Open-mindedness: Being open to new experiences, ideas, and ways of life is criti
Open-mindedness: Being open to new experiences, ideas, and ways of life is critical to developing cultural awareness. Open-mindedness allows you to approach cultural differences without leaping to judgment because an aspect of a new culture is very different from what may be normal for oneself. Cultural Awareness: Understanding your own cultural background and biases is the first step towards recognizing and respecting the diversity in other cultures. Curiosity: A genuine interest in learning about other cultures, their history, traditions, languages, and daily life encourages genuine learning experiences and deeper connections. Empathy: The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from their perspective will help bridge cultural gaps. Adaptability: Being flexible and adaptable in the face of new and unfamiliar cultural practices allows for individuals to feel more comfortable sharing their culture and educating others. Respect: Showing respect and demonstrating that you value other cultures, their values, norms, and etiquette and will help build trust. Patience: It can take time to learn and understand the intricacies of a new culture. It’s important to be patient with yourself and others as you navigate the learning process. Active Listening: Truly listening to what others are saying, without rushing to respond or judge will facilitate a more complete and open dialogue between yourself and the individual mentoring you in their culture. Communication Skills: Being able to effectively communicate, including being aware of non-verbal cues and understanding the role of language in culture, is crucial for cross-cultural interactions. Humility: Recognizing that you don’t have all the answers and being willing to learn from others. Active Listening: As an instructor in my career field, I spent a lot of time listening to students who came from all different walks of life seek advice for both personal and professional problems. Often, I would go into a counselling session ready to provide advice just to realize, after listening for as long as the student wanted to talk about their problem, that my advice would only scratch the surface of providing a solution. Respect: On deployments to the Middle East, I would have to ensure that I wasn’t inadvertently disrespectful to host country nationals. For example, passing my identification to a Qatari guard at the installation gate with my left hand would be taken as an offensive gesture. I got into the habit of always passing my identification to the guard with my right hand out the driver-side window. A habit that endures even back in the states. Empathy: I once had a troop that didn’t celebrate holidays for religious reasons. Upper leadership were intent on everyone showing up for a holiday party unless they were on leave or had mandatory commitments. She was concerned that she was going to need to use a day of leave to avoid an event that was inconsistent with her religious beliefs. As someone that does celebrate holidays, I had to practice empathy and explain to my leadership that I would feel disrespected if I was forced to be put in a position that necessitated me to choose between my religious beliefs or being forced into using hard earned time off. Ultimately, they allowed her not to attend. Open-mindedness: I have had many students during my instructor time that were from a variety of generationally diverse backgrounds. It seemed like every day they were coming up with a new word or a new way to use a current word in conversation. I had to be openminded and accept the fact that every new generation develops new ways to communicate and relate to one another and had to spend more time than I would have liked talking to older students about not belittling younger students because of their “Gen Z” terminology. Communication Skills: One aspect of my job is communicating complex information from Air Force regulations to civilian federal employees that supervise military personnel. We speak in “alphabet soup” because of all the acronyms, abbreviations, and military jargon that is used throughout military policy. Through trial and error, I have found ways to explain things like evaluations and leave policy in an easy to digest ways. I will read what the instruction says, then break it down by what the regulation is trying to get at and what is intended by the policy.