1. American Public University System p. 1
CREATING CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN A DIVERSE WORLD
Effective diversity and inclusion programs are the core of successful businesses. In this conversation, we
speak with Dr. Billy Vaughn of the Diversity Training University International to understand key linkages
between cultural competence, high performing organizations and the legacies they leave.
Q: What is your approach to creating diversity and inclusion as an element of sustainable leadership
and organizational success?
Dr. Vaughn: I think the best way to understand our approach to diversity and inclusion (often referred to
as D&I) is to understand the organizational inclusion framework that we use. That framework
characterizes organizational inclusion as having two dimensions. One dimension is the stage of inclusion
that an organization is in, which we represent on a continuum of five inclusion stages, from lowest to
highest. The other dimension is level of cultural competence. The assumption is that as the organization
becomes increasingly culturally competent, it increases or reaches higher stages of inclusion. The two
work hand-in-glove. As far as cultural competence is concerned, we characterize it as having four
components:
1. Awareness
2. Attitude
3. Knowledge
4. Skills
These are the four basic components that we’d assess in terms of how much an individual or a group
would have. And for an organization you can think about each component in the following way:
Awareness: To what extent has the organization been successful at increasing its employees’ awareness
of the importance of inclusion? What does it mean to the organization as a whole, in terms of its
culture, and why should that compel all of the organization’s members to accept and embrace inclusion
and diversity?
Attitude: Represents the level to which the organization espouses the basic beliefs and values related to
inclusion and diversity, and is holding its members accountable for embracing those beliefs and values.
Knowledge: You can be as open and tolerant as possible, but unless you understand and accept cultural
differences, you can step on people’s toes and not fully understand how to truly be inclusive in terms of
beliefs and values. The organization must instill the knowledge component in order for its employees to
fully understand—and then enjoy—the benefits of increasing inclusion.
Skills: This primarily includes developing better communication skills, however, it’s imperative that the
members of the organizations work on and fully understand awareness and attitude first—otherwise it
can create barriers. Each step represents a platform. One is built upon the other. Of course, skills in
project management, team building, organizational change, training and assessment are really helpful.

2. American Public University System p. 2
Q: What would you suggest are key components of an organizational inclusion strategy, how are they
best executed and continuously assessed?
Dr. Vaughn: There is both a quantitative and qualitative piece to understanding the link between D&I
and organizational success (or ROI). To help facilitate understanding, use of diversity scorecards are
helpful. The most popular one is that of Ed Hubbard and his wife Myra, which includes a combination of
bean counting—how many people have you hired, how many practices do you have in place to show
compliance and increased diversity and measuring ROI? Another less popular approach is one that walks
people through an analysis of linkages between the bottom line of the organization and its key focus,
values and mission—is it to make money for stockholders, increase members or customers, improve a
project or serving students optimally? Whatever the bottom line is, we view that as the top-level goal of
the organization, and see where the linkages are to the lower levels of the organization. One drives the
other, but they are not necessarily the same. Next, it is important to look at the daily operations of the
organization. What are the people doing to really carry out the mission and vision, as well as the bottom
line? After asking those questions and critically thinking about the answers, we start to see how cultural
competence is an important driver.
Alignment of focus, mission and vision are critical, but it’s not enough. You must also get down to
operations—what people are doing on a day-to-day basis in the organization that fulfill their part of the
mission. In the insurance company example, one operation is direct sales to potential clients. So the first
thing they did was increase the diversity among the sales people out in the field. They have an online
presence and customer service people on the telephones talking to people with messaging and
communications styles that convey a cultural understanding relevant to their consumers. They’re
marketing to people and running national commercials and use all of these tools to re-engage customers
and to develop a multicultural marketing strategy that appeals to the diverse audiences that they once
enjoyed.
Q: How do you define diversity and inclusion and what are some of the top reasons as to why it’s so
important for organizations?
