Small Steps, Big Impact: Intercultural Capacity-Building in 2026

2025 was a rocky year for educators committed to intercultural learning, and 2026 is not likely to be any smoother. Most colleges and universities are working with even more limited resources than usual, whether that’s budget, personnel, time, or all three.

Over the past year, I’ve been contacted by many educators and schools asking some version of the same question:

We’d love to collaborate with True North Intercultural to build our intercultural capacity, but resources (budget, time, or personnel) are limited right now. What do you suggest?

So I’m kicking off 2026 by responding to that question here. One thing to keep in mind is that building intercultural capacity at an institution (which includes developing educators’ own intercultural competence and their ability to facilitate others’ intercultural learning) is a process that takes time and will likely involve multiple phases.

Just because you’re not ready or sufficiently resourced to undertake a big initiative doesn’t mean you can’t take smaller steps that will move you in the right direction. Even if that means developing the intercultural capacity of a few educators at a time, doing so will positively impact not just those individuals, but their students and colleagues as well. I often find that when I collaborate with a school on an initiative such as the ones listed below, these efforts increase understanding and interest around intercultural learning that results in the school committing to more significant projects down the road (i.e. creating a snowball effect).

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The following are some small- to medium-scale ways your school could collaborate with True North Intercultural to make progress towards your intercultural learning and teaching goals this year.

Navigating Cultural Differences Online Course

Your Goal: To help one or more educators develop their own intercultural competence so they can foster more inclusive classrooms, campuses, and communities

Resources: Limited budget, personnel, and time

One great option that requires minimal resources is our asynchronous online course, Navigating Cultural Differences. The course is design to help busy educators develop their own intercultural competence so they can create more inclusive classrooms, campuses, and communities. You could go through the course yourself, enroll a group from your office, or promote, and potentially fund, participation for interested faculty or staff across campus.

The more individuals your institution enrolls, the lower the rate. We also offer a facilitated private-cohort option as well. Click here to learn more about Navigating Cultural Differences. For groups of ten or more, or if you’re interested in learning about the facilitated private-cohort option, book a strategy call with me to discuss.

Facilitating Intercultural Learning Program

Your Goal: To help one or more educators both develop their own intercultural competence and better integrate intercultural learning into their courses, programming, or other aspects of their work

Resources: Limited personnel and time, budget of $2,500+

Facilitating Intercultural Learning is a twelve-week, cohort-based professional development program designed to help educators develop (1) their own intercultural competence and (2) their ability to design and facilitate intercultural learning. Participants are encouraged to focus on a specific course, program, orientation, training, or other aspect of their work where they’d like to integrate intercultural learning.

The Facilitating Intercultural Learning program takes place online, combining asynchronous learning with individual and small group coaching, for an intimate, practical, in-depth learning experience.

Individuals can enroll in our public cohorts (offered fall and spring semesters, with the next one starting February 3, 2026), and institutions registering three or more people qualify for a discounted group rate. We also offer private cohorts for schools or organizations wishing to train larger groups.

Click here to learn more about the Facilitating Intercultural Learning program. On that page, you can book a call with me to discuss whether the program is a good fit for you or your institution, group options, and next steps.

Customized Workshops

Your Goal: To help a group of educators develop their own intercultural competence and, possibly, build their capacity to facilitate others’ intercultural learning

Resources: Limited personnel and time, moderate budget ($5,000+) 

True North Intercultural can design and facilitate a practical and engaging workshop (typically full- or half-day) to meet the intercultural needs and goals of your group of educators. Workshops typically focus on educators’ own intercultural development and can get into intercultural facilitation and pedagogy as well if appropriate. All workshops are customized to the experience, needs, and goals of the group.

While I don’t want to suggest “one-and-done” trainings are sufficient to create an interculturally-competent and inclusive institution, I’ve found these workshops help build understanding of what intercultural learning entails and why it’s important. This is often a critical first step to resourcing any type of larger-scale intercultural initiative.

To explore whether a customized intercultural workshop would be a good next step for your institution or organization, schedule a strategy call with me here.

Leadership Team Intercultural Development Program

Your Goal:  To help your leadership team better understand what intercultural learning involves and why it’s important

Resources:  Moderate personnel, time, and budget ($10,000+ depending on group size)   

When a school is looking to help its leaders (President’s Cabinet, Executive Leadership Team, Dean’s Team, or similar) better understand what intercultural learning entails and why it’s important, I typically design a program that includes having those individuals complete the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and debrief their results with me, as a group and individually.

The leaders first complete the IDI assessment online, then we meet in person, typically for a full- or half-day workshop, during which time we debrief group’s results. This helps them explore their strengths and challenges navigating cultural differences as a team. We then do some goal-setting, action-planning, and, if time allows, engage in some intercultural development activities tailored to the groups’ IDI results.

After the group session, team members schedule a time to debrief their individual results with me. Each team member that participates in an individual debrief also receives an Individual Development Plan (IDP), based on their IDI results, to help them continue working on their intercultural development.

While this is not a low-budget program, it is an important first step if the goal is to eventually do wider-scale faculty and staff development across the institution, because getting leadership on board is critical for the success of such an initiative.

Not only will the team better understand what intercultural learning entails and why it’s important, they’ll also be empowered with tools to continue working on their own intercultural development, individually and as a group.

If you’re interested in learning more about how True North Intercultural can help your leadership team develop interculturally, schedule a strategy call with me here. 

 
Photo credit: Jukan Tateisi, Unsplash