“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation” Mahatma Gandhi Omesh Jethwani, Government Projects & Programs Manager interviewed Ian Bridger , Director of Across Culture on the importance of adopting and embracing cultural diversity and equality. Tell us about the inception of Across Culture? Across Culture (AC) evolved from my previous business, Bridgeway Barnes and Associates (BBA). BBA was a training/consulting business.
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CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND EQUALITY
Prior to BBA I had been working in the employment sector for a number of years. During this time I observed that the issue regarding Indigenous employment was less around Indigenous people not wanting to work or organisations not wanting to employ Indigenous Australians, but more about organisations not being able to retain Indigenous people. So although BBA was doing well, I didn’t feel that I was working where my passion lies; working with Diverse Cultures and in this case Indigenous culture. So together with my current Indigenous business partner, Mark Spinks, we looked at what was working in regards to retention. What we discovered was that mentoring was a key success factor in the retention of Aboriginal workers but we also saw that there was no real quality standards around mentoring and in fact people were mentoring without a real understanding of what mentoring entailed. To address this issue Across Culture, which at that stage was known as Bridgeway Barnes and Associates, developed its first Certificate IV in Mentoring Diverse Groups. Mark became a business partner and we rebranded to Across Culture. So our entry into the market really was through our Certificate IV in Mentoring Diverse Groups, this qualification has now been superseded by our new qualification 10571NAT Certificate IV in Workplace Mentoring.
If the customer requests cultural knowledge that has the potential to be implemented in the workplace or they want to move beyond cultural awareness towards cultural competence then I get involved. I often deliver this type of training with an Indigenous trainer. In addition to my work with AC I teach at undergraduate and post graduate level; Approaches to Cultural Diversity, Managing in Ambiguity and Change, Society and Culture in an Organisational Context as well as units such as Organisational Behaviour. Given my background I am able to draw on tools and frameworks, which allow organisations to understand culture from a worldview and an organisational perspective. What is often overlooked, is that we don’t have only 2 cultures interacting in the workplace at any one time, overarching everything is organisational culture. We need to bring organisational culture into the discussion. Then if we want to take it a step further management styles are also part of the jigsaw puzzle. So as you can see it’s not a matter of simply understanding Indigenous traditions, values and history and empathising with the past and ongoing trauma, there’s a lot more to it, fortunately the people I have worked with have provided me with some great feedback,
for example in my last work shop 3 of the comments from people who had already participated in traditional cultural awareness training were; • Totally changed my approach to working with Indigenous people • It was a real eye opener and I will recommend it highly to others • I will be reviewing existing policies So in answer to your question I have been very well received because I also help Indigenous Australians to understand white Anglo Saxon Australian culture and workplace culture. Many of my Indigenous participants have stated that it’s a light bulb moment for them. We need to be looking at culture from a broader perspective and endeavouring to understand all cultures in a manner that allows us to compare and measure culture against culture. Only then can we begin to look for solutions and build bridges. What is cultural diversity and why is it so important in this day and age? It has been said that Culture is the 2nd most difficult word in the English Language to define. In 1953 there were 163 different definitions of culture however for myself I like the simple definition of Cultural Diversity from the Oxford Dictionary; ‘The existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a society’ or if we are talking about organisations ‘within organisations’. In terms of the importance of cultural diversity within the workforce, we currently have a skills
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As a non-Aboriginal Australian, how did the Aboriginal community react to you delivering their 100+ years culture? It really depends on what our customer wants. If they are requesting traditional Cultural Awareness training where the history and traditions of Indigenous Australians is at the heart of the learning outcome then we have a
number of Aboriginal trainers who deliver the training. I don’t believe it is appropriate for me or that I have the knowledge or experience to deliver this type of training.
