What is Cultural Competence?
Cultural competence is possessing the skills, knowledge, and attitude necessary to build genuine relationships with those from different cultures. Cultural competence is demonstrated by forming connections with people outside your dominant cultural group, exploring new cultural experiences, recruiting diverse membership within groups or teams, and facilitating cross-cultural understanding within groups.
Why is Cultural Competence Important?
Becoming culturally competent can help leaders become aware and let go of any unconscious biases and be open to understanding different cultures. Building cultural competence helps us to better understand others, which in turn allows us to communicate and interact with others more effectively.
How Do Leaders Develop Cultural Competence?
Cultural competence takes time and patience to develop. But, with the willingness to experience and embrace cultures different from our own, we can become culturally competent on both on a personal level and as leaders in organizations. Focusing on the following attributes will help you to build cultural competence. Culturally competent leaders…
- Value continuous learning
- Make courageous choices
- Research and collaborate
- Develop strategic plans
- Engage in open and honest communication
- Advocate for community service and social justice efforts
- Embrace cultural differences
Value Continuous Learning
Culturally competent leaders are continuously learning from themselves and others. No matter how much work someone does to grow their awareness, knowledge, and skills, there is always room to grow. Continuous learning consists of…
- Reflecting on your mistakes
- Sharing what you are learning with others
- Seeking help from others
- Trying new things
- Engaging in school or workplace diversity and inclusion training
- Acknowledging and addressing your own biases, stereotypes, privilege, and power
- Recognizing that there is always more to learn and that you can always expand your skillset
Make Courageous Choices
Culturally competent leaders are not afraid to make mistakes. They are grounded in their core values but are willing to try new things. Making courageous choices involves…
- Being comfortable making executive decisions
- Taking risks to find new solutions
- Engaging in conversations about racism and privilege
- Accepting and embracing the discomfort that comes with learning
- Sticking by your core values
Research and Collaborate
Culturally competent leaders consider multiple perspectives before making decisions and think through how their decisions will impact others. Researching and collaborating concerns…
- Referring to both qualitative and quantitative data to inform your decisions
- Seeking insight from students’, staff, and/or clients’ experiences, thoughts, and attitudes
- Looking for input from individuals across all levels of your organization
- Collaborating with other organizations also working to address institutionalized racism
- Educating yourself on your organization’s history regarding racism and culture
Develop Strategic Plans
Culturally competent leaders create action plans to address institutional racism. Developing strategic plans requires…
- Envisioning long-term organizational improvement
- Working with a diverse team to outline your course of action
- Establishing inclusive vision and mission statements
- Allocating your resources to support
- Acknowledging organizational culture and dynamics when making decisions
- Informing yourself on organization policies and practices
- Providing culturally relevant professional development to organization members or staff
Engage in Open and Honest Communication
Culturally competent leaders communicate with their teams frequently to be transparent about their progress and plans. Open and honest communication involves…
- Coordinating organization-wide meetings
- Taking the time to answer questions
- Sharing frequent updates with community
- Facilitating open discussions for organization and community members, especially those who are most impacted by your decisions, to share feedback
Advocate for Community Service and Social Justice
Culturally competent leaders participate in community service and social justice advocacy and encourage others to do so as well. Advocating for community service and social justice means…
- Being involved in your community
- Making an active effort to leave a positive impact on the community
- Promoting social justice beyond the workplace
- Attending social justice conferences
- Supporting and strategizing with other culturally competent leaders and advocates in the community
- Allocating resources to support social justice initiatives
Embrace Cultural Differences
Culturally competent leaders celebrate diversity. They seek out new cultural experiences. Embracing cultural differences includes…
- Being excited to learn from others and gain new experiences
- Building relationships with people outside your own culture groups
- Being considerate, sensitive, and respectful of other cultural beliefs and practices
- Creating a safe space for all individuals to share their values and experiences
Becoming a culturally competent takes time, effort, and compassion. Investing your resources toward building cultural competence will give you the skillset to build meaningful relationships with those from different cultures.
Sources:
https://extension.psu.edu/what-is-cultural-competence-and-how-to-develop-it
http://culturesconnecting.blogspot.com/2012/09/10-qualities-of-culturally-competent.html
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/cultural-competence
https://appen.com/life_at_appen/how-to-develop-cultural-competence-and-why-its-important-4-steps-to-building-cultural-competence/
