. ?https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1144.pdf

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[2] Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K. & Isaacs, M. (1989). Towards a culturally competent system of care: A monograph on elective services for minority children who are severely emotionally disturbed (Vol. 1). Georgetown University Child Development Center. https://spu.edu/-/media/academics/school-of-education/Cultural-Diversity/Towards-a-Culturally-Competent-System-of-Care-Abridged.ashx

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[3] Tervalon, M. & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(2),117-125. https://doi.org/10/1353/hpu.2010.0233?

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[4] Chang, E., Simon, M., & Dong, XQ. (2012). Integrating cultural humility into health care professional education and training. Adv Heath Sci Edu. 17(2), 269-278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-010-9264-1

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[5] Chiarenza, A. (2012). Developments in the context of ‘cultural competence.’ In D. Ingleby, A. Chiarenza, W. Deville, & I. Kotsioni (Eds.), Inequalities in health care for migrants and ethnic minorities (pp. 66-81). Garant. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antonio-Chiarenza/publication/255179734_Developments_in_the_concept_of_%27cultural_competence%27/links/0c9605200b05e5cc36000000/Developments-in-the-concept-of-cultural-competence.pdf (p. 69)

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[6] Yancu, C.N., & Farmer, D.F. (2017). Product or process: Cultural competence or cultural humility? Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care. 3(1), e1-e4. https://doi.org/10.17140/PMHCOJ-3-e005 ?(p. e1-e2)

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[7] Tervalon and Murray-Garcia, “Cultural humility versus cultural competence,” (p.117)

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[8] Lekas, H.M., Pahl, K., & Fuller Lewis, C. (2020). Rethinking cultural competence: Shifting to cultural humility. Health Services Insights, 13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178632920970580

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[9] Ramsden, I. (2002). Cultural safety and nursing education in Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu. Wellington: Victoria University.