Multicultural competence is becoming more and more important in our globalized world. It’s an essential skill in global leadership.
Today I want to share with you 8 possible and very different ways you can explore to raise your multicultural competence.
Before we begin, let me tell you why you should strongly consider raising multicultural competence.
When we think about culture, we immediately think about cultures based on countries. The American culture, the Hindi culture, the Italian culture, and so on.
Although that is also correct, culture can be anything shared between 2 or more people. Culture is basically a collection of practices, beliefs, behaviors, thought patterns, social institutions, and manifestations of the arts and/or experiences, shared or transmitted among a group of people.
Your household has a culture. Your company has a culture. Your neighborhood has its own culture. And so on. You can see different cultures anywhere. If you are a teacher, you probably noticed that a class might have a different culture than the class next door.
Being culturally competent means you can approach cultures different from yours, and quickly learn and understand them in a reverent way. Then you have the choice of being open and adaptable to the elements you relate to or distancing yourself from those that are not relatable to your values but in a respectful (and understanding) way. At least, that is my definition of multicultural competence.
We don’t live on isolated islands, and even if you do live on an island, you surely are not isolated: the internet connects us all now. There is no chance you will not bump into a different culture, even if it’s a different neighborhood culture, your inlaws’ culture, or… the culture of a new company you are working for now.
Since you’ll be challenged to face new cultures, eventually, knowing ways to prepare yourself to deal with them appropriately has become something extremely important in our lives.
After all, this is part of the building up of trust and reputation around us, that we talked about in previous global leadership posts.
Raising Multicultural Competence In 8 Different Ways
1) Live abroad
Living abroad was shown by recent research to open up one’s perspective and awareness about their own culture and how it is different from others. This greater awareness creates space for learning and improvement in terms of multicultural competence.
Studies show that living abroad for at least 1 year helps improving cultural competence. but ideally living 3 years can greatly expedite the learning curve. The reason is because cultural immersion has a process and each step of this process is valuable for multicultural competence.
HOW?
Search for programs abroad such as educational programs, international work assignments (inside or outside your company), or higher education programs, like PhD or MBA. Most programs like these offer some level of assistance for the expatriate, in terms of finding accommodation, applying for VISA, and so on, which takes some of the burden of the learning process.
2) Expose To Different Cultures
Not everyone is willing to live abroad or make something so drastic as to immerse themselves in a completely different culture. Everyone has their comfort zone, and how and when each one of us step out of it is unique.
Another way to improve multicultural competence is by exposing to different cultures. Exposing to different cultures is a form of transition. We get transformed during exposure. And this is also validated by studies. Studies show that the more we expose ourselves to different cultures, people and situations, the better we become at handling differences.
And that’s because the more we get ourselves exposed, the more used we become to different things.
Humans tend to like more what they know and trust already, and they adapt faster to things that they understand, know and trust. So, getting this exposure is key to broaden our perspectives, and what we can know and trust.
HOW?
Stay tuned for multicultural events, forum, groups and festivals. Approach people from other cultures during these events and ask them about their countries, culture and costumes. Don’t let the conversation stay on the suffice level. Go further by asking clever questions. For example, if you are talking about how marriages are held, ask things like “what color represents a happy marriage?” or “How are in-laws and family members introduced?” You don’t have to wait for events to start these conversations! If you know already people from other cultures, invite them for a coffee and start a conversation! Learning about different cultures and costumes is extremely powerful for self-awareness and multicultural competence.
3) Be Open Minded & Gain New Perspectives
It’s really tough to see something and not make an immediate judgement. We are humans, after all! We all pass judgement.
But we have to create a new habit. The habit of being more open minded and always asking “what can I learn from this new situation?”
As I said before, you don’t have to go so far away to a different culture to experience a different culture. The household next door might have a completely different culture.
Being open minded and focused on gaining new perspectives mean staying tuned for these other possibilities and learn from differences. Every time you remain open to new possibilities and focus on gaining new perspectives, you add to your multicultural competence. Of course, raising multicultural competence this way is not as fast as living abroad, but can also be very helpful.
I once met a person who had tattoos all over his body. He told me that he made his first tattoo to hide a burn scar that he hated. But once he started learning more about the “tattoo culture” he fell in love with it. Everyone has unique experiences and situations that make them part of a culture. Learn what they are with an open mind.
HOW?
Every time you catch yourself making a judgement of a person or a situation, ask yourself: “what about this person or situation is different from what I expected and why is it different?” You can also ask yourself: “what is unique about this person or situation that converge them to these choices?” Don’t make assumptions. Ask around and learn from others.
4) Avoid Making Assumptions
Talking about the devil…. This one is BIG!
Jumping to conclusions is something we often do. It’s part of life. But it can be so harmful, and create so many misunderstandings. Specially while we are raising multicultural competence.
Asking clarifying questions is a powerful tool and can be your BFF (best friend forever) to avoid misunderstandings. Learning about acronyms in your industry, community or country can also be very useful to avoid misunderstandings.
HOW?
When you are making an assumption to diagnose a situation, and you will test and validate it later to confirm it, assuming is part of the learning process. When you are assuming because you are judging, though, then this assumption can be harmful and lead to misunderstandings. Whenever you judging something, check with yourself if that line of though is based on facts or on an assumption. Ask yourself: “am I judging here or am I trying to understand a pattern?” Whatever the case, approach those involved in that assumption and ask them probing questions to learn more if your assumption is right or wrong.
