Towards Acceptance: Effective Intercultural Development Practices

A critical medical tenet is “First do no harm.”  When diversity initiatives ignore a group’s level of intercultural development, they could increase fear and prejudice and exacerbate in-group / out-group separation. In this thought-provoking presentation, the speaker addresses the problem and proposes solutions. Specifically, she shares a model of intercultural development, connects interventions to employees’ development stage, and offers realistic and helpful tips for optimizing human relations in your organization. Learning objectives include:

• Explain how and why ineffective diversity interventions could “do harm.”
• Review a model of Intercultural Development 
• Connect levels of intercultural competence to appropriate and effective intercultural development interventions
• Introduce Conversity® as a route to greater acceptance and respect in the workplace

This program can be run as a shorter keynote or as a four-hour workshop. The longer program includes BARNGA, a fascinating intercultural relations simulation created by Silvasailam Thiagarajam. In addition to the objectives above, participants in the longer program will also: 

• Learn how to use BARNGA in their own organizations
• Come up with an actual plan for enhancing their intercultural development interventions

Please contact Dr. Wildermuth for additional information.

Four-hour Workshop Plan

7:30 - 8:00       Registration, arrival, networking
8:00 - 9:30       BARNGA and BARNGA discussions
9:30 - 9:40       BREAK
​9:40 - 10:40     What is culture? Intercultural development model
10:40 -11:40    Best practices in intercultural development, introducing Conversity® 
11:40 - 12:10   Action plans