Cultural Exchange in the Workplace: an Interview.

Photo by AMRITA GHANTY on Unsplash.

In many ways, cultural awareness and inclusion is even more important than diversity. It assures everyone feels welcome, secure and heard.

Talking with colleagues from different countries provides a great opportunity to expand your horizons and learn from different cultures. This directly creates a more inclusive work environment.

A friend, Jorge Gutiérrez Arias, leads a great initiative called “This is My Culture” which invites colleagues to learn about each other’s culture and background. I interviewed him to learn more about the project:

Mariam Gurgenidze presents Georgia.

What is the “This is My Culture” lunch and how does it work?

“This is My Culture” is a weekly cultural exchange event in which one colleague presents about their home country or culture during lunchtime. This gives the chance for their colleagues to ask questions and dive deeper.

When did it start and how has it evolved over time?

The weekly event started last Summer (mid July 2018) within our team. We sat at a small kitchen and used just a whiteboard with handwritten notes or printouts, keeping it small and personal.

Over time, more people have been engaged, extending the invitation to other teams. Also the presentations were prepared more deeply, with very comprehensive slides displaying facts, photos and short videos. Some presenters even brought local food specialities. A dedicated chat group was created to announce upcoming events, share the presented material and, most importantly, create a feeling of community where people start discussions and contribute by sharing information on local festivities or relevant topics related to their culture.

Soon our kitchen seemed much smaller than at the beginning. Despite that, we wanted to keep it “cozy” and preferred to keep our event in a packed kitchen rather than moving it to an event space. I think this has been a good idea, since it helped to keep the initial spirit and a feeling of togetherness.

Adetunji Akinde presents Yoruba culture.

How many cultures have been presented so far?

Over the past nine months, 32 cultures/countries/regions have been presented at “This is My Culture”, involving 36 different presenters. And it goes on, with scheduled presentations until at least mid June 2019.

What has been your most memorable moments?

Over 32 presentations, there have been too many pieces of information that have surprised, amused or just made us laugh (not to mention the moments when we also had the chance to taste samples of local gastronomy). Below are my favorites:

• If you bring a piece of fruit to New Zealand, you might have to pay a big fine
• In the Indian state of Kerala, brides wear gold worth £400,000 in their wedding.
• In France, each cheese has to be cut on a particular way to ensure fair distribution.
• Burial ceremonies in the western African Yoruba culture include joyful singing and dancing

Carine Guerfi presents France.

How could someone else organize a similar lunch series in their office?

That’s easy. Here are a few steps as a guidance:

1. Find a cozy space at your office, preferably a kitchen or living room, with tables, chairs and sofas (or even space where people can sit on the floor). I would recommend avoiding a formal event space or auditorium, to preserve the feeling of togetherness.
2. Create a spreadsheet to let the people know in advance the scheduled presentations. Include: presenter, culture/country, location, date and time.
3. Schedule a recurring meeting with a catchy description and share the spreadsheet with the schedule in the invitation, to make it accessible to all potential guests.
4. Create a chat group to share announcements, material, photos, etc and let people participate with their own cultural contributions.
5. Advertise the event enough to ensure a good number of participants, but careful to avoid overfilling the space (as I said, it should be kept cozy to keep its spirit). On that account, you could either stick some posters around the office or even better, let it spread “by word of mouth”, as we also did in our case.

Please comment and share your experiences and ideas for cultural exchange formats. We’d love to learn about what’s worked for you!