Culturally Fluent
Culture consists of shared values, beliefs and learned patterns of behavior shaped by various factors, for instance: age, class, education, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, and sexual orientation.
The world is becoming increasingly multicultural. Therefore, understanding and leveraging similarities and differences of groups is more important than ever for companies to remain competitive. Many corporations have launched Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives recognizing the value of this work.
Since its inception in 2012, The Center for Culturally Fluent Leadership (CCFL) has helped individuals, teams, and organizations advance their missions by developing their cultural competence. As defined by Roger Husbands and Beau Stubblefield-Tave, (of the Cultural Imperative, CCFL’s predecessor), cultural competence is —the ability to work with and for diverse cultures.
Teams
Today, CCFL provides data-driven leadership development tools and programs. These tools and programs help both team members and team leaders collaborate across cultural lines.
Such collaboration improves team and organizational performance. Improving team performance increases profitability at every level of the team. Recent studies have demonstrated this at the board and senior management levels.
Earlier studies have also demonstrated this in product development teams. More culturally and functionally diverse product development teams bring varied ideas and experiences to the table.
With good facilitation based on clear goals, these teams can innovate “outside the box” in ways that more homogenous teams cannot. The business results are impressive. More diverse teams beat their counterparts on several standard metrics, e.g. time to market, initial sales, and profitability.
Culturally fluent and diverse teams can also avoid costly cultural errors.
Imagine if the team preparing to launch the Chevy Nova in Latin America had included a native Spanish speaker. That team member would have instantly recognized that “no va” means “no go” in Spanish.
As a result, one of the great cases of cultural arrogance would never have happened.
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When you subscribe, you’ll also get access to a free case study. This study details how CCFL helped advance DEI efforts at State Street. You’ll gain insights as to how we might help your business as well.