Cultural agility
Leaders: how good is your cultural awareness?
As leaders, understanding different cultures, particularly within your team is critical to create an inclusive environment where people thrive
Is English a second language for some?
Do team members observe Ramadan or other religious practices?
What cultural festivities are celebrated?
Having recently moved to Australia, I am learning something new everyday. I even celebrated my first “Christmas in July”!
My biggest learning so far has been regarding the Indigenous & Aboriginal culture, which I admittedly knew very little about.
Aboriginals only represent around 3% of the Australian population, but over 30% in the Northern Territory.
They are unfortunately a very excluded minority in society overall
Unemployment rate of Indigenous people is 4X higher (19%)
Indigenous Australians only represent 0.7% of executive positions
Leading with inclusion
There is a lot of work to do, but I love the conscious effort the country is making to be more inclusive and raise awareness about the Indigenous culture and heritage:
Schools and kindies teach the little ones about the land where we are in, and celebrate aboriginal culture in different occasions.
I recently met a company that starts every presentation with a simple phrase to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land.
Little gestures go a long way and it doesn’t have to be that hard.
What is one small thing you can do as a leader to be more culturally agile and inclusive?
