Cambridge Wants to Continue Talks About Diversity
On World Day for Cultural Diversity 2022, Kasia Lanucha, intercultural trainer at Cambridge University and course lead for the University of Cambridge Online course 'Intercultural Communication for Global Business' shares her thoughts on the importance of embracing cultural diversity in the workplace.
Since 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has celebrated the occasion of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. It exists to shine a light on the 'richness of the world's cultures, but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace, stability and development' (UNESCO).
Embracing cultural diversity starts with every one of us; our understanding of each other and the context of each other's existence. There is no better place to recognise this than the workplace. With the increasing need for companies to adapt and encourage flexible working, we're in turn seeing increasing numbers of globalised teams which has propelled cultural diversity to the forefront of people management.
Importance of cultural diversity
Kasia Lanucha understands the importance of cultural diversity better than anyone.
"It's very important to celebrate different cultures, but even more important to create a dialogue to enhance mutual understanding. The economic growth of working with teams around the world is important, but even more so are human relationships in general. Especially in this difficult time for the world where we need peace and stability."
It is organisation-wide change that is required in order to benefit fully from the diversity of thought and innovation that embracing cultural diversity brings. As Kasia says, businesses need to understand its vast benefits.
"Companies need to pay attention to cultural diversity to understand what the impact is not only on their day-to-day interactions with clients, customers and international teams but also their long-term strategy."
She continues, "cultural competence helps us understand why others might see the world differently, that your way of doing things is not the only way of doing things. It informs your mission statement, leadership style, team performance, customer service standards, meeting sales target and many more aspects of your business."
Remote working
Kasia explains that this is even more important for an organisation in the age of remote working.
"Some dispersed teams claim that they have become much more efficient at online communication such as running regular online meetings and looking after each other's wellbeing. Overall, they find it much harder to build relationships, especially with newcomers. In addition, when working remotely, the differences become even more blurred, and research suggests that we're more likely to reinforce stereotypes online (not only to do with nationality but also with functions, department or age)."
Top tips to benefit from diversity of thought
So what advice does Kasia give to companies struggling to adapt with having more globalised and diverse teams?
"Want high performing teams? Start with increased cultural awareness. Create a safe space for them to talk about their values and perception. By doing so, people will be more likely to put themselves in other people's shoes. Otherwise, it's very hard to be empathetic."
It's also important to "develop the cultural intelligence of your teams. It's no longer culture-specific knowledge – it's about the attitudes and skills that help you deal with ambiguity.
And remember – "diversity is at the heart of innovation."
Embracing diversity in practice
Talking about embracing cultural diversity is the easy part, but enacting practical change is much harder. Kasia has worked with many companies to do just this.
"There was one company based in two different countries that was experiencing some 'management issues' in one of the locations," she explains. "The head office was reluctant to assume that it was down to national culture."
What became clear was that 'good management' meant something different to both offices and they were struggling to manage in a way that suited both. Intercultural training provided by Kasia was able to address some of the challenges the company was facing.
Looking back on this example, Kasia reflects that "a shift of perspective can be very eye opening and help us be less judgemental. Understand and be understood. You can then start working on building the new 'we' and talk about helpful and unhelpful behaviours at the global level."
Embracing cultural diversity in the workplace is an exciting and powerful tool to secure increased growth and new markets for businesses. It is a skill and must be nurtured in order to achieve its full potential.
Are you keen to understand more about how intercultural training can bring impact and innovation in your business context? Discover more about Kasia Lanucha's online course in 'Intercultural Communication for Global Business'.
More from Cambridge Advance Online
Source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2022/05/20/cultural-diversity-in-the-new-world-of-work/
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