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Cultural Awareness Training


Cultural intelligence definition
Earley and Mosakowski (2004) defined cultural intelligence as “an outsider’s seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person’s compatriots would”. 
Madhusudan (n.d.) expands on this to say that cultural intelligence includes the three domains of cultural knowledge, cross-cultural skills, and cultural metacognition.
Culture definition
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines culture as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group” and also “the characteristic features of everyday existence … shared by people in a place or time”

No one person or department should be solely responsible for raising the cultural intelligence of an organization, not even HR.  This type of philosophy needs to flow from the top down and be role-modeled at all levels.  If the CEO/President doesn’t “buy in” to any idea (from cultural awareness to health and safety) then it won’t become part of the company’s culture and philosophy.  The HR department might bear the greatest responsibility in terms of implementing training but the core ideals need to be invested in at every level of the company and everyone needs to be responsible for creating and raising the cultural intelligence of the company as a whole.
To create an environment that is welcoming, respectful, and inclusive these ideals needed to be embedded in the philosophy of the company – everyone needs to “walk the walk and talk the talk”.  Incorporating these principles and philosophies into the company’s vision and mission could help set the stage, particularly for newer employees during onboarding.  
While it is important to be open to differences in how people approach their work, there are likely some areas of the work day that people need to conform to the company policies, procedures, and practices that may be different than some people’s norms.  In these cases, it is up to HR and senior management to clearly define these items and provide training around these issues.  For example, many countries differ in their approach to the stated starting time of a meeting – some cultures arrive 5-10 minutes early and anything later than that is considered late, some cultures arrive right at the stated time, and other cultures arrive 5-10 minutes after the stated time and that is considered normal and acceptable.  If start times are important for a company than this needs to be made clear up-front.  Doing so is not being culturally blind, particularly when training and education is provided around the issue.
Some people have a natural ability for cultural intelligence.  A company’s management team would be wise to identify these people and enlist their assistance with increasing the cultural intelligence within the company. At the least they can be role models. 

References
Culture definition (n.d.).   Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture
Earley, P. Christopher & Mosakowski, Elaine (2004).  Cultural Intelligence in the Harvard Business Review.  Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence
Madhusudan, Priyanka (n.d.).  Integrating cultural intelligence at work.  Retrieved from https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/the-philosophy-of-happiness-by-tal-ben-shahar-16796
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