Culturally Attuned

In this final episode of Culturally Attuned we travel around the world to hear stories from five seasoned practitioners on how to work and communicate effectively across cultural divides. From their parting advice we learn the importance of cultivating relationships with local counterparts that create trusting, inclusive, and mutually beneficial connections.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

The human brain is hardwired to constantly scan for cues that signal safety, trustworthiness, and social desirability among others. As we work among people of different races and cultures, it’s vital that we stay aware of these patterns within our own selves, because they drive our biases. If we don’t notice our own patterns, they can obstruct valuable connections with people around us.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

Working across cultural divides makes it all the more critical that we avoid prescribing solutions to problems, and instead elicit them from those we’re working with. That is Mike Zuckerman’s career-long focus—from San Francisco to Greece to Uganda. He discusses how he does it.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

People who live amid violent conflicts suffer trauma–and even inherit it when that conflict has extended across generations. While trauma can harden us against our perceived foes, remarkably, people can use shared traumas to build connections, even with those we have seen as enemies.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

In many cultures, meaning is often expressed non-verbally. So, be aware of body language, expression and tone of voice.  Misunderstanding is often due to poor communication and misperceptions. So, one must be prepared for different forms of communication and to work to find meaning across cultural divides.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

Working with a partner across a cultural divide – for example, in a negotiation – we may face a request or an action that we must refuse. In that difficult moment, we should look first for the motive behind the action and frame a response that helps our partner retain his or her honor and thus sustains mutual respect.  A vital start can be our acknowledgment of the history of the other person and his or her culture.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

When we set out to help in some other culture or community, we have learned that we should shape our project through what practitioners call “human-centered design.” This doesn’t mean altruistically imagining our own design to fit the humans we think we see. It means investing in the community – with its members leading the design process.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

Cultural humility requires us to put aside our assumptions and open our minds. While we may have resources and know-how, that does not ensure that we have the best approaches or plans to meet the needs of people in another place or culture. An open mind and taking the time to listen to locals helps us to re-frame problems as well as determine what people need with more confidence. And, it is equally important to think through the consequences and potential pitfalls of any plan of action.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

Roman Haferd went to a good law school and he works for the Washington, D.C. prosecutor’s office. Yet his work on behalf of justice is not as a lawyer. Rather than writing briefs or taking cases to trial, Roman heads a team of facilitators who seek “restorative justice.” Their work builds connections between perpetrators and victims, facilitating dialogues that aim to find justice in the heart, not in the courtroom. At its core, restorative justice attempts to break the cycle of crime and punishment.

For more, please visit: https://www.usip.org/culturally-attuned

People’s identities are multi-layered—giving us various possible points of connection with another person. Stereotypes obscure those possibilities, as Afghan Taliban negotiators found when they talked with an Indian-American Muslim diplomat named Tamanna Salikuddin. Tamanna tells how she seeks individuals’ identities to build the trust for negotiations.

Learn more and read the transcript: https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/02/connecting-others-means-seeing-them-labels-get-way