Of all the work we do through Community Systems Investments International/CSII, D.G. and I are most proud of the Cultural Intuitiveness™ process. We began laying the groundwork for the CI process during our work developing and providing technical assistance to states and communities addressing issues of system change, sustainability and community engagement. Agencies and organizations across the country were seeking to ensure that their work and services were culturally competent, yet there were varying definitions of cultural competency and limited standards for its application. D.G. himself was a trainer in the area of cultural competence when he worked with the area of mental health in Kentucky and found when he changed positions to work within the area of substance abuse prevention that the definition and appreciation of cultural competency had sometimes nuanced and at other times rather different meanings both in context and application.
Separate from, yet connected to our desire to increase cultural connections and further make real the concepts of cultural competency, we were given the opportunity to train a team of coaches who were assigned to work with groups of communities. Our technical assistance mission was to serve as a facilitator of knowledge transfer, helping community organizers gain the skills to implement effective, evidence based practices for social and health behavior change. Yet in many cases attitudes stood in the way of the adoption of better, more effective practices. We learned over time that for those who were seeking to help facilitate the use of best practices in their community, the job was easier when they were clear what they were trying to provide to others and what the attitudes were of those they were trying to offer it to. To better assess and appreciate those attitudes, we began developing a series of reflective questions that we helped our clients use to connect to the information they needed to inform themselves about their community context. We helped them reflect on these connections. We found that the more they took time to reflect on what they really needed, the better prepared they were to enter into thoughtful communication with others, better prepared to hear others’ perspectives and better prepared to appreciate the readiness of others to hear theirs. We taught them to think about the contexts—economic, social, political, communication– that shaped the perspectives of those they were trying to provide services to and to identify ways to connect with them that would emphasize an appreciation of what they held in common. Their job was to work respectfully with each community they served, cultivate trusting relationships in which they could hear and be heard by their community partners, cooperate with diverse partners to help them value, learn and apply new skills and adopt more effective practices, and build effective community coalitions that could transform their communities.
Watching this team evolve as we applied our emerging tools and approaches strengthened our resolve to continue to take the Cultural Intuitiveness™ from concept to application. As we learned what worked, what was important to think about when approaching a new partnership in which you hope to make forward progress together through shared efforts, we began to formalize our unique approach. This approach, Cultural Intuitiveness ™, became a distinct approach that extends the limited boundaries of cultural competency beyond the organizational setting to all realms of life. We do not believe that effective meaningful conversations and cooperation should only be the realm of organizational life—they are certainly needed at home with our families and in all our shared communities.
We began sharing our insights through presentations and day long workshops. After several trials, we realized that without follow up coaching to encourage effective practice, exposure to the basic concepts in a workshop was not enough to fully appreciate how to apply the values and tools. Over several years we have refined and clarified the process so that we could clearly communicate what it is and how practicing the 5 core values of CI can transform relationships and lead to more effective and satisfying interactions in all aspects of life, helping people evolve to their true selves. We now provide Cultural Intuitiveness™ training through a one and a half day institute in which we guide small groups of nominees through the background and concepts of CI. Those who complete the Institute and wish to become CI certified become CI candidates who receive 5 months of one on one and group coaching in their application of the 5 CI values. When they complete the coaching, we certify them with a certification ceremony. We now provide ongoing booster sessions to provide even deeper practice proficiency.
Cultural Intuitiveness Work Books
Developing Cultural Intuitiveness has certainly been a labor of love not unlike giving birth to a child. It is our greatest accomplishment, the one my partner D.G. Mawn and I are most proud of, the one we hope we can expand for many years to come so that Cultural Intuitiveness™ becomes an accepted approach to evolve to our true selves.
Visit our website to learn more about us and watch our video about Cultural Intuitiveness! http://www.communitysystemsonline.com/