When you are making an assumption to diagnose a situation, and you will test and validate it later to confirm it, assuming is part of the learning process. When you are assuming because you are judging, though, then this assumption can be harmful and lead to misunderstandings.
5) Learn New Languages & Customs
Learning a new language, especially when you are moving to a place that has a different language from yours, is key in any cultural imersion.
But even if you intend to never visit or live in the place where that language is spoken, the sole fact that you are learning a different language opens you up for multicultural competence. While learning a different culture, you will learn ways to express ideas that are different from your original language. You will learn different idioms and different proverbs.
All these things are insights about how the people that speak that language view their culture, their costumes and life in general.
For example, when learning Chinese, you will eventually bump into the “red envelopes.” Red envelops in China are given in certain life occasions to wish good luck. Usually it has money inside. But… why red? Red is the luck color in China, as green can be seen as the luck color in many Western countries.
I know it can be challenging to learn a new language and takes some time to learn it. But it is extremely helpful in helping you broaden your horizons to improve multicultural competence. And if you ever visit the place where that language is spoken, locals who see you are trying to speak their language will be much more open to you, and you will have an easier time learning from them and adapting to a new culture while visiting or living. And when doing that, don’t forget to check time zones!
HOW?
If you are not ready to spend too much time and money on a new language, how about probing it by taking online classes from a free App? You can use Duolingo, for example, to start the learning process and see if that language catches your attention. When you see you are really committed to learning, you can move to the next step by signing up to online classes or to a local language class. You can also sign up to language forums or Discord chat rooms to talk with people from that nationality. Be mindful of time zones, though. You don’t want to wake up your new friends during dawn for a tea-time chat.
6) Be Humble & Respectful
We sometimes can become arrogant and think we know things. The more humble and respectful we are, though, the better chances at connecting well with people we will have.
Who likes arrogant people? Everyone around you will always appreciate more if you show up with the eyes of a learner. Making rapport and new connections like this will be much easier.
As I said earlier, culture involves 2 or more people. To learn new cultures and raise multicultural competence we need people! We need to connect with people. And we need to connect well.
When you are humble and respectful, people will naturally open up to you more, and they will share about their thoughts, ideas and costumes more easily. And you’ll be able to learn from them.
The other day, I was following up with a contractor about a quote. This person was ignoring all my texts and not answering back. Did you catch my assumption here??? That’s right. “Ignoring.” Because I assumed he was ignoring me, I felt excluded, unimportant and, well, ignored. But then it hit me: “what if he is just crazy busy, and now lost face to contact me back?” Bingo.
How and what we are thinking affect the way we behave. When we want to improve multicultural competence, we must also change the way we think and behave. And that’s why being humble and respectful is important. If you are meeting people from other cultures, be curious… are they missing something? What are they feeling? How do they make their reasoning?
HOW?
The golden rule applies here: always put yourself in other people’s shoes. How would you like to be treated if you were in their situation? How are they feeling? What are they missing? By always putting yourself in other people’s shoes, you are ensuring that you will always behave in the most humble and respectful way. Because you want respect, reverence and attention yourself. Sounds simple enough, but try doing that in challenging situations like a heated discussion or a conflict about differences. If you try with all this in mind and succeed, though, I’m positive this will put a big smile on your face.
7) Learn How To Communicate With High & Low Context Cultures.
Different people relate to things in very different ways. This is a complex, but fun topic, that can help you better interact with people around the world.
Every single person you meet will lean more towards either low or high context culture, regardless of their original country’s culture. Some people will tend to keep to the facts and others will want to know more about what the context was.
Learning how to deal with different communication styles and people is crucial to create strong, trustworthy, and lasting connections.
If you want to learn more about this concept, read our fabulous article about Communicating In High & Low Context Cultures.
HOW?
Start by reading our article on the topic. If you are acquainted with the topic already, you can go an extra step and learn about Cultural Mapping, The Culture Map Theory (by Erin Meyer), and The Lewis Model to further your knowledge.
8) Learn The Skills & Competencies In The 4 Success Pillars Of Global Leadership
You can read our article on the 4 Success Pillars Of Global Leadership to learn more about all the skills and competencies you should learn to raise cultural competence and executive presence, to make better business decisions.
But in a nutshell, the 4 pillars are:
- Personal Leadership leads self, for higher performance.
- People Leadership leads people, to create high performing and collaborative teams
- Organizational Leadership leads ideas, to improve bottom line and to create positive impact
- Cultural Leadership leads behavior, to create an inclusive and happier workplace.
By learning all 4 pillars of success in global leadership, you are learning all different dimensions that are important when raising cultural competence.
HOW?
Start by reading our article on this topic. You can then go an extra step by applying to our Global Executive Leadership Program, that is a one-stop-shop to learn all necessary essencial skills in global leadership.
Final Thoughts About Multicultural Competence
Multicultural competence is a bit like trust building. It takes time to build trust as much as it takes time to build multicultural competence. It does not happen overnight and requires a consistent and persistent resilience in learning.
If you want to go a step further in raising your multicultural competence, due to a work situation or a life situation, you can hire me as your executive and transition coach. Have a free strategy call with me. We will go over your situation and define the best course of action together to help you become more culturally competent.
If you are interested in developing global leadership skills to improve cultural competence, check out our online Global Executive Leadership Program. We go over all 4 success pillars of Global Leadership during 9 online modules, including 1 dedicated module on Cultural Leadership.
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