Michael Bartlett | 00:00  
We still have this viewpoint of schools of very brick and mortar, very box, very 3D rectangular classrooms, one little window on the door. And I think, especially in COVID times, we've become so much more open to education. And so if you think that perfect cultural agility, I just believe that you're giving more opportunities for learning outside of that box. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 00:38  
Welcome to the Cultural Agility Podcast, where we explore the stories of some of the most advanced Intercultural practitioners from around the world to help you become culturally agile and succeed in today's culturally complex world. I'm your host, Marco Blankenburgh, International Director of KnowledgeWorkx, where every day we help individuals and companies achieve relational success in that same complex world. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 01:07  
Welcome to this podcast, everybody. I'm excited about this conversation today with Michael and Shelley, because it's about education today and using cultural agility in education. 
So without further ado, I want to give both of you the opportunity to introduce yourselves. So, Michael, welcome. Shelley, welcome. Thank you. Why don't you tell me a little bit more, Shelley Reinhart, about yourself? 
Shelley Reinhart| 01:33  
Yes, I'd love to. I have been an educator my whole career. I've taught in many schools in the U .S., lots of private schools. I've worn many hats, taught all grades, just been able to be very flexible, which has been great. 
So I love to teach. It's my passion. And I moved to Dubai five years ago, and my husband introduced me to ICI because he hired Marco, you, to come to his company and teach ICI. And I joined him for that seminar and fell in love with it. I just fell in love with the idea of worldviews and understanding culture, and I'm hooked. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 02:14  
Awesome. It's been great working with you. Thanks. Michael, how. 
Michael Bartlett | 02:18  
Was it? Wow, I'm not as romantic as that story had to be. I was introduced through a third party who had ICI come in and support them on hiring of people, but understanding where their corporate structure sat in terms of three worldviews. We were looking at hiring teachers. As someone who has sat in so many chairs in so many schools over 25 years, as a second career person, actually, not as an educator originally, it's been interesting to see both those particular journeys, but my own journey, both before in those chairs and now after in those chairs in education. 
So I love it because it's furthered my knowledge and my understanding of people, which isn't that what we want to do, especially as educators. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 03:09  
So, Shelley, you already mentioned how you got introduced to ICI. Michael, how did you hear about it? How did you get introduced to. 
Michael Bartlett | 03:19  
It? So ironically, I was working with a group looking to hire about 25 percent turnover of a staff in a particular school. And as we were sitting, we were talking about KPIs and what our focuses were. I kept hearing this, yeah, but we need to remember their culture view. 
Yeah, but we need to remember our training from Shelley and Marco. And yeah, don't forget. And I'm thinking, OK, finally, what in the heck are you guys talking about? Who is Shelley? Who is Marco? What is this worldview? Right. And that's how I got introduced to Shelley. 
And then eventually here into the office at that time, even in COVID times, I couldn't get enough because I'm furthering my opportunities to know more about teachers, not just people, but where they would fit in classrooms, in cultures of schools. As I've now become an inspector of schools, how that fits to the overall scheme. 
You know, we hear that word culture. I like using the word Intercultural and where kids and people fit. 
So that's kind of how I got involved. And I don't think I've looked back. I've enjoyed it so much and hopefully keep looking forward to how I can put it into both people in schools. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 04:30  
It's easy to talk about that theoretically. It might make sense to an awful lot of people. It definitely makes sense to you. But do you have any practical stories, either the good, the bad or the ugly, as in, you know, where things got really messy or where being culturally agile actually makes a difference as an educator or as a principal? 
Yeah. 
Shelley Reinhart| 04:54  
The first time I really saw this in practicality, a good friend of mine was teaching at a school here in Dubai. And she was so frustrated. She was so confused. She would leave her classroom every day and just be like, I don't understand what happened today. And as I started listening to her and asking her questions, so much of what she didn't understand was cultural. She didn't understand the way that it was an all -girls school. All of her girls saw the world, saw the relationship with her, saw the relationship with, you know, the actual content. And it really, it made me sad because she quit and she left. She couldn't. The pressure was too much. She left confused, thinking it was a waste. And that made me sad. And I was like, no, there's got to be a way that we can work through this and understand what's happening here. What was she misunderstanding? What were they misunderstanding? How could they come together? How could they understand each other? 
So that was the sort of the first, you know, Intercultural. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 05:58  
Clash I heard. Yeah, we'll talk later on about how you've been able to now equip teachers with the skills they need. Michael, you've been, you're an inspector, you're a consultant, you've been a principal, you work with principals. Maybe from that perspective, what have you seen if people have cultural agility and if they don't have it? 
Michael Bartlett | 06:20  
You know, what's interesting is about three years ago, as I stepped out of the principal role, we got a mandate from our ministries, if you will, on schools are now going to be accountable to turnover. And what percentage of teachers are coming and going? How is that with consistency in the classroom? And now you're going to be, as we like to say in the UAE, rated based on that turnover. And the more I learned, and this was all before ICI, there was something there. There was, you know, teachers would come into my office as a principal, or I would sit and train principals and get this overwhelming feeling of there's something here that I don't know how to teach these teachers. And it wasn't until I went through the training and got certified that I recognized when we sit across from someone to hire them, whether it's a teacher or a middle leader, or maybe even interviewing a parent and a child to come into our school, I think we're not only assuming, but maybe expecting that they will have our same worldview. And the questions that we ask are centered around our worldview. 
