Intercultural Competence
What is intercultural competence?
Intercultural competence is a skill that enables productive collaboration across diverse cultures. It involves having an open mindset, gaining knowledge about different cultures, and adapting behavior and communication styles to be sensitive to cultural differences.
In an increasingly globalized world, cultivating intercultural competence is crucial for successful professional interactions. Whether in the workplace or while engaging in different business activities, individuals are often required to collaborate with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Intercultural competence is a concept that many businesses are looking to incorporate into the workplace. It is also used as a hiring factor for sustainable development and to ensure that employees have the means to engage on a global level.
Why is intercultural competence important?
Intercultural competence is becoming essential for businesses of all sizes and industries. Employees are likely to interact with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, either within the office environment or when dealing with clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders in various business dealings.
There are several reasons to focus on this competence within the workforce:
- Fosters effective communication: Being able to bridge cultural gaps in communication styles, norms, and language allows for clearer and more meaningful exchanges of ideas and information.
- Reduces conflicts: Understanding and respecting cultural differences can reduce conflicts and prevent misunderstandings. It promotes empathetic and respectful communication, which is vital for resolving disputes.
- Promotes inclusivity: Intercultural competence creates more inclusive environments where people feel respected and valued regardless of background. This boosts engagement and employee morale.
- Enhances individual learning: People can absorb and integrate different cultural knowledge, wisdom, and perspectives when they have an open and curious mindset.
- Attracts and retains diverse talent: Companies that can demonstrate intercultural competence through their workplace policies and culture can benefit from an expanded talent pool and the ability to retain employees from different backgrounds.
- Provides competitive advantage: Intercultural skills enable adaptation to diverse cultural contexts, giving an edge in today’s global marketplace.
What are the 5 components of intercultural competence?
There are various organizations and scholars that have sought to establish an intercultural competence framework, but the Darla Deardorff’s Intercultural Competence Model stands out as particularly influential. This model provides a pyramid model that focuses on attitudes, skills, knowledge and comprehension, and a desired outcome, both internally and externally.
- Skills: Includes the ability to listen, observe, evaluate, analyze, interpret, and relate to various individuals and situations.
- Knowledge & comprehension: This involves understanding cultural differences, including knowledge of others’ worldviews, and developing cultural self-awareness.
- Attitudes: Includes aspects such as respect (valuing others), openness, curiosity, and discovery (tolerating ambiguity and suspending judgment).
- Internal outcomes: This is the internal transformation that occurs as a result of intercultural interaction. It incorporates flexibility, adaptability, an ethnorelative perspective, and empathy.
- External outcomes: This refers to the ability to behave and communicate effectively and appropriately to achieve one’s goals in a diverse environment. This component emphasizes the practical application of attitude, knowledge, and skills in real-world intercultural interactions.
Deardorff’s model views intercultural competence as an ongoing process, moving from attitudes to knowledge to internal and external outcomes. The five components interact with and build on one another to generate intercultural competence over time.
Intercultural competence examples in the workplace
There are many examples of how to exhibit intercultural competency:
- A manager takes the time to learn the proper pronunciation of an employee’s name rather than using an abbreviation or a nickname. This shows respect.
- In a multicultural team environment, co-workers take turns to share important holidays and traditions in their cultures in order to build mutual understanding.
- When coordinating a global conference call, schedulers are mindful of time zone differences and religious holiday dates.
- The marketing team travels to the country where their company will be soon conducting business. This allows them to learn about the culture first-hand, understand how symbols are and aren’t used, and how language is effectively used.
- An international brand modifies its advertising campaigns in different countries to better align with local cultures, values, and sensitivities, avoiding stereotypes and generalizations.
HR tip
To effectively nurture intercultural competence in your organization, the first step is to evaluate the existing cultural dynamics. Educating staff on active listening techniques and conducting seminars to boost cultural awareness are key strategies for expanding these competencies. Additionally, the HR team should focus on promoting a workplace culture of respect, which includes reinforcing the company’s intercultural policies on a regular basis.
