Hi, I’m Sally Walker, director of SW Career Coaching Limited, and I’m a career and intercultural coach. I will be guiding you through this video which is designed to help you recognise what intercultural competence is, and how it can help you to thrive in your career in today’s multicultural work settings, which are frequently becoming the norm. Please refer to the accompanying workbook as well for full information and further resources. As a result of engaging with this recording and the accompanying workbook, I hope that you will have gained a greater understanding of the meaning of the broad term ‘culture’. You will better understand the meaning of intercultural competence, and will recognise its importance for careers within and beyond academia, irrespective of geographic location. You’ll be able to identify the benefits and challenges of working in a multicultural work setting, and will seek to avoid negative cultural stereotyping. In this video I’m going to be covering three main areas. The definitions of culture and intercultural competence. The benefits and challenges of multicultural work settings, and avoiding negative stereotyping. Take a moment to look at these six photographs on screen, which one or ones best represents culture to you? Actually they’re all representations of different cultural groupings. Be that the culture that builds up around membership of a sports team, or by sharing a particular nationality which the world map at photo two represents. Or the culture that builds in a professional work setting. Through being part of a particular religion, having a common educational experience, or sharing a similar age. The purpose of this webinar, we’re therefore adopting Spencer-Oatey’s definition of culture as the meaning systems that are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of a social group, which influence but don’t determine each member’s behaviour and his or her interpretation of the meaning of other people’s behaviour. This broadens out the popular notion of culture as being based purely on an individual’s nationality. Cultural identity can be described broadly as any aspect of an individual’s diversity, arising from a really wide range of variables, including their age, gender, nationality, education, occupation, sexual or religious preferences, political ties, and so forth. These will affect the way a person behaves and how someone else interprets their behaviour. The key point to emphasise here is that a culture grows wherever there are two or more people together. Your family is a cultural grouping. You’ll have certain accepted ways of doing things which other families may not share. When you visit another family often, it is to some larger or smaller extent, it’ll feel different. That’s just culture in action. In other words, culture can be described simply as the way we do things around here. Culture is therefore not something that’s easily defined. It’s complex, and it resists those essentialist labels such as Americans communicate in this way, or British people negotiate in that way. Culture isn’t fixed, and it’s a process instead. Something that’s constantly being created, and it’s something that you can build in a team by agreeing on certain norms of working together. Academic institutions, private sector companies, and third sector organisations each have their own unique cultures. Given the definition above, would you describe the following team as multicultural or not? This is a UK-based work team composed of men and women, spanning two generations. Some in their 20s, and the majority in their 50s, from London, Yorkshire, and Scotland. The team includes members who have different ethnic backgrounds and a mix of religious beliefs and sexual orientations, and all are university educated. So this is indeed a multicultural team, even though all the team originate from the UK. The team is culturally very diverse, but the team members might not be aware of the full scope of this diversity. Would it be helpful for team members of the group to have a level of intercultural competence? Yes, it would. Let’s move now to a description of what’s meant by intercultural competence, which you might also see or hear described as having a global mindset. It’s described by Deardorff as the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required to get along effectively with an individual or a team with a different cultural identity to you. Visually this can be represented by the diagram on screen. Intercultural competence is the measure of your effectiveness when interacting with others who don’t share the same cultural background as you. Using that broad definition of culture which we defined in the previous section. It requires you to be curious and open to differences, show respect and empathy towards others, and to suspend beliefs, assumptions of judgement wherever possible. The skills of listening, observing and evaluating, interpreting, and relationship building are facets of intercultural competence. Intercultural competence incorporates the knowledge gained from cultural self-awareness, from knowing the local cultural context, and from having foreign language where that’s appropriate, and sociolinguistic skills. So the latter knowledge is invaluable for interpreting nonverbal body language. The need for intercultural competence is relevant for careers within academia and beyond. Gaining this competence is an ongoing, lifelong learning process. The more you engage with people from different cultural backgrounds to yourself, the more likely you are to gain intercultural competence or a global mindset. What are the benefits of working in a multicultural work setting which might be similar to the one that I described in that case study earlier, or might have you on assignment abroad, or interacting regularly with international colleagues? Research has demonstrated that there are significant