CULTURAL
COMPETENCE
Culturally competent professionals are able to work or respond effectively to build bridges across cultural and ethnic differences in a way that acknowledges and respects the culture of the individual or organisation being served. They are aware and respectful of and, indeed, celebrate different values, beliefs, traditions and customs. Their desire, willingness and ability to see value in each and every culture is such that learning about cultural differences becomes something to achieve rather than some politically correct, tiresome chore to be avoided.
Cultural competence, for organisations and individuals, requires self-knowledge and self-awareness, experience and knowledge about a particular culture, and positive change or action for successful interaction with the identified culture.
Lack of cultural
self-awareness makes it difficult to be truly sensitive to the impact that our own
cultural norms, customs, beliefs, values, and behaviours have on people from other
cultures. It is difficult to tolerate the ambiguity that results from not
knowing what the rules are or what is expected of you in unfamiliar situations.
Cultural competence
enables people to empathise with the unique perspective of different members of
various ethnic groups, especially individuals who are most different from us.
It enables people to listen to others even when intercultural differences pose
challenges because, say, the other person has a strong accent, is highly
emotional, or shares views that are counter to one's own.
Cultural competence
enables us to recognise when our personal limitations interfere with our
ability to interact with someone who is different. It can give us the
confidence or courage needed to take risks when developing intercultural skills
that enable us better to address the challenges of intercultural interactions,
rather than blame the consequences of our inadequate responses on people with
different cultural norms, standards and expectations.
Cultural competence supports
the recognition of diversity as a source of abundance and a cause for
celebration!
Our Diversity programs can
celebratory and uplifting; they can also be uncomfortable at times, because we
challenge people’s limiting beliefs and bed-rock assumptions. And we offer
techniques and strategies that enable people to leave the training knowing why
and how to be the difference that makes the difference.
James Mason [1] developed a continuum of five progressive steps whereby individuals, families, groups and organisations can measure their cultural competence:
1)Cultural destructiveness: Attitudes, policies, and practices that are demeaning and detrimental to individuals and their cultures.
2)Incapacity: Incapable of assisting different cultures, the system or agency; unintentionally ruinous / destructive to individuals and/or communities.
3)Blindness: Intending to be unbiased, the system and its agencies function as if the culture makes no difference and as if all the people are the same.
4)Pre-competence: Individuals and organizations start to acknowledge cultural differences and to make documented efforts to improve.
5)Competence: Acceptance and respect of cultural differences, continual expansion of cultural knowledge, continued cultural self-assessment, attention to the dynamics of cultural differences, and adoption of culturally relevant service delivery models.
[1] Mason, J. L. (1993). Cultural competence self-assessment questionnaire. Portland, OR: Portland State University, Multicultural Initiative Project.