Cultural Competency is Integral to Diversity and Inclusion
Identifying whether or not a group, organization, or team is diverse can be difficult. Sure, you can base your assumption on physical characteristics such as gender or race. Doing this is not wrong exactly, but we shouldn’t stop there. While diversity is important, I believe that possessing cultural competency is integral to having a truly diverse and inclusive team.
Author Scott Wilson, with Human Services Edu states, “The term cultural competence describes a set of skills, values and principles that acknowledge, respect and contribute to effective interactions between individuals and the various cultural and ethnic groups they come in contact with at work and in their personal lives.” I will add to this and say that this respect is needed in programmatic decision making, as well.
You’ve heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”
While physical diversity is important and may give insight into a person’s lived experience, I do not see race alone as being a valid indication of whether a team or group values diversity and possesses cultural competency. I do not see a racially diverse space as being absent of racism and I certainly do not see a lineup of folks and have the data I need to understand the depths of diverse thought they possess between them. For instance, I am a biracial woman. You may assume that through my lived experience I have had to face racism head on, all of my life. While this is true, I have also been told that I cannot play a guitar or talk in my vernacular, and had to choose my race and stick to it, by another biracial person. I have a laundry list of these types of interactions in my personal and professional life.
We strive to create diverse spaces to drive creativity, to grow though understanding of others who may be perceived as different, and – what motivates me the most - to challenge the status quo (that is only the status quo through willful ignorance at this point, I want to add). Possessing cultural competency supports this by creating an environment where people can be themselves and do not feel the pressure to conform to the majority’s cultural norms and expectations.
Cultural competency is necessary in community-based work at every level of the organization, including board leadership.
Difference in thought and experience cannot be represented by the way someone looks, and to assume it may be dangerous. Think of some folks from marginalized groups who do not seem to be thinking from the perspective you would expect them to. I won’t name names. There are “marginalized” people in high positions of influence who either do not understand, do not know, care or respect the importance of culture and community. Nonwhite people have perpetuated oppressive systems since sliced bread, so dig deeper by including cultural competency in how you qualify diversity. In my opinion, cultural competency is more important to diversity than race and ethnicity, but the two are not mutually exclusive. With that said, if cultural competency is valued, strived for and instilled in your team, then your organization will be racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse.
Lastly, I would like to leave you with a personal example of the importance of cultural competency, and how imperative it is in community-based work.
A few years ago, I met with a family who had recently moved to the US. It was a husband, a wife, and two children. When asking the adults questions, I realized that the wife would not answer questions when she was asked directly. I asked the husband if he would mind stepping out so I can ask his wife a few questions. He agreed, but hesitated. When I was alone with his wife, I asked her if she felt comfortable talking to me alone. She said yes, and then would not stop talking! After the meeting, I invited him back in. He hesitated shaking my hand when he left, but I was respectful and gave him encouragement. A few months later he came back. He reached out to shake my hand without hesitation. Things were going well for the family and they were happy to see me.
How they interacted with me was a cultural norm for them. Instead of telling him how it is in America and explaining my staunchly feminist ideals to them (which I would have said if I chose to react, rather than respond), I gave him space and led with empathy. I removed my ego from the conversation. – this is where cultural competency lives. I have no doubt that their transition would have been more difficult if I had treated them differently.
So, make sure you are not just checking the “diversity box” without including cultural competency as a qualifier. If you find that this is lacking, on your team or within yourself individually, feel free to reach out! You’ll find the link to my calendar below.