Intercultural Competency is a Core Skill Set for Racial and Cultural Equity
We have the will and desire, but do we have the skills needed to effectively create the welcoming and inclusive communities we envision?
We recommend the the Intercultural Developmental Inventory (IDI)® to promote equity efforts because of its focus on the foundational skills and mindset related to intercultural competence. Our ability to be interculturally competent factors into the daily interactions we have with people who are different from us, the way we frame challenges, the solutions we come up with, the people we include (or exclude) in decision-making, the way we implement solutions, and how we evaluate success. In other words, cultural competency is essential for those wanting to apply an equity lens to their efforts.
WHAT IS THE IDI?
The Intercultural Development Inventory™ (IDI) is a valid and reliable assessment of an individual or group’s ability to exercise intercultural competence. The IDI is based on Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) and research conducted by Mitchell Hammer. The inventory has been used successfully since 1998 in corporate, academic, nonprofit, faith communities, and other settings to focus individual coaching, training, and action-planning, to guide multicultural team development in building competency for equity initiatives, and to conduct program evaluation and other research.
The IDI assesses intercultural competence through a 50-item questionnaire, available online that can be completed in 15–20 minutes. A wide range of organizations and educational institutions use the IDI. Thousands of Qualified Administrators in more than 30 countries have extensively applied the IDI in corporate, not-for-profit, government, faith-based, and educational contexts. More than 60 publications and over 66 Ph.D. dissertations have been completed using the IDI.
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It’s developmental: The IDI is the only developmental assessment of intercultural competence. It facilitates cooperative conversations and actions directed toward growth and development rather than judgment and resistance.
It’s actionable: Detailed reports and the developmental model offer guidance to establish immediate goals, identify training needs, and effectively develop solutions. The IDI shows the difference between how we view ourselves (Perceived Orientation) and our actual level of competency (Developmental Orientation). Knowing if a gap exists supports groups to bring their intentions more into alignment with their impact.
It’s culturally valid: Items selected for the IDI were generated by a large group of diverse individuals, not the researchers. All language versions were back-translated to ensure linguistic and conceptual equivalence.
It’s predictive: Recent studies show that higher levels of cultural competence, as measured by the IDI, are strongly predictive of the successful achievement of goals related to diversity and inclusion.
WHAT’S THE PROCESS?
When a group, team, or organization decides to participate, one of our IDI Qualified Administrators will email unique logins to each individual. People will be asked to complete the assessment by a certain date. The online assessment contains 50 items and takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete, depending on how much respondents choose to write when answering the open-ended questions. It’s available in 17 languages.
After all the participants complete the IDI, a group training and debrief session is scheduled, which takes 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Everyone receives the Group Profile Report which provides the group’s overall results. Individuals will not have their own results unless they opt to schedule an individual session with a Qualified Administrator. Those who elect to have an individual session will receive their Individual Profile Report and an Intercultural Development Plan.
IDI Qualified Administrators are bound by license to ensure confidentiality, privacy, and security regarding access to any data collected from the IDI Assessment and IDI reports.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Please see the current fees published by IDI, LLC depending on your organization type. In addition, groups who participate will pay for a group training and debrief session with a Qualified Administrator (QA) which includes the Group Profile Report and resources for ongoing learning and skill-building. Group members who want to get their individual results can schedule a follow up session with a QA. During the individual session, participants receive a detailed overview of their their Individual Profile report and an Intercultural Development Plan with suggestions to support next steps in their learning and development. Costs for the group training and individual sessions are determined by the QA.
For organizations that plan to use the IDI regularly, it’s most cost effective and beneficial to have at least one staff member trained as a Qualified Administrator > seminar overview | pricing
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GET STARTED
If your group or organization is interested in learning more about the IDI, please contact us and we can refer you to local Qualified Administrators.