The importance of 'cultural competency' in today's world: A conversation with Melanie Chevalier

The importance of 'cultural competency' in today's world: A conversation with Melanie Chevalier:Reams have been written about how Facebook's grand plan to connect millions of Indians to the internet went horribly wrong and they faced one of their biggest setbacks ever. You would expect that a company of that size would know better than to trip on poor understanding of local culture and aspirations. As someone who started my working life in India, I have lost count of the number of times multinationals come in with a campaign or an idea that has worked for them in another market(namely HQ), that they want executed verbatim (an occasional client would consider language). While the world appears fragmented the reality is that we live in an increasingly interconnected world. And if we consider the local context and the UK it is more likely than not that your co-workers, employees, suppliers, customers are likely to be from different cultural backgrounds. The ability to engage effectively with people who are not like us or cultures that are different does not come naturally to everyone. Being able to successfully navigate internally and externally is a skill, it requires us to develop some level of cultural competence. My guest on this episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast is Melanie Chevalier, Founder of Creative Culture. Melanie set up her consultancy long before it was fashionable to talk about culture and cultural diversity. Her passion is rooted in her love for languages and her upbringing as the daughter of expats - living in Taiwan, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Spain before settling down in the UK In this episode we talk about importance for cross cultural understanding for businesses How important is language in understanding cultural nuances and barriers? Making sure local cultural insights are used at the design process of campaigns/processes. Rather than trying to fit it in at the last stage - when it is more likely than not that it is too late. How cross cultural understanding has moved up the agenda of the C-suite? What can organisations do to exhibit cultural sensitivity? Poor understanding and it's impact on the bottomline? We also speak about future tense languages, best practice, examples of those who are doing it right and what organisations can do to get started on their journey.

Om Podcasten

The Elephant in the Room Podcast is a curated safe space to have uncomfortable conversations about the pervasive inequalities in society and our workplaces. The idea of the podcast was born from my sense of conflict about identity, self and the concept of privilege and fuelled by my own need to understand how my overlapping identities and experiences had impacted and would continue to impact my life chances. Two years ago I decided to ‘opt out’ to find my own purpose and focus on passion projects including learning about the systemic biases that are endemic in business and society. The Podcast is my very own listening project, a step towards being more intentional in my learning. The Elephant in the Room Podcast is for people who want to be a part of the change, for those who want to step up & speak out, for those who want to learn more about biases, barriers and best practice, for business leaders and for individuals, anyone who is interested in a fairer, more inclusive and compassionate society and workplace. Each week I will interview inspiring speakers from across the world on issues that are taboo and deserve to be mainstream including(but not limited to) systemic and institutionalised racism, discrimination based on further eight protected characteristics, poverty, mental health, climate change. The podcast will also talk about cognitive inclusion, culture, purpose, ethics and the importance of empathy, cultural intelligence and how conversations on identity and disadvantage would be incomplete without considering intersectionality. With the podcast I hope to share stories of people with lived experiences, stories that may have never been told, stories that galvanise us to take action for change and keep the conversations alive by raising the decibel on issues of inequity, inequality in our search for a fairer and more inclusive world.