Eyes Opened to Intercultural Issues (and Hope) at March 2016’s ICI Certification Training in Atlanta
"This class offers real practical tools for gaining a deeper understanding of how best to lead effectively in a multicultural world."
This past 21-24 March 2016, a group of 20 individuals gathered in Atlanta, GA, USA, for an Inter-Cultural Intelligence Certification Workshop facilitated by KnowledgeWorkx and KnowledgeWorkxED. Among them, the participants and facilitators had accrued nearly 460 years' worth of combined experience in leadership and development within different contexts—various industries, commercial and non-profit, and with a diversity of purposes and applications.
Since most ICI Certification Trainings are held on the other side of the world, primarily in the MENA region, the selection of Atlanta as the location of March’s workshop created an especially rare and exciting opportunity; attendees gladly traveled long distances to take advantage of a States-side workshop on ICI.
And, due to evident demand and enthusiasm for the course, KnowledgeWorkx will be bringing ICI Certification Training back to Atlanta this July 2016.
Throughout the four-day intensive workshop, participants studied Inter-Cultural Intelligence, the 12 Dimensions of Culture, the Three Colors of Worldview, which competencies (and meta-competencies) are of highest priority in global leadership development, and much more. Together, they discovered and explored myriad applications of ICI for everyday life, some of which were surprising, as they influence not only professional interaction but personal relationships.
Participants expressed profound gratitude for the insights they gleaned. One woman summed it up well when she shared that an intercultural environment is an everyday, everywhere reality, and always has been—"but now I see!"
The attendees resolved to put ICI into action across a vast spectrum of scenarios: Repairing and strengthening family relationships; parenting more effectively; understanding practical implications of how men and women think differently; resolving conflict in workplace, school, or church environments; developing global leaders in their respective spheres of influence; thinking ahead for how best to cultivate global leadership competencies in future generations; and assisting multicultural faith communities who worship together to be able also to live life together on the weekdays, too—demonstrating unity-in-diversity in authentic friendships outside of scheduled worship meetings.
A priceless benefit that workshop graduates enjoy is continuing access to a vast online compendium of KnowledgeWorkx resources, as well as an open communication line with KnowledgeWorkx staff and the network of their 300+ fellow-graduates who are applying what they have learned in radically-different contexts around the globe. Even from this Atlanta class alone, the reach of ICI will extend beyond Atlanta and the USA to other countries (e.g., Brazil) and whole regions (e.g., Central and South Asia).
This group was particularly conscious of an abundance of hope that ICI brings to the table for issues of diversity and inclusion, especially in the USA where the historical and ongoing struggle and repercussions of race, class, and gender inequities are inconsistently promenaded or dismissed by turns.
There are staggering possibilities for ICI to revolutionize our collaboration and camaraderie on teams, our neighboring, our unity of spirit in contexts of faith and fellowship—our day-to-day interactions with children, spouses, friends, colleagues, and strangers. The Atlanta class participants caught a vision of this hope and ICI’s unprecedented potential to effect genuine, lasting change—in the southeastern United States and beyond.
The concepts of "creating a third cultural space" and “combining action with consideration,”—so prominent throughout the ICI framework—resonated deeply with the entire class. It was a new and welcome idea to think that people could come together from diverse backgrounds and worldviews and—not just nominally or superficially, but truly and deeply—interact as equals and peers with mutual respect and consideration. One participant said, Correctly-used ICI will lead to a healthier world!
KnowledgeWorkx will facilitate another ICI Certification Workshop. Based in Dubai, KnowledgeWorkx equips people and organizations to thrive in a global and interculturally complex world. Quickly becoming the global preferred choice for Inter-Cultural Intelligence development, KnowledgeWorkx promotes mutual understanding of other cultures and perspectives in the workplace, and helps teams to develop the intercultural capacity necessary to thrive in a globalized world.
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