Intercultural Competence is a Learnable Skill

Most white people I know who are over the age of 45 and grew up in the United States were taught intercultural denial. As a black girl growing up during the civil rights movement I was taught intercultural survival. Younger adults in the U.S. have been taught intercultural awareness.

But denial, survival and awareness do not create workplaces or communities where rapidly increasing diversity can be easily transformed into respectful experiences and inclusive environments.

Intercultural competence is a learned skill.

One of my favorite models that helps diagnose intercultural activity is the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) by Dr. Milton Bennett.

The six stages of DMIS represent a set of perspectives with successively greater ability to understand and have a more positive experience of cultural difference.

Briefly, some characteristics of each stage are:

• Denial. Being comfortable with the familiar. Not anxious to complicate life with “cultural differences”. Not noticing much cultural difference around you. Maintaining separation from others who are different.
• Defense. A strong commitment to one’s own thoughts and feelings about culture and cultural difference. Some distrust of cultural behavior or ideas that differ from one’s own. Aware of other cultures around you, but with a relatively incomplete understanding of them and probably fairly strong negative feelings or stereotypes about some of them.

• Minimization. People from other cultures are pretty much like you, under the surface. Awareness that other cultures exist all around you, with some knowledge about differences in customs and celebrations. Not putting down other cultures. Treating other people as you would like to be treated.
• Acceptance. Aware of your own culture(s). See your own culture as just one of many ways of experiencing the world. Understanding that people from other cultures are as complex as yourself. Their ideas, feelings, and behavior may seem unusual, but you realize that their experience is just as rich as your own. Being curious about other cultures. Seeking opportunities to learn more about them.
  
• Adaptation. Recognizing the value of having more than one cultural perspective available to you. Able to “take the perspective” of another culture to understand or evaluate situations in either your own or another culture. Able to intentionally change your culturally based behavior to act in culturally appropriate ways outside your own culture.
• Integration. To varying extents, have integrated more than one cultural perspective, mindset, and behavior into one’s identity and worldview. Able to move easily among cultures.

The image above is used by the folks at CulturalDetective.com to capture the model and show how the progression from Ethnocentric to ethnorelative occurs.

• The first three stages are considered “ethnocentric” in that one’s own culture is seen as the only culture or to varying extents the “better” culture.

• The last three stages are considered “ethnorelative” in that one’s own culture is seen as equal among many other cultures.

Using a model such as this simply encourages self-assessment that helps me set a clear intention for how I want to behave to helps me understand the feedback I might receive about something I did or said.

How might this model help you develop a higher level of intercultural competence?

Tracy is President of Diversity Trends LLC and is a nationally recognized expert on the multicultural, multigenerational, multiethnic workplace. She is the author of several books, including 71 Ways to Inspire Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. She is known for her ability to transform the conversation about diversity from a political focus on civil rights to an empowering focus on mutual respect and increased productivity in the workplace.

Download the e-book: Creating an Inclusive Culture for 20 actions leaders can take to create (or maintain) an inclusive culture.