Cultural Intelligence Is the Next Step in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs. 

In the article “Here Is Why Unconscious Bias Should Be The Least Of Your Worries,” Forbes argues that while unconscious bias training has become a primary type of DEI program for U.S. companies, such training is not effective and can even backfire. For example, in 2018, a discrimination lawsuit was filed against Tesla by a former factory worker. As a result, the former employee was awarded $15 million. In 2020, Tesla stated that they are committed to “Deploying our unconscious bias training throughout the recruiting organization and with all people managers.” Yet again, in 2022, the State of California is suing Tesla for racial discrimination.

Forscher et al. (2019) conducted a meta-analysis of more than 490 studies, involving over 87,000 participants. They found that the effects of the training were relatively weak, producing short-term changes in the participants’ biased behavior. Other scholars also demonstrated that sending the message that biases are involuntary and beyond our control made people feel that they are unavoidable and led to more discrimination, not less.

While unconscious bias training seeks to raise awareness of implicit biases that lead to snap judgments, business cases and academic research alike suggest that conventional unconscious bias training is not working and it is not enough for constantly changing business environments, societal norms and government regulations.

Recognizing this, many successful companies started moving away from unconscious bias training and more toward Cultural Intelligence training, which is becoming a new gold standard. Cultural Intelligence training focuses on long-term effects and helps companies, leaders and employees evolve and adapt to constantly changing business environments, societal norms and government regulations.

Cultural Intelligence is defined as our capability to function effectively in diverse intercultural environments. Instead of simply revealing our biases, Cultural Intelligence training focuses on enhancing four, closely tied components that help us function effectively within a diverse environment. The four components are motivational, metacognitive, cognitive and behavioral. The motivational component is our ability to focus attention and learn about diverse others. The metacognitive component is our skill to acquire the knowledge needed to better understand others around us. The cognitive component is our actual knowledge of norms, practices and conventions in different cultures. The behavioral component is our skill to effectively interact with diverse others.

By cultivating the Cultural Intelligence of leaders and employees, organizations can reduce and eliminate unconscious biases, miscommunications and misinterpretations, and also develop skills to effectively lead and work with culturally diverse people, enhance cultural judgment and decision making, effective communication within a diverse team, enhance creativity, idea sharing and innovation. Cultural Intelligence increases leaders’ and human resource managers’ skills to hire and retain the best employees, while simultaneously reducing turnover costs.

I want to leave you with a final question. Do you want to just know what your biases are, or do you want to do something about them?

Various resources on Cultural Intelligence training and companies that provide them are available online.

Feel free to contact me at alexey.semenov@belmont.edu if you want to continue the conversation about Cultural Intelligence and how companies can cultivate a Culture of Inclusivity with Cultural Intelligence.

Alexey V. Semenov 

May 3, 2023                                                                  

Reference:

Forscher, P. S., Lai, C. K., Axt, J. R., Ebersole, C. R., Herman, M., Devine, P. G., & Nosek, B. A. (2019). A meta-analysis of procedures to change implicit measures. Journal of personality and social psychology, 117(3), 522.