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Do you think the scope and delivery of the Aboriginal cultural workshops should be accommodated to the needs of the industries? Yes I do. Businesses must survive and make money as a loss of jobs means a lose/lose situation for everyone. This will look different depending on the individual situation. I believe we need to move beyond cultural awareness towards cultural competence. In my view they are very different. Majority of employees being registered to attend Aboriginal cultural workshops are born and raised in Australia. They have studied Aboriginal history and culture. Why should they have to be encouraged to attend and how can they benefit from the various cultural workshops? From a purely business perspective many organisations must be seen to be running cultural awareness programs to be able to win tenders. So they should attend if they want their organisation to win more work. and labour shortage globally. The number of international migrants continues to grow. For example, in 1996, Stephen Cranby (1996) estimated that international migration resulted in 125 million people living in countries not of their birth. In 2005, the International Integration and Refugee Association estimated 190 million international migrants, about three per cent of global population.
Can discrimination and intolerance be stopped by legislation, or does each person have to overcome their individual prejudice, or both? We need to address these issues through legislation, education and presenting to the Australian people a sound business case of why we need to change. There is no silver bullet; we need to fight discrimination through every avenue.
Business is becoming more competitive as overseas businesses access local markets. The ability of organisations to understand other cultures and thereby access these markets, attract labour and skills is of paramount importance.
In your personal opinion, do you think the building and construction industry will eventually adopt a system of social equilibrium? Those who do will gain a competitive advantage, those who don’t may not survive.
Those organisations that have a culturally diverse workforce have a competitive advantage. With input from their diverse employee base they can understand different markets and products, what different cultures value and how to attract them to their labour force.
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Why do you think racism persist in Australia despite the country’s commitment to cultural diversity and equality? Unfortunately racism is alive and well, my thoughts on this are that as a nation we are not culturally educated. By that I mean we just don’t understand culture, we don’t even understand our own culture let alone anyone else’s. If we’re serious about cultural diversity and equality we need to invest in it where it counts. For example, I know there seems to be a lot of money being invested in Indigenous programs but it’s still not reaching the ground. Despite all the talk about Indigenous employment programs the employment figures from the Closing the Gap report are dismal and speak volumes.
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Naturally I would like a different approach. I would like businesses and employees to understand the business and personal benefits of becoming culturally competent and attend for those reasons. The Sydney Morning Herald was quoted as saying ‘cultural competence is not just a nice to have skill anymore’. Imagine turning up to an interview and explaining that you were culturally competent. You would stand out. There needs to be a lot more work done to promote the importance of cultural competence in the work place.
I would like to see organisations develop a cultural strategy that assists them to become culturally competent. The strategy would start with a cultural audit which would then determine who is actually culturally aware. Once this has been completed we move on to build cultural competence. Organisations need to move beyond cultural awareness, we need to learn to work more productively with Indigenous employees, communicate more constructively, we need to learn how to manage and lead Indigenous staff more effectively. In one of my workshops we discuss how Australian Aboriginal people come from a collective culture, that is they value family and the extended family foremost while Anglo Australians come from what is called an individualistic culture which values ‘me’ and my immediate family first. I’m talking generally here, but what we have to then think about is how does this cultural dimension influence how we work together, how we manage and supervise and what motivates Indigenous staff. In a few words, how do you think the various generations view cultural diversity and equality:(Note: The generation age breakdown has been taken from McCrindle “Generations Defined: 50 Years of Change over 5 Generations”)
Narrow as well, not as philosophical, blame the government for losing jobs because of multiculturalism c. Generation X (1965 - 1979; Aged 30s - 40s) Broader acceptance, normally more travelled, educated and experienced however there is still an underlying sentiment of ‘do it our way’. d. Generation Y aka Millennials (1980 - 1994; Aged 20s - early 30s) Still broader acceptance again, more travelled and educated. They have an increased desire to understand differences and question the status quo of ‘white Australia’. It’s not cool not to accept others culture. e. Generation Z (1995 – 2010; Aged kids – teens) Acceptance and in fact it is unusual for them not to have friends who are from a diverse cultural group. They have a hunger to learn about other cultures. They can see where previous generations have made huge mistakes so we have a lot to learn from other cultures. f. Generation Alpha (2011 onwards) No judgement
Some comments from other organisations have been; • Very practical and applicable in the real world. • I have become more conscious of my interactions with my Indigenous employees and listening skills in particular. • I am more aware of the role of my team in advocating within the wider organisation. • I will be implementing culturally safe change management process in next 12 months • I will be driving change within my workplace and personal/professional practice to a place of inclusivity and cultural competence
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To date, how has the delivery of Aboriginal cultural awareness workshops help organisations in cultural diversity and equality? You don’t always have the opportunity to get feedback once you have delivered training and a few months have passed however if I use Qantas as an example our intervention has resulted in an 80% increased retention rate of Indigenous trainees.
