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CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT APPROACH

Learn why CI is essential to sustain a people-centered organization

Cultural Intelligence (CI) is the ability to understand and guide how we feel, think, and act when engaging in multicultural situations and communicating with people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds

Developing Culturally Intelligent (CI) behaviors is fundamental to creating and maintaining healthy, productive workplace environments where all employees can thrive.

 

CITC's Culturally Intelligent model is an innovative, research-based approach to organizational transformation. We recognize that culture encompasses not just race, ethnicity, and nationality, but extends to age, ability, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, and personal background. CI builds upon emotional intelligence (EI) by specifically adapting behavioral capabilities across diverse cultural contexts. While emotional intelligence often operates within cultural boundaries, Cultural Intelligence becomes critical for diverse teams to achieve their full potential.

 

Our experienced facilitators guide participants through a developmental journey to enhance Cultural Openness, deepen Cultural Awareness, and improve Cultural Responsiveness. Through our comprehensive facilitation process, individuals gain holistic self-understanding that enables them to respond thoughtfully to people from different cultural backgrounds with socio-emotional intelligence. These capabilities are anchored in essential leadership qualities: curiosity, empathy, and compassion.

 

Recognizing that experiential learning is most effective, we equip participants with practical self-reflection tools and actionable solutions for meaningful change. By developing deeper self-understanding, we naturally engage with others more compassionately.

 

Our CI Models foster both personal and organizational integration, enabling individuals to lead from a place of wholeness—communicating effectively, collaborating meaningfully, and achieving shared goals. When every organizational member commits to increasing their Cultural Intelligence, they collectively create a workplace distinguished by cultural humility and human-centeredness, characterized by compassionate leadership, empathetic management, and curious contribution at all levels.

 

Let's bring humanity back to the workplace together.

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CURIOSITY

“A penchant for seeking new experiences, knowledge, and feedback and an openness to change.”

-Fernández-Aráoz et. al.

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EMPATHY

“The ability to perspective-take, withhold judgment, recognize feelings, and reflect them back accurately.”

- Wiseman

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COMPASSION

Empathy in action | "The deliberate response to needs identified through genuine understanding of another's experience and perspective."

- Bhatti-Klug

CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT (CI) LEADERSHIP MODEL

Our guiding framework

The CI Leadership Model helps leaders navigate cultural complexity with clarity and action. Grounded in emotional and relational intelligence, the model builds CI through three interconnected capabilities:

  • Cultural Openness | Cultivating curiosity and a willingness to learn about self and others.

  • Cultural Awareness | Developing empathy through continuous reflection and understanding of one's own and others' cultural dynamics.

  • Cultural Responsiveness | Practicing compassion by taking inclusive, informed action.

 

These capabilities and guiding skills work together to create culturally intelligent leaders who foster belonging, bridge difference, and lead with intentionality in diverse environments.

Although our CI Leadership Model appears in linear steps, becoming culturally intelligent is
a cyclical, integrative process. 

 

Below the model, the Venn diagram illustrates the interconnectedness of the CI capabilities of Openness, Awareness, and Responsiveness, as guided by the skills of curiosity, empathy, and compassion.

 

As we develop and demonstrate CI, we achieve healthy workplace outcomes. Often, the more we learn, the more we are compelled to keep learning; thus, our Openness/curiosity builds our Awareness/empathy, which guides our Responsiveness/compassion.

 

This is how we help facilitate individual and organizational integration, which is the goal of true CI. See our CI Integrative Model below.

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CI INTEGRATIVE  MODEL

Because a Culturally Intelligent organization is an integrated organization

Our CI approach is integrative because our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors are connected. Our thinking patterns play a significant and primary role in the development and maintenance of our emotional and behavioral responses to life situations. If we acknowledge and even understand how we feel about a situation, we can make better decisions and take more informed action.

 

The more we understand about ourselves, the better we can recognize and accommodate differences in others' communication and engagement styles. If everyone within an organization becomes more integrated, or Culturally Intelligent, the organization itself will be more integrated, specifically with compassionate leadership, empathetic management, and curious contribution. 

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HOW CI CONNECTS TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION


Culturally Intelligent leadership is central to having a thriving organization.

Our CI approach innately fosters the outcomes of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), whether or not organizations choose to adopt these terms:

 

  • Diversity (or representation) invites various cultural perspectives within your organization; having leaders with diverse perspectives and backgrounds fosters balance and deeper intercultural understanding, enabling more well-rounded decision-making and organizational insight

  • Equity promotes fairness within systems, like hiring and promoting, so each team member has equal access to opportunity

  • Inclusion involves the behaviors we demonstrate to assure people that they are heard, seen, and valued—notably through empathetic listening and compassionate action

  • Belonging is the feeling of security and support people experience because of inclusive behaviors

We help organizations reach these outcomes through data analysis, research-based curriculum, and engaging, interactive activities that guide people to demonstrate higher levels of CI.

 

All aspects of our work abide by anti-discrimination laws and respect First Amendment rights.

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