A 24/7 Process

Cultural Humility in the workplace. What does it look like? How can we learn to be more humble with our culture as well as other cultures? These questions are what drive individuals to become more culturally sensitive. Both of these questions are connected and can be related back to self bias. We all have biases. Whether these biases are conscious or subconscious, we must continuously acknowledge them and actively work to break them . Cultural humility looks like individuals respecting others’ values and beliefs. When people look past their bias and start asking questions, the cultural barrier slowly breaks away. A cultural barrier could be seen as a difference in values or a language barrier. When individuals do not understand something, instead of making assumptions about the minority, ask questions and immerse yourself in someone else’s thinking. 

Throughout my time in Germany and Europe in general, I had to actively fight these barriers. In Paris, I would become offended when french waiters would huff and say “she’s American”. I immediately took this personal and thought: They do not even know me as a person! How can they only see me though my ethnicity? It was in this time that I had to take a step back and reflect. Where was this response coming from? I started to think about how immigrants are treated in America. If someone were to come into a restaurant not speaking English, we would not adapt our language and speak to them in their native tongue. However in this part of Paris, that change is expected. I can see how frustrating it can be for people to be expected to speak in English, especially if the country’s language is not English. I was seeing the privilege I had of speaking English through another person’s eyes. This active thinking of asking questions when feeling attacked allowed me to have a step forward towards cultural humility. 

Relating cultural humility back to the workplace is easier said than done. I say this because even individuals from the same culture do not see eye to eye. However it is important to keep in mind that everyone we encounter has a unique perspective. Personally, I can relate cultural humility back to my teaching practices. In my education philosophy, I stated that students learn best when they are understood and heard. This philosophy should not differ when teaching students who do not know English. This just means I have to find new ways for these students to feel like they are heard. I truly believe that a student is affected by his or her environment. One fundamental part of environment is family. In order for the students to feel heard, the family must also feel comfortable and a partnership must  be formed. When starting the Now, Wow, How, I thought giving more resources to the families of ESL students will make them feel more comfortable in their environment. A very important factor was brought to my attention and that was access to these resources. Many of my families who are English Language Learners do not have access to transportation. With this in mind, I now needed to think about how to provide these resources within their community. This project allowed me to think about my own cultural humility and ways to improve cultural differences within my line of work.