How do you deal with employees that have the “I know it all” attitude to disgruntled employees who were pressured by their employers to attend the Aboriginal cultural awareness workshop? The honest truth is you are not going to be able to please everyone, some people have already made up their minds and you can’t reason with the unreasonable. However when we engage our contract trainers, we look for people who are experienced and have a natural understanding of Emotional Intelligence. That is; they are able to manage their own emotions and the emotions of others. They don’t always get it right and neither do I, but if I reflect back on a national project with a Government Department that contained some disgruntled participants it was the ability of the
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My experience is it differs from regional to metro centres and how well travelled a person is but in general terms:a. Builders (1925 - 1945; Aged 70s - 80s) Quite narrow, don’t like to change, they believe that cultural groups must do it our way as our way is the only way while at the same time they are more philosophical about the issue. Possibly due to the life cycle. b. Baby Boomers (1946 - 1964; A ged 50s - 60s)
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Share with us one of Across’ Culture’s greatest outcome and achievements. Winning the Supply Nation ‘Up and Coming Supplier of the Year’ award in 2015. The award was given for the culmination of a number of projects. What makes Across Culture so unique and different in the way it delivers its cultural courses in comparison to the other 100 cultural organisations? We apply our 3 key pillars of success to every project. • Cultural Knowledge -moving beyond Cultural Awareness towards Cultural Competency • Learning and Development - the application of knowledge in a meaningful way • Organisation Learning and Change embedding the knowledge within organisations trainer to empathise with the participant, to stop and listen to their view and in some cases create healthy discussion within the group. We have often found their peers will answer many of their questions. We don’t have any prescribed process; we have more of an approach and trust in the ability and experience of our trainers to manage difficult customers. Naturally we also have a feedback form and take comments very seriously; this has enabled us to improve on our approach. Although Across Culture has 11 different courses, it shares the same main theme and topic. Can you give us some examples on the differences? All of our courses have come about through feedback from individuals and organisations. We don’t have listed all of our products as many have been designed specifically for organisations. The main theme is to move organisations beyond cultural awareness towards cultural competence. We build the cultural capability of organisations so that they can work more effectively with other cultures.
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To be able to build cultural capability/ competence we need to focus on different areas of the business and employee roles. So for example we work with managers and supervisors to increase their knowledge and skills or we may work with staff to build more effective cross cultural teams. In some instances we develop mentor strategies and/or a team of mentors to address particular areas of the business such as increasing the retention rate of Indigenous
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employees or to transfer knowledge, build leadership and management skills within a cultural context. In some instance governance training may be required however we approach governance with a cultural ‘flavour’. Our ‘Work and Culture’ workshops were developed for people who gained ‘fly in fly out’ positions in the mines. We would work with them to help them to understand some of the issues, how their lives may change in terms of changing social networks, financial management and what it may mean for their families. This is all done within a cultural context. These workshops have now be customised to suit those commencing employment for the first time or are long term unemployed. What are some the common questions asked by the participants in the workshops? • How do we apply cultural awareness in the workplace? • As a supervisor what can or what shouldn’t I do? • How do I engage with an Indigenous employee? • How can I make an Aboriginal employee feel less isolated? • What can I do to motivate an Aboriginal employee? • Why do Aboriginal people go to so many funerals? • What can I do about an Aboriginal employee being late for work? • How do I explain to my other workers why I have to give Aboriginal people time off to attend funerals?
How are the classes delivered, how often, in class, off site, where in NSW etc.? The workshops are delivered face to face; the work has been increasing to about a project a month. We like to talk with our customers to see where they would like it delivered. In remote NT we delivered a mentoring course outside on a basketball court. We have delivered nationally. A breakdown as per industry There seems to be more acceptance in the customer service and the humanities sectors. We have done some work in the engineering market however there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of uptake in the building industry. The common response I get is, ‘no money in the budget’. Omesh Jethwani Government Projects & Programs Manager