Today, perhaps more than ever before, I can hear a subtle message reverberating in the world: “You must learn to reconcile your differences.” Most acts of violence we see in the world today are caused by our inability as a human beings to bridge our differences successfully.

Differences in race, language, religion, nationality, sexual orientation and political views continue to be the cause of conflict, exploitation, displacement and violence in our world. How can we find peace at the center of this chaos? How can we live in a world in which differences are valued, respected and celebrated?

The role of Intercultural Competence

As a professional interculturalist with a mission of helping organizations become more diverse, inclusive and equitable, I have come to the realization that intercultural competence is often the surest path to my clients’ organizational success. Without intercultural competence, inclusion becomes elusive and equity is like a dream we are eternally trying to reach.

What is intercultural competence and how do we cultivate it? Intercultural competence refers to our ability to function effectively in the presence of differences. It requires us to develop our ability to understand who we are, our cultural conditioning, what we believe and value, and our prejudices and biases. In short, it is about developing our capacity to understand the complexity of who we are as individuals. Intercultural competence also refers to our ability to understand others’ cultural conditioning, what they believe and value, and their bias and prejudices. In addition, it requires us to understand our collective history and how that history keeps being perpetuated in our systems and institutions.

Once we have developed the capacity to see ourselves and our interactions with others with more complexity, we become more open to look at things from different perspectives. We become better equipped to reconcile the many paradoxes present in our world. We begin to understand the role systemic inequities play, and we start owning our responsibility to restoring the inequities in our own organizations and our world. In this way, we become champions for peace and equity in our families, organizations and teams.

What you can do to cultivate intercultural competence in yourself, your community, your organization and your world?

1. Commit to making self–awareness a priority
Take time to reflect upon your own worldview, beliefs and values. Increasing your cultural self-awareness involves deepening your understanding of how your own cultural values and practices are influenced by the groups to which you belong.

2. Become aware and open to differences
Most of us have been told to overlook differences and see people are more similar than different; after all, we are all humans with similar needs and values. When this way of believing operates in us, we tend to be less conscious, less aware, become less sensitive and miss important differences. Pay attention to your interactions and make sure that you are not automatically assuming similarities. Consider participating in intercultural programs or courses that may be offered in your community.

3. Cultivate your tolerance to ambiguity
Notice how you deal with situations in which things are not 100% clear. Are you able to remain calm and adapt or do you overreact by wanting to take control? Become aware of how you respond to situations in which ambiguity is present and practice remaining curious, centered and relaxed. Sometimes it’s not easy, however what you gain in insight and peace makes it well worth the effort.

4. Cultural empathy
Are you able to understand and acknowledge the experience of a culturally different person without denying your cultural identity? Or do you tend to consider your own cultural practices as better or worse than others? Practice cultivating cultural empathy by reflecting on a specific difference you have observed between your own cultural practices and the practices of another cultural group of which you are familiar. Think about an explanation of that difference from your own cultural point of view and from the other group’s point of view.

5. Examine your biases
Pay attention to the messages you often hear about other groups and about your own group by society and the media. Think about how these messages may be having an impact on your interactions with people from other groups. Remember, whether about another group or your own, biases can be positive or negative.

Maria Velasco is a strategic organizational development and leadership consultant for organizations seeking transformational change in the area of diversity and inclusion. She has over 15 years experience developing and implementing sustainable diversity and inclusion initiatives to help strengthen and leverage diversity for organizations from a variety of sectors with the goal of reducing bias, increasing cultural competence, promoting inclusion and institutional change.

For more information on how to keep cultivating cultural competence in your organization please check out our webpage: https://interculturaltraining.springinstitute.org/training/