Australia and New Zealand are often talked about as the ‘lucky countries’. We live in resource ‘rich’, largely safe environments, we are relatively wealthy, well-governed and politically stable first world countries.
We are both populated by people from all over the world. We are vibrant multi-cultural societies. Cultural diversity is a rich feature of our communities and an integral part of our places of work.
On one level our diversity is highly visible, while on others, particularly in the workplace, our diversity is seemingly under-acknowledged and ‘invisible’. However this is changing and there is a growing recognition and gradual acceptance that there is a need for greater appreciation of the different cultural perspectives we all bring to the workplace.
There is an increasing call for ‘Cultural Awareness’ training but some are wondering, “What is this ‘Cultural Awareness’? And how would having it benefit us?”
Lenses on the world
We all have a culture. All of us have a perspective, a view of the world we see around us. We all look at and interpret the world through a cultural lens. Sometimes we do this consciously but most of the time we do it unconsciously. This is perfectly natural and understandable.
How we view the world through our cultural lens is shaped by many influences. These influences include our upbringing, our family, our community and society in which we live and the assumptions and values we have about what is the ‘right’ way to do things. This is aptly reflected in this quote; “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” by Anais Nin (1903-1977).
Our cultural lens encompasses many things including how we behave in the workplace. These behaviours and the motivational cultural drivers that underpin them include how we expect decisions to be made, how we respond to authority, our attitudes and response to individual and collective needs, decide priorities, manage projects, how we express an opinion or disagree with each other or relate to our clients, managers or other staff at work. For many cultures these expectations, values and their underlying assumptions can often be different and can contribute to misconceptions and misunderstandings that impact on job satisfaction and the way a job gets done.
Why Cultural Awareness training is important
‘Cultural Awareness’ training in the workplace helps companies to increase and strengthen staff engagement with their business and business aims. It can proactively reduce the potential for misunderstanding, staff disengagement and reduce staff turnover. Cultural awareness training is aimed at helping workmates gain an insight and general understanding of how and why colleagues from various cultures might respond to the same circumstances in different ways. It helps people to understand the motivational values that might be influencing the way their workmates respond to particular circumstances and to adjust their own behaviour accordingly, not only to get the job done but to build and maintain effective working relationship with their customers and colleagues.
This can contribute to a greater degree of staff engagement, improved recruitment and retention, and increased productivity and innovation. It can also help develop and strength high-performing work teams.
‘Cultural Awareness’ helps foster a collegial work environment that encourages diverse cultural perspectives and approaches to problem-solving to be more readily voiced. This acceptance and promotion of diversity of thought and perspectives encourages innovative thinking which may benefit the business.
‘Cultural Awareness’ training helps us to consciously develop an empathy and respect for different cultural perspectives within our businesses and organisations, while maintaining an awareness of our own cultural lens and it how influences and filters our view of the world.
Essential business and leadership skill
Having a greater sense of ‘Cultural Awareness’ and being able to communicate effectively across cultures is now an essential workplace skill. It requires conscious development to ensure sustainable and successful, productive working relationships and business outcomes.
‘Cultural Awareness’ training can help New Zealand and Australian businesses to confidently and strategically leverage the talent and potential for growth and innovation that cultural diversity offers them towards achieving their business goals.
Realisation of its significance to New Zealand’s and Australia’s economy is still gaining momentum and has yet to reach a tipping point towards being fully recognised and accepted as an integral part of effective everyday business practice.
This article by Holona & Trish Lui was first published in Smart Company New Zealand in September 2012 on the Onnero platform. Holona & Trish Lui are the founders of Catalyst Pacific Ltd, a consultancy firm that specialises in building cross-cultural effectiveness through the facilitation and coaching for high performance workplaces.
