What is intercultural competence?
Whenever we study a new language, we automatically learn some cultural aspects of the people who speak the language. If we want to be intercultural competent, we also need to reexamine our own perceptions, thinking and feelings so that we can communicate and act effectively and appropriately with people from other cultures.
In a nutshell, it’s a company’s understanding of different viewpoints and cultures. The insight reports that we can also view it as a kind of measure of your employees’ abilities to work in a team with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. If everyone in the company takes the time to understand where their fellow employees are coming from, the whole team can get more efficient in working in a global context.
According to the International Journal of Intercultural Relations (2003, July) Research and experience show that we all think we are better than we actually are at communicating and working with people from different cultural backgrounds. Most people believe that our common humanity is most relevant to achieving a common understanding and thus underestimate the actual effect of cultural difference. The Golden Rule states, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." The core operating assumption is that everyone else values, believes and wants the same things as we do. Believing this, it seems natural that if we all just act as we normally do, then we will be able to understand each other. This inaccurate assumption prevents the deeper understanding needed to ensure successful outcomes. Overcoming this assumption enables an organization to build a truly inclusive workplace that harnesses its diversity to drive productivity, innovation and creativity.

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