Assessing and developing intercultural competence is at the foundation of our work with leaders, teams, and Diversity and Inclusion champions/committees. We use the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI) tool to acquire a current analysis of how leaders and staff in the organization are engaging with, or “making sense of” cultural differences.

The IDI® is an effective psychometric assessment and developmental tool that helps individuals and teams assess and reflect on their stages of cultural and racial awareness and competence. The instrument is widely used by businesses, non-profit organizations, post-secondary institutions, cultural institutions, and government agencies across Canada.

The strength of the IDI® is that it is an evidence-based tool that is statistically reliable and cross- culturally valid. It has been widely used by educators as an effective component of any training program in equity, anti-oppression, anti-racism and unconscious bias.

Accompanied by targeted learning and development through feedback and execution of an intercultural development plan, the IDI enables individuals to reflect on their experiences, how they are “making sense” of cultural differences and increase their ability to shift their perspective and behaviors when encountering cultural and racial differences.

The outcomes of the IDI^® assessment process would be to:

Understand the developmental stages of intercultural sensitivity

Increase self-awareness, and improve individual and collective intercultural skills

Increase organization-level understanding of intercultural issues

The IDI® sets the stage for a deeper conversation about developing the proper strategies and practices to meet organizational or learning and development goals. The rationale is: the more interculturally proficient those leading the organization and the IDEA initiative are, the more they are able to have a much more sophisticated, nuanced and complex engagement with difference; whatever that difference is (e.g. dynamics at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality, amongst others).

Additional information on the tool and research:  https://idiinventory.com/