By Craig Leon
Cultural competence remains a patchy, misaligned and only partially understood philosophy in the APS. However, cultural competence remains pivotal if we are to achieve equitable workplace inclusion for First Nations employees in the APS. This is particularly so in mitigating the adverse effects of unconscious bias that are often subtle in nature, easily institutionalised, and responsible for stereotyping, prejudice, and discriminating against First nations employees in the APS.
Cultural competence is more than pinning hopes on embracing cultural concepts such as cultural safety, responsiveness, capability, or integrity as enablers of workplace inclusion. Cultural competence has to be informed, interpreted, measured and monitored through a First Nations lens. For First Nations employees though, working in the APS can result in an accepted cultural clash known as ‘walking in two worlds’ Faulkner & Lahn, 2019; Halverson, 2017; Scott et al., 2020). That is, having to function as an Indigenous person governed by cultural belonging and identity, and one controlled by the expectations of a professional Western principled public service. The clash fundamentally can present as a tension between both cultural world-views. How we bridge this clash trough a First Nations lens for cultural competence is the challenge.
Lahn and Ganter (2018, p. 145) conclude that governments entering into a richer dialogue and relationship with First Nations employees is vital to understanding the unique institutional and cultural challenges faced by First Nations employees in the APS. For example, understanding how First Nations employees experience representation in the APS as well as understanding the aspirations of First Nations employees, will significantly assist the relationship building between First Nations employees and the bureaucracy (Lahn & Ganter, 2018, p. 145).
So what is cultural competence exactly? Considerable variation abounds in both the literature and in practice on what cultural competence means. An often-cited definition (Blessett, 2018; Boyd-Swan & Molina, 2018; Gallegos, Tindall, & Gallegos, 2008) defines cultural competence as,
”A set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations (Cross, Barzon, Dennis, & Issacs, 1989, p. iv)”.
Words matter, and they have influence but alone do not make anyone effective in working across cultures. Cultural competence is to be understood as it was initially presented – that is, as a holistic systems and ongoing developmental approach to change supporting practical cross-cultural relationships. Any desire to supersede cultural competence with other cultural concepts risks tinkering with lower-level outcomes while missing out on the benefits of broader cultural change for organisations. Unfortunately, over the previous 20 years, we in the APS have confused and miss represented the true meaning and purpose of cultural competence.
Priority Reform Three of the National Agreement Closing the Gap in transforming government organisations has transformation elements of: Identifying and eliminating racism; and Embed and practice meaningful cultural safety. Likewise identified in APS reform agenda for Priority Three: An APS that is a model employer is an initiative to increase First Nations employment to 5 per cent. Elevating cultural competence to a system level organisation wide APS change process will be fundamental to achieving these priority reforms. Supporting concepts like cultural safety and cultural capability importantly are positioned now as key building blocks within cultural competence for a culturally inclusive and competent APS. Lastly, to begin the discussion amongst ourselves on how we can all contribute to a culturally inclusive workplace for First Nations employees, don’t think of our differences as racial but see them as cultural. After all we are all human beings. Our difference are just cultural.
References
Blessett, B. (2018). Embedding cultural competence and racial justice in public administration programs. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 24(4), 425-429. doi:10.1080/15236803.2018.1520383
Boyd-Swan, C. H., & Molina, A. D. (2018). Cultural competence and citizen-administrator value congruence. Public Administration Quarterly, 42, 427-465.
Cross, T. L., Barzon, B., Dennis, K., & Issacs, M. R. (1989). Toward a Culturally Competent System of Care. Georgetown University, Child Development Centre, Georgetown University.
Faulkner, S., & Lahn, J. (2019). Navigating to Senior Leadership in The Australian Public Service: Identifying Employment Barriers and Enablers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. (Commissioned Report 02 Centre for Aboriginal and Economic Policy Research). Retrieved from Canberra: https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/navigating-senior-leadership-australian-public-service-identifying-employment
Gallegos, J., Tindall, C., & Gallegos, S. A. (2008). The Need for Advancement in the Conceptualization of Cultural Competence. Advances in Social Work 9, 51-62.
Halverson, J. D. (2017). Walking in Two Worlds. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60(2), 280-299. doi:10.1177/0022167816688313
Lahn, J., & Ganter, E. (2018). Aboriginal and Torres strait islander people in public service roles: Representation, recognition and relationships in Australian government bureaucracies. Journal of Australian Political Economy, 82, 133-148. doi:10.3316/informit.212850135499005
Scott, J., Staines, Z., Higginson, A., Lauchs, M., Ryan, V., & Zhen, L. (2020). ‘Walking in two worlds’: A qualitative review of income management in Cape York. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 80(1), 46-63. doi:10.1111/1467-8500.12440
Further information
The full research paper is located in the Australian National University archives.