Ep109: Diversity Isn’t Just Skin Colour, with Rev. Dr. Timothy Tang

Changing Lenses: Diversify Your Perspectives

“I think our greatest fear is that people are jumping into it just because it's good opportunity, or it's good PR. As opposed to knowing, and thinking, and believing that this could actually make us all better as a people.”

Rev. Dr. Timothy Tang, Director of Tyndale Intercultural Ministries, shares with us what cultural competency means, how it benefits us in life and work, the challenges that practitioners face, and easy (and fun!) ways we can all grow our intercultural awareness. (No training programs required!)

In this episode:

We talk about:

• What to call intercultural _____, and what it is
• Cultural differences in names and titles
• Sometimes the biggest challenge is realizing what your existing lens is (or that you have one)
• Applying cultural competency at work and in leadership
• Diversity is skin colour, but it's not just skin colour
• Pulling your “diversity muscle”
• Practical (and easy) ways to start your intercultural learning
• Meeting people where they’re at – through movies, food, dance

Full transcript available here.

Guest Bio and References/Links

Reverend Dr. Timothy Tang was a pastor at East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church for over 15 years, during which time he obtained his doctorate in leadership, specializing in intercultural development. He's now the Director of Tyndale Intercultural Ministries (the “TIM Centre”), which is part of Tyndale University in Toronto.

Just some of the services that the TIM Centre provides are: intercultural resources for networking, training, and research; a certificate program in ministry and organizational leadership; and intercultural assessment, training and coaching for teams and individuals.

References:

The websites Tim mentioned on the podcast are:

http://www.timcentre.com

ureachtoronto.ca

ureachcanada.ca

Music Credits
Intro Music:
What Words Can't Describe, by Vlad Gluschenko
License: CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
Outro Music:
Beautiful Modern Rock Pop Guitar All Goodness Background Music, by Royalty Free Music
License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en