benefits to having a diverse multicultural workforce. From the organisation’s perspective, a team with a varied cultural background frequently generates more innovative ideas, products and services, which in turn potentially leads to increased profitability or raises the reputation of the institution. For a potential employee such as yourself, a multicultural work setting may offer a highly stimulating environment, both in terms of the work content, which might have an international scope for example, as well as the opportunity to collaborate with other talented colleagues. You may also benefit from forward-thinking development and learning opportunities. There are however a number of challenges that you might face when working in a multicultural work setting, which might not exist when working in a more homogenous environment. Which of these have you experienced? Take the language challenge for example, which when colleagues don’t all share the same mother tongue, there may be one language that dominates in the group, reinforcing the power and influence of some, and leaving those who don’t speak it as fluently potentially feeling marginalised. In a multicultural work setting you might experience different styles of communication. So in some cultures it might be the norm to be direct, clear and explicit to avoid misunderstanding, when other cultures, a more indirect approach is the norm to avoid the possibility of rudeness and giving offence. You may find there are different norms of nonverbal communication, including gestures, facial expressions, body language, as well as acceptable levels of personal space. In terms of power and status you may experience different attitudes towards hierarchy that might cause conflict. Some cultures are very respectful of the seniority of co-workers, where other cultures have flatter structures, and tend to be more egalitarian. There may be opposing decision making norms in a multicultural setting that you’re part of. Certain cultures will expect a great deal of analysis and preparation before deciding upon something, whilst others prefer to move into action more rapidly based on adequate rather than full information. Finally, one’s relationship to time can differ between cultures, depending on whether time is viewed in a linear or fluid way. This affects attitudes towards punctuality. So do take time to reflect what your preferences are in each of these dimensions. The greater our own levels of intercultural self-awareness, the better we are at appreciating that there is no right or wrong approach or way of doing things. Intercultural training which is focused entirely on the identification of differences in national cultural traits, such as the Dutch are like this, or the Germans are like that, really does run the danger of producing negative stereotypes. Stereotyping is inevitable in life, it’s a way of labelling our experience, giving us a shorthand, and has some foundation in truth, however Adrian Holiday contends that stereotypes are infected by prejudice, which in turn leads to otherisation. So we need to be careful of falling into the trap of labelling others in the workplace. Intercultural competence is about suspending these judgements, and being curious about a person that you’re working with as an individual. So to gain greater insight into how your culture may be perceived or stereotyped by others, the following exercise on screen may prove helpful. Imagine that a colleague is arriving who’s new to your culture. Be that new to your academic institution, to your country, or to your work sector. What notions or expectations might they have ahead of time, and where might they have gained these from? In a recent webinar that I delivered to postdocs on this topic, a delegate mentioned that when she had been new to the higher education sector, she had expected academics to be very scary because of the way they were portrayed in films or by the media as unintelligible boffins. Instead in reality, in her experience she found academics to be accessible, open, and supportive. So very often film or media representations can be biased or untrue. When developing intercultural competence, we’re aiming to suspend our assumptions derived from these types of secondary sources. I hope that as a result of this short video you can now appreciate a broad definition of what’s meant by culture, as well as a multicultural work setting, and recognise the combination of knowledge, skills and attitude which make up intercultural competence. You’ll have learnt about the benefits and challenges of working in a multicultural environment, and will in future be better able to avoid the pitfalls of negative cultural stereotyping. Please do refer to the list of resources which is included in the workbook for further information on the topics covered here.[END OF TRANSCRIPT]

Hi, I’m Sally Walker, director of SW Career Coaching Limited, and I’m a career and intercultural coach. I’ll be guiding you through this video, which is designed to provide you with practical ways of enhancing your existing levels of intercultural competence. It’s hoped that these insights will enable you to thrive in multicultural work settings. Please refer to the accompanying workbook as well for full information and further resources. As a result of engaging with this recording and the accompanying workbook, I hope that you’ll walk away with suggestions that you can practice when applying for job roles and when working in multicultural work environments. In addition, I hope you’ll also gain an appreciation that organisational cultures are constantly evolving, and that you can positively contribute to this process of building an effective culture by demonstrating high levels of intercultural competence. In this video I’ll cover the following three main areas. After briefly setting the scene about organisation and team culture building, I