Leadership in Intercultural Contexts

This course can be applied to the UBC Certificate in Intercultural Studies, UBC Micro-certificate in Diversity and Inclusion, UBC Certificate in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and UBC Micro-certificate in Anti-Racism.

This course is also accredited for 40 International Coaching Federation (ICF) Continuing Coach Education (CCE) credits and is part of the Equity, Inclusion and Intercultural Leadership for Coaches program.

Explore your leadership strengths, intercultural orientation, and areas for continued development. Examine how culture, identity, positionality, representation, and organizational context influence leadership, workplace relationships and coaching practice.

The course brings together inclusive leadership, systems thinking, and emotional, social, and cultural intelligence. Through reflection and applied activities, you will examine your leadership context, identify the influence and responsibilities associated with your role, and develop practical approaches to dialogue, inquiry, relationship-building, and organizational change.

You will also complete the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), an assessment that supports reflection on intercultural competence, and participate in a scheduled one-on-one consultation to receive personalized feedback on your results.

This course is designed for professionals who work with individuals, teams, and organizations across cultures and differences, including leaders, managers, coaches, consultants, facilitators, equity and inclusion practitioners, human resources professionals and workplace educators. It supports participants in developing the awareness and practical capacity required to lead, coach and collaborate in complex, multicultural and evolving environments.

Consider this course if you are interested in: 

• Applying inclusive leadership and systems thinking to workplace, organizational and coaching contextsExamining how culture, identity, positionality, and representation influence leadership and relationships
• Strengthening emotional, social, and cultural intelligence
• Using assessment insights and reflective practices to deepen self-awareness and professional practice  
• Facilitating dialogue and inquiry across differences and disagreement
• Understanding the influence, responsibilities, and constraints associated with your organizational role
• Supporting individuals and teams navigating multicultural and global workplace contexts

By the end of the course, you will:

• Apply inclusive leadership and systems-thinking concepts in complex workplace, organizational and coaching contexts
• Analyze how culture, identity, positionality, and representation shape leadership and intercultural interactions
• Assess how emotional, social, and cultural intelligence influence leadership, collaboration and coaching practice
• Interpret your Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) results and connect the findings to a personal development plan
• Use dialogue, inquiry, and purposeful questions to support inclusion and intercultural learning
• Map relationships and systems to identify opportunities, responsibilities, constraints, and potential points of influence
• Develop practical steps for exercising inclusive leadership within your role and professional context

Course format and hours

The format of this course is 100% online and asynchronous. One week prior to the start of the course, an email will be sent to all registered students containing instructions on how to access the online Learning Management System.

This course is 40 hours long. Be prepared to spend approximately seven hours per week completing learning activities, including readings, assignments, posting and responding to online group discussions, and other projects.