“I don’t know how to make everyone happy!”
Celebrating diversity can seem impossible. The impression is that you need to make people understand everything about everyone – which is impossible. This isn’t the case. If you want to create an environment of cross-cultural awareness, all it takes is a little intention, honesty, humility, and planning. By following a few pieces of advice, you’ll be able to shift the culture in your workplace over time.
Consider these three ways to create cross-cultural awareness in your organization
Good faith communication. One main problem plaguing organizations right now – and people in general – is good faith communication. This simply means that people are approaching new relationships and situations with “good faith” that the other person doesn’t intend to harm. To implement this into any department is to create an informative plan that promotes this idea. Management needs to display this throughout the office. It’s difficult at first, but good faith conversations develop trust. As a result, a better work environment for everyone too!
Create a cross-cultural calendar.
A cross-cultural calendar will keep the department aware of all the upcoming events and observances of the different cultures through the department (and the world in general). For example, observing these various days on the calendar allows everyone to be appreciated, recognized, and, most importantly, seen, accepted, and included in the company.
Cultural calendars include:
- Religious holidays
- DEI specific events and observances
- Cultural holidays and observances
- Any major cultural or political events that could impact the rest of the workweek.
- Protests designed to create awareness may disrupt the work week, so it’s necessary always to remain vigilant to any movements or protests.
Develop a culture of education
Finally, learning should be a great constant in life. If our leaders display a thirst for knowledge, we see them as humble. In the same way, we’ll want to follow in their footsteps.
By keeping an environment that’s open to communication, you can understand your workforce better. Stay in touch with the needs of everyone that helps keep the organization running. For this reason, you create a transparent, interactive, and inclusive culture. Keep an ongoing database of cultural holidays to allow everyone to feel seen and appreciated. Some holidays may require time off or special considerations. To this end, when you have a culture of continuous education and learning, it brings everyone in the organization closer together.