How Do You Become Culturally Competent?
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Cultural competency can help you to have healthy professional relationships in a diverse setting. Although HR initiatives are often the way workers can receive training in this area, you can also take steps to strengthen your cultural competency. Learn how to be intentional in your interactions with coworkers, supervisors, bosses, clients, and customers by creating room for conversations.
Cultural competency initiatives educate professionals across various industries to consider other people’s potential differences in cultures, beliefs, and values. Human resources (HR) equips employees to create a more professional workplace as they become more mindful of their peers. However, you can also take steps toward greater cultural competency.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, caucasians will account for less than half of the U.S. population in 2045 . This means that there won’t be a single group of people from a specific ethnic background that will be considered a majority. Over half of the population will belong to a historically underrepresented ethnic group. As workplaces continue to reflect the growing diversity, it is becoming increasingly valuable to seek cultural competency.?
What is Cultural Competency?
Dynamic diversity speaker and author of Diversity in Clinical Practice, Lambers Fisher says, “Contrary to popular belief, cultural competency is not about knowing everything about every cultural group, never making a cultural mistake, or never culturally offending anyone.” Fisher explains that cultural competency goes beyond just learning facts about other cultures. It prioritizes cultural self-awareness and challenges inaccurate perceptions like stereotypes.?
Cultural competency can also intersect with social justice advocacy, as different cultural identities may not be accurately reflected in such conversations. Fisher explains, “Whether direct or indirect, loud or soft, in the forefront or behind the scenes, advocacy can include any effort to help create a better experience for someone else.”
Diversity and inclusion specialist, Dr. Helen Tinsley , adds, “It includes an understanding and awareness of our personal biases, and issues pertaining to oppression, privilege, institutional bias and systematic marginalization across all levels.”
What Does A Culturally Competent Workplace Look Like?
Although you may have some familiarity with aspects of cultural competence, it may be unclear what it looks like in the context of a professional setting . Cultural competence doesn’t have to look any one way and is typically exemplified through ordinary tasks.
Fisher explains, “Even in a mundane professional workplace environment, cultural competence can be conveyed through day-to-day interactions that include intentional efforts to make everyone feel culturally seen, heard and understood. This includes efforts to consider the culturally influenced needs of every coworker, every leader, and every person in the community who the organization is committed to serve.”
Modifying your behavior to intentionally be mindful of coworkers, supervisors, bosses, clients, and customers is at the core of cultural competency. HR should always have this goal of creating an atmosphere in which everyone feels respected with their voices heard.
Tinsley describes a culturally competent workplace as “an environment in which employees are valued and treated as an individual without preconceived notions, stereotypical beliefs, and judgments.” She elaborates, “Employees are recognized for their strengths, encouraged to contribute in meaningful ways, and given appropriate support, guidance and coaching as needed for their professional growth.”
Cultural competence has been on full display throughout Tinsley’s career in education. She focuses on helping teachers maintain high expectations of students that are not based on their individual cultural backgrounds. Her passion for promoting cultural diversity and facilitating conversations on cultural backgrounds has been at the center of workshops and training she has taught. These initiatives led to the formation of her company, Tinsley Institute for Multicultural Empowerment, LLC .
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First Steps To Becoming Culturally Competent
Cultural competency is an ongoing process for everyone from a wide variety of backgrounds. First steps can be taken by individuals apart from formal HR training.
Tinsley recommends taking cultural competence self-assessments, which can help you understand how your perception of others has been influenced. She says, “Engaging in a variety of experiences and activities with an open mind and nonjudgmental attitude, including national and international travel, open and authentic conversations, workshops, cultural programs and festivals, community events, reading multicultural literature, and book discussion groups across diverse populations and different contexts is one of the best ways to strengthen cultural competence.”
She identifies the most important component of growing in cultural competence as uncovering implicit biases. Implicit bias is based on subconscious ideas of cultural groups that result from media depictions, family members, and other experiences. She explains, "Implicit bias is very dangerous because it automatically seeps into a person’s behavior or mind without any conscious awareness by them. It can be in direct contradiction to what they say they believe or value. It reflects the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions and decisions unconsciously.”
Fisher suggests intentionality in the workplace to make room for voices to be heard apart from those who regularly contribute. He says, “The practical step of inviting feedback rather than waiting for others to force their way in, uncertain as to whether or not their voice will be received well or risk damaging one’s role in the organization, can go a long way.”
He explains that coworkers are likely to feel supported on a cultural level when they observe their peers creating opportunities for healthy cultural perspectives. Fisher describes this posture as “a healthy curiosity,” thoughtfully approaching others with openness and sincerity.
Fisher also recommends that professionals seek to strengthen their cultural competence by exposing themselves to new experiences. He suggests asking people from different backgrounds to share their experiences. By demonstrating active listening skills , they can feel heard and respected. He says, “This can also include attending cultural events open to the public or even visiting local cultural group support centers and organizations and seeking not only a greater understanding of the experiences and needs of varying cultural groups, but also exploring ways to become involved in meeting those needs.”
In an effort to meet the need of multicultural awareness and diversity training , Fisher created the training program, Diversity Made Simple . It provides practical and empowering strategies intended to help both reduce cultural offenses and present solutions to salvage relationships in which a cultural offense has taken place.
Whether your organization takes cultural competency into account or not , you can take steps on your own by evaluating biases and creating conversations. Resources like those produced by Tinsley and Fisher can be a good starting point to grow in awareness and understanding.
Top Takeaways
Do you know what cultural competency is? Are you interested in growing your cultural competence in the workplace?