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Intercultural fluency, Conflict Resolution, and Effective Communication in Professional Development

This resource is also available in French. Click here to access the French version.

It's likely that you’ve participated in soccer, basketball, or swimming that takes place at a local community centre. One reason we all love recreation is that it provides us an opportunity to engage in our community and be socially connected. However, when there is competition, there can also be conflict, which many of us have experienced in the workplace, school, or on a sports team. In this blog, I discuss what intercultural fluency, effective communication, and conflict resolution are, why they’re important, and how they apply to our professional lives. Such experiences are based on my involvement with the City of St. Catharines fieldwork placement.

Intercultural Fluency

Practicing intercultural fluency means being able to understand, respect, and learn from the complex social, economic, cultural, and political nature of diverse people. This encourages inclusivity and awareness in all interactions. As a Chinese/Canadian student studying at Brock University, I’m consistently learning how to practice both my East Asian and Canadian cultures. I believe this was an advantage for me when familiarizing myself with my placement role.

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Intercultural Competence for Career Readiness and Development

This resource is also available in French. Click here to access the French version.

Many people think that the development of intercultural competence is not relevant to them because they “are open to cultural differences”, they have “lived abroad or travelled”, they “speak more than one language”, they have “friends from different ethnic or cultural groups”, or they are “part of a minority group themselves”. As these experiences do support the development of intercultural competence to varying degrees, stereotypes and prejudices are embedded in us from growing up, which can affect how we treat and engage with others, even without realizing it – so think again. Regardless of your past experiences, the development of intercultural competence is a lifelong process that everyone should engage in, despite the lack of comfortability it may bring.

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