I think a lot of people are running on empty at the moment. I can certainly feel my own energy levels depleting. That’s why connecting with others is so important. Where we may find ourselves flagging individually, the power of the collective can bring renewed energy.

The Intercultural Teaching Forum meeting this week is a good example. Thirty people from all over the globe – literally – came together, including several from Europe. We discussed intercultural competence and what it means to be an inclusive and interculturally competent educator. I’m glad to hear that like me, others view becoming interculturally competent as a process; a journey and not an end destination. The Intercultural Development Continuum  exemplifies this journey, which is explored in this True North Intercultural blog post: A Developmental Approach to Intercultural Learning. It takes a life-long commitment and needs to be central to the work we do. And it includes diversity in all senses of the word, not only national culture, as is sometimes assumed. Developing intercultural competence requires slowing down, connecting, and listening deeply.

I’m so glad therefore that we’re planning another Living Library event at the college. This will be an opportunity to slow down, listen to the stories of others in our college community and to connect on a more human level. I spent some time this week reconnecting face-to-face with colleagues, not only as part of my ‘human book recruitment’ campaign, but also out of recognition of needing that human connection.

I’ve also been doing more research of other institutions to see what we can learn for developing our college’s Teaching and Learning Intercultural Strategy. I’ve switched my search to a broader one of ‘Strategic Plans.’ It’s interesting to me that so few mention the intercultural, or if they do, it’s only within the context of international, as though it’s only international students or those within this realm who are included. Yet we are all on some form of intercultural journey. It’s not only about what we do, but how / who we are. We all need to be asking: What does being interculturally competent look like for me? As an institution, what does that look like for our college? And are we / the institution, in alignment with that vision? 

It’s exciting that we are at a point in the college’s history where intercultural is part of the institutional vision.