Towards intercultural competence: Using consensus to identify essential personality traits for an inclusive extension education workforce

The rapid diversification of workforces and client stakeholder groups has prompted a growing emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion as a critical component of professional development across industry sectors. While the proliferation of intercultural competence training models has increased awareness among employers and workforces, the competencies advocated in these models may not always be relevant to an organization or institution’s operational context. This study addresses the need for contextually grounded intercultural competency models targeted to extension education contexts. Using a three-phased Delphi approach, data were gathered from a panel of 36 intercultural competency experts. The panel identified nine personal traits thought to be critical for the recruitment and development of culturally competent extension educators. The authors explain how these results may be used to recruit extension educators with traits conducive to engagement with a broad audience of stakeholders using culturally sensitive and responsive techniques. Given the distinct processes by which different components of intercultural competence are developed, we recommend specific measures and techniques administrators can utilize to recruit and develop extension educators who possess the agreed-upon intercultural personality traits.