A Home for Culture Vultures

Before we answer this question, here’s one for you!

How do you know that you are not already culturally aware?

Let's look closer at a few examples of cultural awareness.

They come from the real-life experiences of our clients as well as more high-profile examples.

The training world is evolving at an incredible pace.

Indeed, discussions of blended learning by L&D professionals have quickly moved beyond ‘why do we need it?’ to ‘how do we do it?’

Self-awareness is fundamental in raising cultural competence.

If you are unable to understand yourself, it will be very difficult to understand another.

Why focus on 'culture' in the workplace?

Why do we need to look at 'culture' specifically?

As cross-cultural training specialists, we sometimes come across resistance from delegates who have been obligated to attend a cultural awareness session by their boss, HR or the Learning and Development department.

Resistance may stem from many factors, not least of which may be that the benefits and background to the training course have not been fully communicated.

Have you read about the backlash Pearson Education received regarding a section about cultural awareness in a recent nursing textbook?

Initially it started with a Facebook post outlining some crude cultural stereotypes, but the complaints soon grew large enough and loud enough for Pearson Education to take note.

Culturally diverse teams are becoming more and more the norm as international businesses continue to hire in talent from around the globe.

Anyone who has worked in a multicultural team knows that this comes with challenges.

Accents are an amazing window onto our history.  As accents die, so too are accents born in response to changes in our environment.

In ‘The Lost Cockney Voice’ available on podcast via Radio 4 downloads, Cole Moreton talks about the unique cockney accent of his grandmother’s era.

Researchers believe they have finally discovered why the wide, white-teethed smile is so important in American culture - immigrants and cultural diversity.

Across different cultures, a smile can mean many things.

“How would you explain your country's culture to someone who isn’t at all familiar with it?”

This was the question posed by OdinText to more than 15,500 people across the globe in the hope of finding some insights into cultural differences or similarities.

A warning sign with the silhouette of an Orthodox Jewish man wearing a traditional 'Fedora' hat has been found on a lamp-post in north London amid one of the largest Hasidic communities in Europe.

 At a time when the foreigner, the immigrant, the Muslim, the Jew, the Mexican, etc are being constantly vilified by some segments of our media, one should not be surprised by the increasing intolerance towards 'the other'.

The viral video of Professor Robert Kelly talking to the BBC via Skype perfectly illustrate how unconscious bias works.

When his kids break into the room and interrupt the interview, an Asian lady comes to get them - did you see a Nanny or a Mum? 

I recently penned some musings about the privitization of cultural diversity in a blog post; the central theme being that politics and politicians don't know how to handle the boiling hot potato that is multiculturalism. The result, I predict, will be the private sector championing cultural diversity and multiculturalism with the politicians glady handing responsibility over.

To summarise the blog, I believe the private sector see the failings of politicians to positively engage and counteract the harmful anti-difference agenda as bad for business.

One of my colleagues recently caused a rather difficult situation when he unwittingly fell victim to his unconscious bias.

My colleague and I were talking to a client regarding the need for intercultural leadership training for their CEO based in the Middle East.

Sporting its own fair share of industry models, my favourite cultural model has to be one which outlines the steps between cultural ignorance and cultural savvy.

This model resonates with me on a personal note.  Why?  Well, working in the Oil and Gas industry overseeing project delivery across international teams, I thought I was great at working across cultures.

Working internationally comes with certain challenges - navigating cultural differences is just one.

Being able to work, communicate, sell to or buy from people in different countries, working in different times zones, with different ways of doing things is essential.

Cultures differ in the way we use our bodies to communicate.

Sometimes it is very obvious, many times very subtle.

As part of an effort to help immigrants settle into life in Norway, cultural awareness courses have been made compulsory.

Watching some of the footage of the content in a short video piece on The Guardian website left me cringing - it really exposed a rather shallow approach to cultural understanding in many senses.

Culture-Geeks Will Love This!

I’ve recently come across a totally awesome database – it’s a treasure trove of statistical information about cultures, societies, language, places and environments; something I thought I had to share with my fellow culture vultures.