What’s Next?

Once the business case has been made and understood, there are a number of behaviors that may be helpful to organizations evaluating how to begin efforts to develop a more inclusive, culturally competent culture:

3 Define culture broadly, rather than seeing
it only through the company lens.

3 Respect customers’ and employees’ cultural beliefs.

3 Recognize the complexity in language
and image interpretation.

3 Facilitate communication and learning between
businesses and the communities they serve.

3 Collaborate with the external community as well
as the customer base to define and address needs.

3 Work closely with community and cultural groups
to implement programs and provide products and services that meet their needs.

3 Develop more effective ways to hire and train staff.

3 Make culturally competent behaviors
the norm in the organization.

3 Improve communication, including an
awareness of accent and language barriers.

3 Motivate workers through the accurate cultural
interpretation of desires and behaviors.

3 Evaluate culturally diverse applicants
and employees through a better understanding of presentation styles, behaviors and language facility.

3 Increase harmony and comfort in the workplace through an understanding of others’ motivations and perspectives.