Cultural competence is integral for organizational success. A 2020 McKinsey report found organizations in the top quartile of ethnic and cultural diversity were 36% more profitable than those in the bottom quartile. Cultural competence is also important to employees. A 2023 survey by Pew Research Center showed most U.S. employees favor increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at work.
Training global managers for cultural competence can produce many organizational benefits. Let’s examine the key components of cultural intelligence training and the practical strategies for enhancing cross-cultural communication and collaboration. Building cultural competence will lead to more effective global team leadership, improved team dynamics, and increased productivity in a globally distributed workforce.
What is Cultural Competence?
Cultural competence is the ability to understand, communicate, and interact with people from different cultures. It combines cultural knowledge, awareness, and social skills. It includes awareness of your cultural worldview, knowledge of other cultural practices, and attitude toward cultural differences.
Cultural Competence vs. Political Correctness
Political correctness involves avoiding language and actions that might insult, exclude, or harm people facing disadvantage and discrimination. However, it can restrict or hinder communication, as global leaders will fear offending employees with their choice of language. Cultural competence involves valuing diversity and being aware of others’ cultural identities, which supports cross-cultural communication.
Cultural Competence Skills
International management training provides leadership with the cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills required for cultural competence. Cultural sensitivity training for managers focuses on developing the following global leadership skills:
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Behavioral flexibility: Adapting and accommodating behaviors to a different culture
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Communication: Knowing how to communicate clearly, be aware of different communication styles, and deal with language barriers
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Conflict resolution: Using strategies and techniques to resolve conflicts
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Cross-cultural empathy: Seeing another person’s experience from an intellectual and emotional point of view
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Cultural sensitivity: Being sensitive to cultural differences in the workplace, and understanding how actions or language can cause offense
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Mindfulness: Being aware of how to communicate and interact with others
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Self-reflection: Thinking about your own biases, assumptions, actions, and attitudes
Benefits of Cultural Competence Training
Developing cultural adaptation in business improves team dynamics, and increases productivity. The benefits of including cultural competence in global business leadership training include:
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Improved communication and collaboration within diverse teams
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Higher levels of cultural understanding and skills
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More active listening, empathy, and overall communication skills
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A wider variety of diverse perspectives, ideas, and strategies
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Improved productivity and cooperation between employees
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Better targeting of customers’ cultural preferences and needs
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Stronger organizational reputation and brand image
Topics of Discussion in Cultural Competence Training
Cultural competence training programs should cover the following topics:
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Diversity: Diversity and inclusion training for leaders includes answering key questions, such as: What is diversity? How has diversity affected your organization? How does diversity affect others from different cultures and identities? How can we develop cultural diversity in leadership?
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Self-awareness: Being self-aware means possessing conscious knowledge of your character, feelings, motives, and desires. Self-awareness enables you to understand how you feel about other cultures, enabling you to make real change.
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Cultural biases: Everyone has cultural biases, stereotypes, and prejudices. Cultural intelligence training encourages discussion of unconscious biases, examination of cultural biases, and understanding how they affect individual professional roles.
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Discriminatory beliefs and behaviors (isms): These attitudes, actions, and institutional structures can lead to the oppression of individuals within different cultural groups. Examples include racism, sexism, ableism, and ageism.
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Privilege: Privilege refers to access or advantages given to specific groups of people due to their membership in a social group. It can be based on many different factors (e.g., race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, education level).
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Allies: An ally is an individual who wants to support and take action to help someone in a marginalized group. Having allies in the workplace will help with developing inclusion and equality.
Best Practices for Cultural Competence Training
Make Strategic Plans
Integrate cultural competence into all aspects of the business. Strategic planning will ensure global business leaders overcome obstacles to cultural competence and support its growth. It can include:
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Focusing on long-term organizational improvement
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Getting input from, and working with, a diverse team
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Formulating inclusive vision and mission statements
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Providing resources to support your efforts
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Recognizing organizational culture and dynamics
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Studying organization policies and practices
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Providing management with culturally relevant professional development
Engage in Continuous Learning
Cultural intelligence training is continuous and ongoing. There is always room to improve your awareness, knowledge, and skills. Continuous learning opportunities enable you to reflect on mistakes, share learnings with others, get help when you recognize a lack of understanding, and try new approaches and strategies to develop cultural competence.
Cultural competence training can include:
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Cross-cultural communication training: Topics may include high-context vs. low-context communication, understanding non-verbal cues, and culturally specific etiquette.
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Immersive learning experiences: Examples include engaging in short-term overseas assignments and virtual reality simulations of cultural scenarios.
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Global mentorship programs: Global leaders can work with mentors from different cultural backgrounds to gain cultural insights.
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Cultural intelligence (CQ) assessments: These tools help global leaders to understand their cultural competence level and identify where to improve.
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Diversity and inclusion initiatives: These strategies can help to integrate cultural awareness into the organization’s overall values and practices.
Conduct Research
Culturally competent global leaders ensure they are properly informed before making decisions that can affect others. Being informed means:
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Collecting qualitative and quantitative data on workplace culture and behaviors
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Gathering insights from global employees’ experiences, thoughts, and attitudes
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Getting input from leaders across the organization
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Working with other organizations to address cultural biases
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Learning about your organization’s institutional biases and culture
Support Open Communication
Communication is the key to demonstrating and reinforcing cultural competence. Cross-cultural communication training should include:
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Coordinating meetings across all levels of the organization
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Providing opportunities to answer questions
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Facilitating open discussions to enable employees to share feedback
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Sharing updates on developments in communication strategies
The Future of International Team Management
Cultural competence training for business leaders is essential for effective international team management. Focus on practical strategies to enhance cross-cultural communication and collaboration, and make cultural intelligence training an integral part of global leadership development programs. Building cultural competence will contribute to more effective leadership, create stronger team dynamics, and increase overall productivity.
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