will share the 3R model to help you learn from intercultural incidents that you experience in future. Secondly I’ll offer some tips for successfully navigating situations where cultural differences are most notable, in interviews, meetings, and emails, within a multicultural work environment. Finally, I’ll provide suggestions to enable you to enhance three key areas of intercultural competence, namely how to increase your tolerance of uncertainty, build relationships based on empathy, and thirdly develop your cultural curiosity. Here’s a reminder of what we mean by intercultural competence, being a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes required to get along with someone who has a different cultural identity. Please do listen to the recording entitled ‘intercultural competence and how it can help you thrive in multicultural work settings’ for more detail about definitions. Organisational cultures in academia and beyond can vary widely depending in part on different sets of values that they each seek to embody. Do refer to the Hofstadter insights article in the resources section for more detail. The organisational culture influences the norms of how relationships are built, how communication typically takes place, how trust is created, and how time is perceived. When researching career opportunities, try to find out not only about the job role you’re applying for, but also about the organisational culture by carrying out informal information-gathering meetings with individuals currently working there. Aim to speak to a cross-section of people, including those who have only recently joined, as they are likely to experience some sense of culture shock on arrival. When these cultural experiences are unexpected or surprising, we might call them intercultural incidents. Whether differences in cultural expectations, these incidents are most likely to arise or be noticeable during the application and interview process to a new organisation, institution or company, when you first are greeting someone who works or studies there and introducing yourself to them. During meetings, and then related to any type of gift giving, appraisals, and email etiquette. It’s therefore helpful to raise your consciousness when going into these types of situation, and be prepared for potential intercultural differences to exist. Being aware of this dimensional framework which is explained in full detail in the video entitled ‘cultural identity and current level of intercultural competence’ may be helpful when you’re encountering new organisational cultures. Recognising that new colleagues have some different as well as similar preferences to you relating to their explicit or implicit communication style, or their preference for consensual or top-down decision-making may explain intercultural incidents that you’ve experienced where you’re surprised or shocked by particular events or way of working. Remember that all of these preferences are positively framed, none are right or wrong. We just need to appreciate that our new colleagues, clients, or suppliers have a different cultural background to us as well as individual personality profiles, and that this influences their behaviours. For a practical application of the dimensional model, let’s look at how it might help you to successfully prepare for and carry out interviews at a new organisation, institution, or company, where cultural differences are likely to exist. Ahead of the interview, seek out an intercultural mentor, somebody who works in the new environments to gain their insights. Ask them about whether the organisation has an egalitarian or hierarchical culture. This may affect whether the interview is informal or formal in style, and might influence the decision making style and whether recruitment choices are made consensually amongst a panel of interviewers, or top-down by just one or two individuals. You could also ask your cultural insider about whether the organisation is task or relationship-orientated. If it’s the former, then it’s more likely that the interviewer will have a job description, and a results-based focus, or if the latter will concentrate on building rapport, discussing common interests or connections between you. Thirdly, you could find out whether this organisation culture typically has a low, that is explicit, or high, that is implicit, communication style. If the interviewer has an explicit style, they’ll be direct in their questions, and will expect you to be succinct and punchy with your responses. If the interviewer has an implicit indirect style, you’ll need to pause, reflect, and then focus on answering the question behind the question. Try to match the pace and tone of your answers to those of your interviewer. Finally, mirror the body language of your interviewer, considering not only eye contact, but how you walk, how you sit, whether you nod or shake your head, even whether you show your teeth or hide them behind your hand, different cultures will ascribe different meanings to each of these actions. Use your intercultural mentor to help you gain the intercultural knowledge you need to fit within this new organisational culture. When you do experience something that’s culturally unexpected, whether during the interview process or once you’ve joined your new multicultural work setting, journal writing can be a helpful tool for deciphering such intercultural situations. Using the 3R model, which was developed by Spencer-Oatey and Davidson of Warwick University, to reflect on intercultural incidents, may help to deepen your intercultural competence. First of all, report in your journal intercultural incidents you’ve encountered which surprised you or you found unusual, puzzling, irritating, upsetting, or significant in some way. Note down as factually as possible what was said, and any non-verbal body language involved. For example, where there was a