Intercultural Flexibility Staircase Model Paper

The video titled “Intercultural Flexibility Staircase Model” explains the process in which a person adapts to a new culture. Each step builds off of the previous, until the person is fully immersed in a culture that they were previously ignorant to. The first step is called unconscious incompetence, which means that a person is unaware of surrounding cultures, and thinks of their own as the main way of living. The following step known as conscious incompetence, is when someone becomes aware of the other cultures, and realizes that they lack the skills to communicate with other cultures. Conscious competence, the third step in the staircase model, explains that this is the point in which a person wants to learn about a new culture, and begins

to listen and attempt to follow the new culture. Finally, unconscious competence is when the previously ignorant person is now completely immersed in a new culture, and it is like a second nature to them.

After learning the steps taught in the video and doing some inner reflecting about myself and what I’ve learned this semester, I came to the conclusion that I am in the conscious competence step.

I say that I am in this step, because in all honesty prior to this class I was probably in the conscious incompetence step. I knew there were other cultures, but I had never taken the time to better myself when it came to learning and adapting to cultures different than my own. Like mentioned before, since being in this class, I will now classify myself as conscious competence because I am now always trying to learn about different cultures and be more mindful of other people’s customs. I think I transitioned into the third step when I began reading about the Chinese and Japanese Americans in chapter 13. What originally shocked me was learning that Chinese and Japanese Americans were denied initial access to the country because people were literally afraid of the difference in culture, but just wanted them for their labor. On top of their initial access being denied, learning that America as a country put innocent Japanese Americans in interment camps, because again they were scared of their difference in skin color was absolutely

heartbreaking.

Although I was never close to thinking that terribly to begin with, I will admit that I was blind to cultural differences and realized that I don’t want to be anything like that. Differences in cultures is what makes America so diverse and so great. Now and in the future, I will make sure to consider other people’s prospective more often. I have now realized that my way is not the only way, and the way others see a situation is equally as important. I will strive to get to the fourth step on the staircase, but being more mindful and patient with others is now my ultimate goal, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have been exposed to this type of eye opening lesson.