Cultural Competence and Intercultural Effectiveness in Coaching and Coach Development

Abstract

Discussion on culture in recent sport literature of late tends to focus on team culture, or how to create positive and effective environments in which individuals and teams thrive. The numerous attempts at describing cultural competence, dating back at least to the early 80s, show no consensus on its definition. Unlike the cloudier concept of cultural competence, intercultural effectiveness can be more easily defined. The antecedent variables like dispositional, biographical, and self and identity flow to the principal components like language, regional competence, cross cultural competence, knowledge, affect or motivation, and skills. In a study of experiences of Russian gymnastics coaches who migrated to New Zealand/Aotearoa, coaches reported changing behaviours they believed to be effective in their home country to adapt to what they perceived parents and other sport stakeholders expected of them in their host country.