conflict over a decision making process, or where you felt surprised about the way an interview was conducted, or the manner in which feedback was communicated to you. Next, reflect on the situation, try to spot the problem. Why did it happen? Did it arise due to language difference, conflict in communication styles, or different cultural values and assumptions? Consider using the dimensional framework outlined previously to help you identify the issue. Thirdly, re-evaluate the situation. What are alternative interpretations about what’s happened? Can you take a different perspective and practice putting yourself in another person’s shoes to exhibit intercultural empathy? How might you now repair things if necessary to demonstrate your intercultural resilience? What do you learn from this incident that might be applied in future? Here’s an example of an intercultural journal extract using the 3R analysis, taken from Robert Gibson’s book, Bridging the Culture Gap, which is mentioned in the resource list. This intercultural incident relates to a meeting situation which didn’t go as successfully as the individual had hoped. They used the 3R process as a reflective learning practice. You may find that you experience intercultural incidents when you lead or participate in meetings for the first time in your new organisation. Here are three intercultural tips to consider trying if you are re-evaluating new approaches for future meetings. Firstly, aim to achieve a balance of task and relationship building in a meeting, where you create time for introductions and interactions between participants, as well as goal setting and identifying action items. You could propose a longer communal lunch period for example, or work in smaller breakout groups. You could create greater rapport and establish more common ground amongst participants by introducing knowledge of their culture into the content of the meeting, for example by including words from their language into a presentation. Thirdly, if you’re looking for responses from meeting participants, allow time for multicultural colleagues to write down questions and share them, potentially anonymously in advance rather than seeking spontaneous input. Culturally, this might lessen power and status issues, and will also better accommodate those who have a more reflective preference, as well as those working in a second or third language. It can be helpful to take into consideration the following points when communicating via email in a multicultural environment, particularly where colleagues or clients do not share a common mother tongue or fluent language ability. Focus on sharing factual information rather than criticism or emotions in your emails. In other words, pause and respond rather than reacting. You may be misinterpreting what someone else has written, or the tone being used, because of language or cultural differences. Aim to keep an email relatively short, simple and polite. Make clear what’s being requested and within what timeframe. Be very selective about using jargon, slang, proverbs, complex words and acronyms, in case your reader is unfamiliar with these, and they might lead to a misunderstanding, or might highlight a power status difference. Be sensitive to how you address people, echo their use of titles and credentials. My final tip, don’t rely purely on email. Communicate in a variety of ways, including phone, video platform, and face to face, to build trust and common agreements, and to avoid misunderstandings. In this final segment, I’d like to propose strategies that you can practice to deepen your level of intercultural competence in three critical areas, which are tolerating uncertainty, building relationships based on empathy, and developing greater cultural curiosity. Being able to tolerate and even thrive on uncertainty is an important aspect of intercultural competence, and requires you not to rush to closure or judgement in multicultural situations. We often find unpredictable situations stressful and want to move through them as quickly as possible. In multicultural environments, not knowing what assumptions your colleagues, clients, or suppliers are working under can feel very challenging. However, taking time to consider options and listen to all sides is the key to understanding and ensuring that you don’t make significant mistakes. Here are some practical ways that you can strengthen your tolerance for uncertainty. Aim to be consistently factual and realistic about situations and demonstrate nuanced rather than black and white thinking. Slow down your judgement and decision making processes. Ask more questions, and aim to remain open and agile before coming to any conclusions. Actively participate in new cultural experiences and engage with individuals who have different cultural backgrounds to you. You might invite a new colleague to lunch or volunteer for a charity that puts you in a situation of newness and amongst people from a different cultural background. Forming strong reciprocal relationships in a multicultural setting increases cultural understanding and builds support and self-confidence, as well as strengthening your professional network. The more that you can learn about the culture of the individuals in your multicultural team that you’ve joined, the quicker you’re likely to feel you fit in. Showing empathy means you can imagine what it feels like to look through someone else’s eyes and stand in their shoes, and value how they see the world. It’s vitally important to be able to do to avoid misunderstandings. It’s often easier to feel empathetic towards a colleague when we can accurately read their nonverbal cues as well as tone of voice. This happens most often when we share a similar cultural background. You can often just sense when something isn’t right with them. Many of these signals however, such as nodding or shaking of the head, or the amount