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Cultural Sensitivity At Work: How To Implement Change
75 years ago, you would have most likely found yourself working in your hometown, alongside your neighbor who you went to the same church with and most likely grew up with in the same school.
Now, with the advancement of technology, the ability to move anywhere in the world, you might work with someone from a different state or continent altogether!
With that being said, you also most likely work with people of different religions, cultures, ethnicities, and beliefs as you.
So as a supervisor or boss managing people from different cultures, how do you ensure that everyone is respectful, courteous, and knowledgeable of other people’s backgrounds and associations?
You implement change through cultural sensitivity training!
What Is Cultural Sensitivity At Work? What Is Cultural Sensitivity Training?
Cultural sensitivity is exactly what it sounds like; being sensitive to or understanding other cultures, ethnicities, and differences. Cultural sensitivity enables us to learn about and understand people different from ourselves.
A workplace is a small community of people working together in harmony for a common goal – to succeed. If you are facing obstacles that are due to cultural barriers and differences, it’s time to implement change with cultural sensitivity training.
Cultural sensitivity training combines team coaching and techniques that show you how to break down your own barriers (even if they are unknown) in order to fully understand, accept and incorporate different cultures into our workplace environment.
Milton Bennet created the Development of Intercultural Sensitivity Model, which breaks down the process into 6 phases; Denial, Defense, Minimization (seeing everyone as equal), Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration.
Through the process of this model, you learn to understand and eventually integrate everyone’s individual cultures into your workplace!
This integration creates synergy and harmony between your team!
At MVision Consulting, we offer cultural sensitivity training workshops that encompass different elements of understanding and education when it comes to cultural differences.
We also have listed a few tips below to start implementing change and embracing cultural sensitivity in the workplace.
Bridge The Communication Gap
When working with people all over the world, you will probably encounter team members who speak a language other than your own. A bilingual or multilingual team can lead to a path of miscommunication and conflict if clear and effective communication strategies are not in place.
In general, If you don’t have effective communication, your team can struggle, deadlines can go unmet, and projects can have errors that extend a deadline even further.
You may need a translator to help with communication between your team and customers or have someone fluent in the languages that are spoken in your workplace.
Celebrate Diversity
In the U.S., the work holidays typically fall around American and Christian Holidays. However, when you have a diverse group from all around the world, you will have many different holidays to celebrate! Create a calendar of holiday groups that your team can choose to work from so that everyone is respected and has their choice of holidays off to spend with their friends and families. Incorporate different holidays into your workplace community as well by celebrating with the entire staff and having your team educate each other on the meanings of the holidays being celebrated!
Encourage Healthy Discussion
Miscommunication and missteps often happen because of a lack of education about different cultures and ethnicities. This is your chance as a leader to provide a safe environment to cultivate healthy communication and discussion amongst your team. Allow your team to share with one another and give opportunities for questions and curiosities. As always, be sure to keep it professional and polite. You are encouraging synergy, which will, in turn, create a well-oiled machine that is your team!
Learn More About Cultural Sensitivity At Work With MVision Consulting
As we said above, we offer workshops that focus on developing international leaders and creating a growth culture in the workplace. In these workshops, your team will learn about cultural sensitivity, team synergy, building trust, and more.
Dr. Marc Camras, founder of MVision Consulting, has worked for decades with individuals and teams to educate, inspire and encourage engagement within Fortune 500 and 1000 Companies, Multinational Companies, Universities, and large Nonprofits.
To learn more about what MVision Consulting has to offer, browse our website and check out our blog page featuring the Great Resignation, how to handle narcissistic leaders and how to handle team dysfunction at work.
We also encourage you to schedule a discovery call to discuss how we can help your team build synergy and continue on the path to success!