Whether we’re working with multicultural communities, First Nations peoples, newly arrived families, interfaith groups, or long-established neighbourhoods across Australia, we often hear the same phrases:
“cultural competence,” “cross-cultural skills,” “culturally appropriate practice.”
These terms suggest that culture is something we can master – a body of knowledge we can study until we “know enough.”
But culture isn’t a checklist.
It isn’t a training module.
It isn’t static.
Culture is living, relational, contextual, shaped by history, Country, migration, identity, kinship, strengths, struggle, and story.
This is why cultural competence has a ceiling.
Because no matter how well-intentioned we are:
we will never know enough – and we will make mistakes.
Not because we failed,
but because we are human.
And this is where cultural humility begins – not as an achievement, but as a way of being.
🌱 Why Cultural Humility Matters
Cultural humility is the ongoing practice of:
- curiosity rather than certainty
- respect rather than assumption
- openness rather than defensiveness
- relationship rather than expertise
It doesn’t pretend we can know or predict everything about another person’s culture.
Instead, it asks us to stay teachable – to keep showing up in ways that honour the relationship.
One moment from an Aboriginal cultural training session has stayed with me for years. The facilitator said:
“People get so scared about making mistakes with Aboriginal mob. In the old days, sure – you might’ve copped an arrow in the leg… but now? It’s just a chance to learn, listen, and build trust.”
Powerful.
Direct.
Truthful.
Humility isn’t about avoiding mistakes –
it’s about how we repair, listen, and learn when they happen.
🌿 Cultural Competence vs. Cultural Humility
(Mastery vs. Relationship)
Cultural competence says:
“I can know enough about your culture to safely navigate it.”
Cultural humility says:
“I will never fully know your culture – but I can show up openly, respectfully, and ready to learn.”
Competence focuses on information.
Humility focuses on connection.
Competence tries to avoid mistakes.
Humility deepens trust through repair.
Competence tends to put the practitioner above the relationship.
Humility places the relationship at the centre.
🌿 What Cultural Humility Looks Like in Practice
1. Listening Before Acting
Listening not to fix or respond – but to understand.
Listening for the meaning, stories, strengths, and cultural rhythms already present.
2. Walking Alongside, Not Above
Moving from “expert with answers”
to ally, partner, and co-learner.
Supporting communities to bring their own strengths forward,
not inserting our solutions on top.
3. Naming Power and Assumptions
Every practitioner carries:
- cultural identity
- privilege
- bias
- blind spots
- social power
- lived experience
Humility doesn’t deny this – it brings it into awareness so we can share power more intentionally.
4. Adapting in the Moment
Every group has its own pace, metaphors, expression, and decision-making rhythm.
Humility means being flexible, responsive, and relational – not rigid or performative.
5. Seeing Mistakes as Doorways
We will misstep.
We will misunderstand.
We will get it wrong sometimes.
Humility says:
- own it honestly
- apologise with integrity
- repair gently
- stay in the relationship
- keep learning
Often trust becomes stronger after a moment of repair.
🌿 Why Cultural Humility Creates Better Outcomes
Cultural humility helps create spaces where:
- people feel truly seen and respected
- diverse identities are honoured
- power is shared rather than imposed
- trust grows instead of contracts
- communities take leadership
- participation becomes co-creation
- solutions reflect lived reality, not outside assumptions
It aligns naturally with:
- ABCD
- co-design
- place-based work
- social capital
- restorative practice
- strengths-based approach
- community-led decision making
Because all of these depend on relationship, not expertise.
🌻🌻 The Invitation
Cultural humility invites us to shift from:
“How do I become competent in your culture?”
to
“How can I show up in a way that honours this relationship?”
It asks us to:
- listen before acting
- stay curious
- let go of certainty
- be willing to be taught
- notice our power
- repair when needed
- stay human and present
- walk alongside rather than ahead
- welcome ways of sharing that are not always Western –
storytelling, songlines, dreaming and creation stories, metaphor, symbol, archetype, visual imagery, dance, theatre, rhythm, silence, circular dialogue, deep time, and embodied knowing
Because cross-cultural exchange is not only verbal.
It is felt, enacted, ceremonial, relational, rhythmic, creative.
This is how trust grows.
This is how strengths surface.
This is how communities lead.
This is how genuine, relational, strengths-based work takes root.
Not by mastering culture –
but by meeting each other with humility and humanity.
So I leave you with this:
What might become possible in your organisation, team, or community if cultural humility became a lived practice – not just a value we talk about?
If this reflection stirs something, I’m always open to a conversation.
Soulgen 
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