of eye contact, have different cultural meanings. This means we need to learn to slow down our normal response rates to others in order to question and interpret accurately what is being meant. When we try to build empathy and understanding with new colleagues, we often ask questions to find common ground together. In multicultural environments, it’s important to remember that cultures will different in terms of how long it takes to disclose personal information. It might be seen as intrusive in one culture to ask about topics such as family, salary, or health. In another culture, this information might be shared early on to build trust and empathy for each other’s situation. Here are some further strategies for you to practice to build empathetic intercultural relationships. Consider increasing the frequency of contact with an individual you’re finding challenging to interact with, rather than avoiding them. Take small steps, start with a greeting and a smile. Comment on neutral topics like the weather, moving later to a question about weekend plans. Gradually trust will hopefully start to build between you given time. Aim to find situations, aim to find similarities and areas of common ground with colleagues and clients, for example by talk of a shared hobby, similar education or family background, rather than focusing on the differences that appear to exist. Be prepared to share a little about yourself early on in the relationship to encourage your colleague to do the same. Practice asking for help, which demonstrates vulnerability and humility, by using the question, since you have deeper experience in, and name the particular cultural context, do you have any insights to share on X? Acknowledge your mistakes in an appropriate way, typically this will deepen your relationship with colleagues. However, there are certain cultural contexts where you need to learn from an intercultural mentor how to do this appropriately without making yourself appear weak. Finally, practice offering genuine, specific and factual praise to others, as well as sharing the credit for any part they play in your success. Having a genuine curiosity about other cultures and a desire to learn more about them is likely to give you a greater degree of intercultural competence. Here are some practical ways that you can develop greater intercultural curiosity. Firstly find yourself an intercultural mentor. A study by Osland et-al showed that individuals with an intercultural mentor fare better than those who do not, as the mentor helps to draw out more complex understandings of a new culture and provides an on-going dialogue. You can make culture explicit by asking questions of your mentor whenever you’re unsure about how to interpret verbal or nonverbal signals and reactions, or when you’ve experienced an intercultural incident. So do try to learn some words of the language or languages spoken by your colleagues or clients, as this may provide you with insight into the values of that culture. For example, Japan’s culture of politeness and respectfulness of status are reflected in there being more than 20 words for making an apology. Knowing this might help to heighten your sensitivity to this aspect of Japanese culture. In addition, trying to speak even a few words with colleagues and clients in their language demonstrates your humility. You may make mistakes, but this gives your colleagues an opportunity to help and advise you, and see that you’re prepared to be vulnerable. Language learning is a chance to become comfortable with the unknown, and it is likely to raise your level of empathy for the challenges faced by colleagues in your work setting who use a second or third language every day to communicate. Watching foreign films, or using an app such as Duolingo or FluentU, reading a newsfeed in another language, are all simple ways to engage with other languages. The recent 2022 cruise research project report noted in the resources section, which was funded by Erasmus, highlighted the importance of both experience with foreign cultures and foreign language competence as critical aspects of building intercultural competence. To that end, do all you can to actively seek out professional as well as social events that bring you into contact with individuals who have different cultural backgrounds to you. I hope that as a result of engaging with this recording that you now have a number of tools and approaches that you can use which should help to increase your own self-confidence when working and studying in multicultural work settings. You will have gained tips for navigating the potential intercultural challenges of interviews, meetings and emails, and finally do remember that organisational cultures are ever-changing, and that you can actively contribute to creating an effective and positive work environment through the conscious practice of intercultural competence. Please refer to the list of resources for further information on the topics covered here.[END OF TRANSCRIPT]

Hi, I’m Sally Walker, Director of SW Career Coaching Limited and I’m a Career and Intercultural Coach. I’ll be guiding you through this video which is designed to raise awareness of your cultural identity and will also help you to identify your current level of intercultural competence. It’s hoped that these insights will contribute to you thriving in multicultural work settings. Please refer to the accompanying workbook, as well, for full information and further resources. As a result of engaging with this recording, and the accompanying workbook, I hope that you’ll gain a greater awareness of your own cultural identity and intercultural preferences, to enable you to build stronger and more empathetic working relationships in a multicultural setting. In addition, you’ll learn how to assess your current level of intercultural competence and identify your intercultural strengths which