Educate on the value of cultural competence in today’s work environment.

Implement cultural competence training for all associates company-wide beginning in Jan 2021.

Over 4500 Eclipse Senior Living Associates will have participated in cultural competence education and development by end of 2021. Eclipse takes great pride in the commitment our associates have shown for this training opportunity. Our leadership team is steadfast in the belief that it’s critical to engage and educate all our associates on the benefits of employing a culturally diverse team. 

As the work environment becomes more diverse, effective and successful leaders and associates must become more knowledgeable of cultural norms, be respectful of a wide range of cultural behaviors, and be able to effectively communicate with individuals of various backgrounds. At Eclipse Senior Living, we believe it’s essential that our leaders and our associates understand the value as well as acknowledge and welcome differences in others. We believe in developing our team to be culturally competent.

Developing Cultural Competence includes these components:

• Having a knowledge and awareness of other cultures;
• Understanding and recognizing cross-cultural communication skills;
• Demonstrating self-awareness and management of one’s personal biases;

It is impossible for a person to know all the intricacies of every culture; therefore, it is unreasonable to expect that of any one member our team. However, we strive to focus on practicing cultural awareness and developing cultural competence. In our industry, we interact with people from all walks of life, from across the US and, often, other regions of the world. We may encounter individuals who speak different languages and frequently those who have different customs, attitudes, values, and even communication styles. Being a successful associate means that we are dedicated to enriching the lives of those individuals who live and work with us by responding to their unique needs and universal desire for dignity and respect and that we do so competently. That is, the ability to understand various cultural norms or behaviors, or at least being open to learning about ways that other people behave and being respectful of the range of workstyles and workplace relationships. Cultural competence also requires us to be patient and understanding of other ways of communicating with colleagues or supervisors.

Cultural competence is not about agreeing with or identifying with the cultural differences, it is about being respectful of others.

Cultural competence is about managing and reducing subtle and unconscious negative biases about others. We all have some biases. It is not about being a “bad person.” It is normal to have positive or negative feelings about an individual or group, feelings or attitudes that might be out of awareness. In a diverse work environment, the challenge is to work toward becoming aware of personal biases that get in the way of productive work environments and can often contribute to treating others unfairly. All these cultural competence skills can be learned. We all can become more empathetic, respectful, and understanding of differences. We believe that we all can become more culturally competent.