The 5-Step Strategic Cultural Framework For Organizational Proficiency

There are 5 Steps to creating a diverse and culturally competent organization.  

Step 1)  Assessment and Cultural Competence:

Do your client and stakeholder assessments include information about the major cultural groups in your community?  Who's here and who is accessing our services and products? What's changing in our community?

Service and Product Selection and Cultural Competence:

Who conducted the research, developed the service or product?

How did the researchers/program developers control for cultural competency in the program design? What groups were included in the studies? Have any replications been done in diverse communities? Are materials available in languages other than English?  Who did the translation?  Were they tested? Are management and team leaders willing to work with others to adapt the service, or product?

Strategy:

Hold focus groups and informant interviews to reach all populations in the company's community. Data=Numbers (Quantitative) + Opinions (Qualitative)

Produce Qualitative Data, which are the opinions and ideas of all members of the community and include with the numbers gained through surveys and assessments.

Strategy: 

Have members of diverse groups assisted the organization in analyzing and interpreting the data?  Values and lifeways?  Religious, philosohical, and spiritual beliefs?  Economic Factors?  Educational Factors? Technological Factors?  Kinships and social ties?  Political and Legal Factors?

Step 2)  Building Organizational Capacity (resources and readiness) and Cultural Competence: 

Does your organization engage all sectors of your workforce and community? Are some groups not adequately represented or "at the table?" What cultural groups are you recognizing in your clients and workforce i.e., socioeconomic - the big rift between have and have nots, races, religions, geographic -urban, rural, locals, out of towners, ethnic; People who work and live in institutionalized system; People in corrections, exoffenders.

Strategy:

Consider not just the norms but all people's needs and wants. What do we need to know and learn about them? Think comprehensively about what their life experiences are and how to integrate them into the services and products we provide.

Step 3)  Planning and Cultural Competence:

Does your organizational strategic plan address needs of diverse people in your organization and clients and stakeholders in your community? Does your strategic plan incorporate cultural competence concepts and language?

We must recognize the "ism" that impacts our thinking, being and doing. How will we as an organization respond to these "ism" forces:  racism, sexism, and classism?  There are conscious and unconscious prejudices in our organization and among our clients, stakeholders and community.

Strategy:

Develop within your Strategic Plan very clear written systems addressing issues that promote an organizational culture of diversity, sensitivity and competency.

Strategy:

Develop a strategic plan on how YOU WILL respond to and develop relationships with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders and become an advocate and share how your interventions will work because you are taking into consideration individual needs.

Step 4)  Implementation and Cultural Competence:

Have you determined who is to do what by when? Is the who able to adapt to meet the needs of diverse groups?

Step 5)  Evaluation and Cultural Competence:

Have you defined the team, the organization's culture and clients precisely? Have you developed collaborations with the stakeholders and targeted populations? Have you planned for and encouraged buy-in?  Have you provided timely feedback and results in clear, useful formats conveyed through culturally appropriate methods?