will be important to highlight in job applications and at interview, as well as clarifying any development areas to be addressed in future. In this video, I’m going to cover these key areas: identifying personal cultural identities, ways to self-assess your current level of intercultural competence. Thirdly, showing a dimensional framework to highlight your intercultural preferences. Fourthly, how to use external resources to assess your level of intercultural competence. Finally. I’ll help you focus on your intercultural strengths and development areas. Please refer to the recording entitled ‘Intercultural competence and how it can help you thrive in multicultural work settings’ for full definitions of what we mean by culture and multicultural work setting. As a reminder, intercultural competence, or having a global mindset, is described by Deardorff as, ‘The knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required to get along effectively with an individual or a team with a different cultural identity to you.’ To work effectively with multicultural colleagues it can, therefore, be helpful initially to be aware of your own, cultural identity or make-up. Equipped with these insights will potentially be easier to recognise areas of cultural common ground, as well as differences between yourself and others. Cultural identity is described by Adrian Holliday as, ‘The collection of our multiple identities.’ These identities derive from the numerous social groupings that we’re part of, including those related to our nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, family position, religion, hobbies, occupation, political ties and education. How do you identify yourself? Completing the culture-flower exercise yourself in the workbook might be helpful. Add in one of your multiple identities per petal. For example, son, French, cricket player, Muslim, only child, university educated. You can see my own examples shared here on screen. The purpose of the exercise is to raise awareness of your own cultural complexity and the output could be shared with new colleagues or your manager in order to build trust and seek out greater common ground together. This is a useful ice-breaker-type exercise. Once you have a sense of your own, complex cultural identity, we can explore your current level of intercultural competence and how well you practice the skills and attitudes which make up this particular competence. We want to know how well you tolerate newness, ambiguity and uncertainty. We can identify whether you actively listen, evaluate and interpret situations of people without judgement and with curiosity and empathy. Thirdly, reflect on your attitudes towards certain verbal and non-verbal behaviours. Initially, you might begin by asking yourself some self-reflective questions and noting down your responses in the workbook. How do you demonstrate that you value people from other cultures, even if you disagree with their beliefs and opinions? What specific actions do you take in meetings with colleagues to do this? Do you check and verify your understanding when listening to or reading something, rather than jumping to conclusions or assumptions? How curious are you about other cultures? What have you done recently to demonstrate this? Such as volunteering in a new cultural environment, or inviting a colleague with a different cultural background to lunch. Are there particular verbal or non-verbal behaviours that make you feel uncomfortable? Be honest, how do you feel about eye contact, tone or pace of voice, tolerance of accents? Finally, what language skills do you have? A dimensional framework, such as the one outlined on-screen, based on the work of Erin Meyer in her book ‘The Culture Map’ which is mentioned in the resources list, can be a helpful tool for raising your awareness of your own behaviours and preferred ways of communicating and interacting. Secondly, this knowledge may enable you to interpret and appreciate someone else’s perspective and behaviour without falling into the cultural trap of othering; that is, labelling others as wrong because their preferences or behaviours are different to your own. In your workbook, as I describe each of the dimensions, you might want to place an X to mark your own, typical, natural preference on each of the eight scales. The first dimension is about how you prefer to communicate based on your cultural identity and background. You may be a low-context communicator which means you’re explicit and direct; communication is precise, simple and clear, and messages are expressed and understood at face value. ‘I think we should do it this way,’ is an example of low-context communication. Alternatively, you might be a high-context communicator where you’re more implicit and indirect and where messages are implied rather than plainly expressed. A high-context communicator might say, ‘I wondered if we could possibly consider other alternative options of doing this.’ You may be somewhere in between on a scale. Where do you place your X in your workbook? If you’re a low-context communicator, you might perceive the high-context communicators to be confusing, difficult to read or understand or know what they really want or mean. A high-context communicator might feel that a low-context communicator is being rude and they prefer their own style which they perceive as being polite and subtle. The second dimension is around evaluating and how you naturally give negative feedback, whether this is done directly, frankly, bluntly or indirectly where the messages are delivered softly and subtly and positive messages are often used to wrap around negative ones. Place your X in your workbook. The next dimension relates to persuading and whether you prefer initially to focus on principles or applications first. Principles first, means that you present a theory or concept first before moving to practical