Dr. Vaughn: First I’ll start by saying that organizations can get bogged down trying to define diversity
and they need to realize that it’s a political issue. In addition, for some reason, many believe they need
to have a diversity and inclusion strategy that is unique to their own organization, so they ignore a lot of
the work that has already been done and has been around for a long time. They keep reinventing the
wheel. So the process of defining it can drive you crazy when there are many variations out there.
People need to consider the other definitions out there and utilize that information to offer their own.
Although, I don’t like to add to the issue, I’ve certainly given it a lot of thought and consideration. So
when asked, I share that my definition of inclusion is the degree to which an organization harnesses its
diversity in the interest of being more productive, more competitive and building better teamwork. For
me, diversity and inclusion is the bottom line. Diversity is all the ways in which people define themselves
as different from other people based on some group membership. Inclusion is about the organization
providing an environment in which people believe they can bring their whole, cultural selves to the
organization in the interest of productivity. And there are three key drivers for diversity and inclusion.
One is leadership involvement. The second key is great data (to figure out where the organization is
right now). The third is using the data to pinpoint gaps in cultural competence in the organization so that
an intervention can be implemented that’s high impact. What happens all too often is we throw

3. American Public University System p. 3
diversity training at the issue and focus on the awareness or attitudes, and very little on knowledge and
skills. Most of us have had so much attitude and awareness training that it’s coming out our ears!
(Laughing)
Q: Can you share your thoughts on the role of data and analysis in establishing cultural competence?
Dr. Vaughn: The first order of business is helping the people within an organization to actually feel safe
to collect the data, and that is not easy. Different organizations are going to need different data
configurations, and even within some units, they’re going to be at a higher inclusion stage than others.
The most important thing is to utilize organizational development and effectiveness expertise, which is
what the entire experience should be about. Diversity executives need good leadership skills, but they
also have to think and act like a change agent. How do you affect change in an organization so that you
can move it from where it is to where it needs to be? That takes good data, great leadership and you
have to onboard a lot of people from the top to bottom while keeping your thumb on the pulse of
where the action is in the organization so you can make certain it’s progressing.
Dr. Billy Vaughn
Billy Vaughn, Ph.D., is Senior Managing Partner at DTUI.com LLC (a.k.a., Diversity Training University
International), and Director of the Diversity Executive Leadership Academy. He is internationally
recognized as a cultural cognitive psychologist with expertise in organizational change, employee
engagement, training and instructional design, and harnessing cultural diversity in service of
engagement and productivity. His prior positions were president of Educorp of San Diego (1984-1998)
and faculty member at the California School of Psychology-San Diego (1986-2001).Dr. Vaughn balances
his applied consulting and training skills with an academic and scholastic position at Walden University.
He is also a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP) and received his Ph.D. from University of California,
San Diego. An accomplished writer, his current book focuses on executive cultural diversity expertise.
Dr. Vaughn served on the board of directors for the Elementary Institute of Science (San Diego), which
raised more than $3.25 million in capital campaign funds during his tenure.
Michelle Maldonado
Michelle Maldonado is a former corporate attorney with 20 years of leadership experience in strategic
planning, operations and partnership development across technology, e-learning and online media
industries. She currently serves as AVP of Corporate and Strategic Relationships for American Public
University System (APUS) and is the creator of The Inspire Leadership Series. Michelle is also Co-Founder
and Chair of the Northern Virginia Conscious Business Alliance. As a business leader, Michelle utilizes an
authentic and consultative approach to partner with industry organizations to form strategic alliances
that support overall institutional growth strategies and leverage key academic resources for talent
development and engagement. Michelle can be reached at mmaldonado@apus.edu.
Suggested Pull Quote
"For me, diversity and inclusion is the bottom line. Diversity is all the ways in which people define
themselves as different from other people based on some group membership. Inclusion is about the
organization providing an environment in which people believe they can bring their whole, cultural
selves to the organization in the interest of productivity."