Corporate Cultural Competence: 3 Promising Practices EVERY Workplace Needs

What keeps teams successful in an ever-changing, global workplace? Public health practitioner, business strategist and stakeholder engagement specialist, Donika Jones, says it’s cultural competence.  

Jones’s experience working with various companies to improve their cultural competence while aligning with stakeholders’ priorities makes her insight for teams particularly useful.  

Keep reading as we break down the definition of cultural competence, why it’s important in corporate environments and 3 promising practices every company should adopt.  

What is cultural competence?  

Cultural competence has many definitions based on the context—academic, corporate, personal—it’s being used in. We’re defining corporate cultural competence as the ability to communicate across languages with respect, understanding and reflective awareness in relation to the culture or community being served.  

Jones emphasizes the need to “acknowledge that there are differences in the ways that we experience the world, that there are differences in our perspectives” as a great starting point for many companies.  

Why Cultural Competence Matters—especially in the workplace 

While we often think of cultural competence as essential only across international teams, it’s just as important in smaller, local teams.  

When everyone in a team shares similar ideas—and ages, majors, and backgrounds—it becomes easy to blindly assume everyone does as well. Jones points this a trap that leads your team into ‘groupthink’ and can lead to misaligned marketing, a disconnect with your audience and a possible failed campaign.  

Cultural competence helps teams:  

• Avoid assumptions about their audience or community

• Seek out broader perspectives outside their own experiences

• Create programs, services or products that resonate with diverse stakeholders

• Maintain strong relationships with clients, customers and colleagues

3 Promising Practices of Cultural Competence EVERY Team Needs 

When asked for the best cultural competence practices in the workplace, Jones said that leaves the implication that there’s just one. However, with her years of experience, she proposed three that will transform your team. 

Organizations often build programs, products, and strategies based solely on internal assumptions. Engagement flips the model.  

In Jones’s words, “Communities know what they need. They will articulate that in the best way, if you ask.”  

Practical ways to apply this: 

• Include representatives from diverse customer or employee groups in all levels of development 

• Host listening-sessions for feedback 

• Partner with cultural advisors or community stakeholders

Many organizations go through the entire process of product or program development without considering its appropriateness or relevance to the audience, client, or community. Then, they try to make it appropriate at the very end.  

Jones explains, “[Cultural competence] is not something that you do at the end...it's something that you should be integrating throughout the entirety of your program development.” 

How to integrate it:  

• Include cultural checkpoints in project timelines

• At every step, ask:

• Create structures to make cultural responsiveness a habit, not an afterthought

Leaders in an organization must practice cultural humility and self-awareness to lead effectively. The heart of cultural humility is recognizing that your perspective isn’t universal, which enables you to intentionally create space to learn from the people you lead.   

Jones suggests addressing matters in your team first: “Maybe we need to have a conversation about what communication style works best for you,” after a particularly silent meeting.  

Self-aware leaders:  

• Ask questions instead of making decisions in a vacuum 

• Invite feedback and genuinely implement what they hear 

• Understand how culture impacts all aspects of their team's work

• Adapt their communication and leadership styles to fit the team—not the other way around