recommendations and applications first, means you prefer the reverse approach. When presenting to audiences with different cultural backgrounds to you, this is a really important one to find out about ahead of time. An American colleague who has a preference for taking action and making recommendations started with these in a presentation to German colleagues and was frustrated when they interrupted her early on and asked her to present the background methodology to the project first off. They preferred principles rather than applications first. Fourthly, on the leading dimension, do you naturally prefer an egalitarian, flatter organisation structure or a hierarchical or multi-layered organisation where status and seniority are often of great importance? What about on the deciding dimension? Do you prefer a consensual approach, sharing decision-making in a group or a top-down approach where decisions are made by individuals, very often the manager, about what’s to be done? On the trusting dimension, what’s your cultural preference? Do you naturally get stuck straight into a task and build the necessary working relationships to get things done as you go along? Or do you prefer to spend time, initially, building key relationships and trust by sharing meals or having informal coffee meetings and then progressing to the task? On the seventh dimension, are you someone who views disagreement and debate as positive for the team? Open confrontation is accepted and appropriate and will not negatively impact the relationship. Or, are you someone who prefers to avoid confrontation as you view this as inappropriate and believe it will break group harmony or negatively impact on your working relationship? Finally, where will you place your X on the scheduling dimension? Do you have a linear approach to time where project steps are approached in sequential fashion, completing one step at a time? The focus is on the deadline and sticking to the schedule. Here, the emphasis is on promptness and organisation. Is your cultural preference for flexible time where project steps are approached in a fluid manner, changing tasks as opportunities and needs arise? The focus is on adaptability and flexibility is valued over structure. Please remember that in doing this exercise there is absolutely no right or wrong answer. All of these preferences can be viewed positively if we’re aware that when someone has a different preference to us, they are not doing so to be deliberately difficult or rude but as a product of their cultural upbringing, their background and personality. Take a moment to reflect before we move on about any specific intercultural incidents that you’ve experienced which relate to one or more of these eight dimensions. Where have someone else’s preferences been different to your own? Was this during an interview process, meeting new colleagues or whilst making a presentation? How can you, now, re-evaluate the incident so that you have greater empathy for someone else’s preferences? To enrich the self-assessment reflective work that you’ve done here on your levels of intercultural competence, you could also use certain external resources to help you gain even more information and insight about yourself. For example, I highly recommend that you complete the assessment tools available via the website if you haven’t done so already. You could choose to invest in the Intercultural Readiness Check, or IRC profile tool, with a personalised hour of debrief and coaching which is available via an external consultant, Alexandra Beaulieu. Please refer to the resources list in the workbook for more details. Finally, you might choose to seek feedback from others whose opinions you trust and respect. Often, principal investigators, peers, supervisors and other knowledgeable others can help you to identify your intercultural blind spots which may be talents and strengths that you do not recognise in yourself or potential areas for development in future. You’ll find a feedback template in the workbook, that you can use to send to a number of individuals asking them to rate you on various aspects of intercultural skills and attitudes. Armed with all this information about your current level of intercultural competence, which combines your own self-reflection with the feedback of others, you now have your baseline. You hopefully know more about your cultural self and the ways that you currently interact with people from different cultural groupings. You should be better able to identify your intercultural strengths such as whether you’ve got strong questioning, listening, evaluating or relationship-building skills. Do you test out alternatives, pause rather than rush to conclusions? Do you demonstrate attitudes of cultural curiosity and empathy? Many of these skills and attitudes are often naturally evident in a PhD student because of the very nature of the sort of research work you’re involved with. Are you highlighting them in your job applications and valuing them as highly as you should be doing? Finally, what does the reflective work you’ve done tell you about any development areas or gaps that you have that you want to address going forwards? What actions could you commit to, to develop your intercultural competence further? I hope that as a result of this short recording that you have a greater self-awareness of your personal cultural identity, your cultural make-up and of your cultural preferences in the workplace. I hope that you’re much clearer about your intercultural strengths and will be seeking to emphasise these in future recruitment processes and when joining new, multicultural teams. Finally, perhaps you’ve identified areas for future growth and intercultural competence development. Please, do refer to the list of resources in the workbook for further information on the topics covered here.

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