The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace

Anna.Collier — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 03:02:39 +0000

Intercultural Skills is becoming a buzzword in educational and work environments, but why do employers value such skills? And which specific skills are employers actually looking for? British Council, together with Ipsos and Booz Allen Hamilton (a market research and consulting company, respectively), recently conducted a study on the Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace which addressed these particular questions.

The study found that “employers are under strong pressure to find employees who are not only technically proficient, but also culturally astute and able to thrive in a global work environment.”

The intercultural skills that where shown to be most important were:

The ability to understand different cultural contexts and viewpoints
Demonstrating respect for others
Knowledge of a foreign language

And these skills were so highly valued because employees with them:

Brought in new clients
Worked well within diverse teams
Supported a good brand and reputation for their organization

The study also suggested that policy makers and education providers could contribute to the development of these intercultural skills by prioritizing:

Teaching communication skills
Offering foreign language classes
Opportunities for students to gain international experience

These results from British Council’s study provide further justification for the importance of developing intercultural skills and sensitivity to differences – especially for the younger generations who have not yet entered the job market.

AFS is proud to have a long history of providing opportunities for its audiences to develop intercultural skills – as an exchange student, host family, volunteer, or staff! Read about the AFS Educational Goals and the Intercultural Link Learning Program as examples of how AFS activity contributes to this global theme.

The Multicultural Project “Journeys of Belonging”

arturo.romeropereda@afs.org — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:32:12 +0000

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), the British Council’s Our Shared Future project, the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Reynolds Institute have recently launched the multimedia project Journeys of Belonging, an original multicultural idea that takes an in-depth look at the personal narratives of 17 men and women of a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and religions.

This project was initiated by a group of Missouri students who were able to produce 114 video testimonials from people including former President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Auma Obama, and activist and athlete Beatrice Faumuina to shed light the fundamental commonalities that people of diverse backgrounds and ages hold.

“Journeys of Belonging tackles mistaken religious, cultural and gender identity stereotypes like the inaccurate assumption that non-Westerners hold contrary values to those of Americans, the British and other Europeans.”

You can find the videos on the official website and sort them by topic or person interviewed. This project will also continue with a panel discussion in Washington DC in December (check website for updates) in which the speakers will build on some of the topics arising from the videos: personal identity, the relationship between religion and democracy, the “us versus them” mentality and many more topics.

“Part of what it means to develop the skills to live in multicultural, diverse societies is to recognize that we are the product of diverse strands of identity. Personal stories play an important role,” Emmanuel Kattan, Project Manager, Our Shared Future.

We leave you with a short video as an introduction to the project Journeys of Belonging.

» British Council

The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace

The Multicultural Project “Journeys of Belonging”