The Bridging Principles ™ Difference

Here at The Bridging Principles™, we acknowledge and respect that every person and every cultural community is unique. Aspects of our cultural identity include our ethnicity, age, gender, religion, ability, profession, educational background and more. This means that every time we walk into another business or meet a new person, there will be cultural differences and similarities that cannot be easily predicted.

The Bridging Principles™ shift the focus from the impossible task of knowing in advance the history and protocols of every person, culture, or business beforehand, to providing individuals with concrete tools to navigate through unpredictable cultural complexities on the ground, in any situation, anywhere in the world.

The Bridging Principles™ is a cultural safety program, different from cultural sensitivity, awareness, or competence training programs. Of key emphasis in The Bridging Principles™ is the act of self-reflection to understand our own cultural values, expectations, and norms, and the development of empathy towards other’s experiences, feelings, and perceptions of the world and how that may impact our encounters with each other. The result of our programs is that they help people from all backgrounds feel safe and comfortable working with each other – in a spirit of humbleness and mutual respect for what makes us different and for what we hold in common.

Human Diversity: Challenge or Opportunity?

There are more than seven billion people living on this planet. Each one of us has our own life story, beliefs, values, cultures, desires, and fears. In this global era, we need tools to help us embrace and communicate across our differences for more inclusive, productive teams and to meet the needs of our diverse clients.

How can our diverse teams be productive and respectful of our differences, while generating the outcomes organizations need for success? The Bridging Principles™ help you find ways to create culturally safe, respectful and open communication where the diversity of your teams and clients can truly be your greatest asset.

Finding Our Common Ground

In our diverse workplaces and communities, we need tools to help us find our common ground so that we can achieve our common goals. We also need to feel safe and respected with others to be who we really are. When we achieve this fine balance, then we are able to work with others from all walks of life to create productive workplaces, effective teams, profitable businesses, and a more peaceful world.

The Bridging Principles™ help people work with and benefit from each other’s diverse cultures safely and successfully by finding common ground. Utilizing these principles, we can build professional and personal relationships where everyone at the table can feel safe, respected, valued and able to effectively achieve our common goals together.

The Bridging Principles™ are a set of communication strategies that help people to build bridges between their diverse worlds, creating opportunities for culturally safe and productive communications and collaboration.

The Bridging Principles™ training programs provide a foundation for the creation of effective communications across cultures based on clear intent, mutual trust, and respect for all cultural perspectives at the table.

Our programs share five powerful principles to increase the potential for listening, learning, and collaborating with people from all walks of life. These five principles are based upon observations of universal human nature that can be applied in any cultural context, according to the unique perspectives present around the table.

Development of The Bridging Principles™ was supported through Canadian Federal funding in 2013, and has grown to a worldwide phenomenon. Our programs have now been delivered in Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and the United States, to members of diverse communities within these countries. We continue to expand globally in response to growing demand.