EQUITY ASSESSMENT

The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Assessment is used by large and small governments, institutions, and corporations that need to succeed in cross-cultural interactions. The assessment measures each participant's personal level of intercultural competence; the ability to shift thinking and adapt behavior in response to cultural differences and commonalities. 

 

When we interact with someone who has different social identities than we do, we are interacting cross-culturally. When we do equity work we are addressing the institutionalized and interpersonal oppression of people(s) and culture(s) related to race, ethnicity, ability, gender, sexual orientation, and more. How skillful we can be in our interpersonal, cross-cultural interactions is a product of our level of intercultural competence, which is measured by the IDI. Moreover, our ability to think from equity as we redesign programs, policies, or practices, in ways that do not merely replicate patterns of oppression (the more things change the more they stay the same) is also a byproduct of our level of intercultural competence. 

 

To practice justice, equity, incision, and diversify as an organization it is necessary to both notice and adapt to cultural differences while leveraging cultural commonalities. Noticing is the first step to adapting practices, policies, and procedures in ways that will be inclusive and equitable. Being able to connect cross-culturally also requires us to notice and nourish commonalities, without diminishing the reality of difference. The IDI measures your primary orientation toward relating to cross-cultural differences. Meaning, how you relate cross-culturally in general. If we test in a certain stage, we may fluctuate within that stage when interacting with different cultural groups, but that is our primary orientation. 

 

At many stages along the Intercultural Development Continuum, people naturally feel stress, confusion, and hesitance to act in situations that require intercultural competence. Hesitance is the inner wisdom that we do not know how to proceed with appropriate caution and respect. The IDI validates this experience by illuminating why we feel this way, and what we can do to build our confidence and capacity. Building intercultural confidence and capacity is a crucial area of professional development in the 21st century. It is possible to bring in outside equity experts to support large scare equity strategy, but the day-to-day work of practicing equity requires organizations to build the internal capacity to look through an equity lens. 

 

The IDI assessment will measure each participant/ organization's primary orientation as well as their “blind spots” related to their ability to notice and adapt to cultural commonalities and differences and behave inclusively and equitably. Seeing into these blindspots will immediately help an organization course correct. Over time, increasing intercultural competence organizationally will decrease cross-cultural blindspots and equip organizations to look through an equity lens at any situation, demographic, or challenge that arises now or in the future.

 

This capacity-building does not happen overnight; just like becoming a competent leader. But it is worth the investment to build organizational capacity that can be employed each and every day. 

As society continues to evolve, stakeholders will continually ask decision-makers to adapt the practice of equity to meet emerging social and cultural standards. The IDI assessment provides a roadmap to becoming an organization that can adapt with more ease and skill to ongoing cultural shifts regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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