Well, when you go into multicultural schools, whether it's an Emirati or an Arab culture, or even now into the sub -Asian and Indian culture of schools that I work for, you're starting to realize, especially after my certification, those questions of five years ago and three years ago that I'm asking won't help these teachers understand where our culture of our school, whether it's third culture or whether it's the, and I'm doing the air quotes of culture. That's where I see it. And it hasn't been, let's say, nightmares, but it has been very much in retrospect. I think we're getting better at it because we understand it. Where before the schools I worked with, it was pretty common to have 20 % turnover. And the majority of that 20 % turnover is the teacher coming to your office, as Shelley's story said, and said, look, I just can't work with these kids. They just don't see it how I see it. Exactly. They're doing blank and I don't understand it and you're not acting on it. 
So, that's where I come from now, the viewpoint when I walk into a training exercise or a middle leader exercise of, yeah, before we really get into the training, let's think and focus on where are you? What is your viewpoint? 
So, I don't know if that's a particular story, but I think it's where my journey is in terms of people and kids and parents and teachers. Yeah. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 08:58  
So, on the one hand, it's the teacher feeling they can't connect with the kids in the classroom. Yes. On the other hand, it might be that the kids interact with the content, with the curriculum in ways that they're not used to. What about the interaction between staff, teachers amongst themselves? Have you seen challenges there or? 
Shelley Reinhart| 09:21  
Yeah, I have. Especially here in the UAE and the schools that I've worked in, I taught the three worldviews to a group of teachers at the beginning of a school year. And it was fascinating looking around the room, all of the teachers from the West, Canada, the US, whatever, the Europe, they're all sitting together. And the Arab teachers were all sitting together and they teach like moral education and they teach Arabic as a language. They're all sitting together, they're separated. As I began to talk about the three worldviews, I mean, people are like, wow, yeah, that's so interesting. And the Arab table, they said, yeah, you know, my goodness, I was raised in honor shame. Now this makes sense. And they kept calling me over to the table to ask questions. 
You know, what do you think about this? And it was really interesting. And it just made me realize there's this gulf between that table and the rest of the tables. And they're not able to truly understand each other. But understanding what worldview that table had come from made it easier for the other teachers to say, explain this to me. 
You know, you were raised in this worldview. How did that affect you? 
You know, all of that stuff. So that's where I saw it firsthand. It made a difference. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 10:44  
Yeah, fascinating. And feel free anywhere along the conversation to jump in because stories always illustrate, you know, very powerfully what we're dealing with. There's one thing we haven't mentioned yet, and that is the relationship with the parents. 
Yeah. I've seen firsthand as a parent with kids in school that parents can be quite a challenge for a teacher to deal with, especially if those parents have a very different mindset, very different cultural heritage that they bring into the principal's office or into the parent -teacher meeting or the expectations they put on their children. Anything? 
Michael Bartlett | 11:22  
You know, that's a great viewpoint. One of the schools I was fortunate to open as a founding principal, one of our marketing or KPI areas of focus was we have Western teachers. We were teaching American curriculum. 
So we have American teachers because we felt like that was the demand in looking at market share to put students in seats, as we say. But as we got further into it, we realized, again, you're assuming that person sitting across from you has the same viewpoint of an American teacher as I do. Yes. And what we've come to realize is they don't. They are wanting that particular teacher to function in their viewpoint. Yes. And we are wanting that teacher to function as an American principal, so to speak, in the American viewpoint or wherever they come from in America in the particular worldview. And I found the clash more often, as Shelley said, that gulf between this table and this table with this table now being parents, not Arabic teachers. Right. But it's still the view of, yes, I want an American teacher. The school that I go to, 50 percent of our class teachers are American, when in reality, they just want that American teacher to do what they want from their viewpoint, not really teach as we do in America. And that has nothing to do with curriculum. That's nothing to do with delivery. That's nothing to do with pedagogy. That's 100 percent them wanting those teachers to function in their culture, how they view it. 
And then the flip side of that is the teachers don't know how to do that, so they become frustrated. And they have this expectation maybe of homework or academic honesty or whatever you might say. And the students won't have it, neither will the parents. They will have a tutor. The tutor will do all the work. The tutor will get 100 percent on the homework. 
And then the student doesn't survive. But it brings honor to the family because the particular child had 100 percent. But the teacher, as Shelley said, becomes very frustrated. Yes. 
So understanding that, we are now a few of the schools that I'm working with, we're really focused on teaching parents' worldview. Yes. Yes, we're focused on teachers, and I think we're about to cross that bridge. But much more focused on parents' worldview of understanding when you say you want an American teacher or a Western teacher or my class teachers from wherever, that's not Arab, no offense to anyone, that comes with its own viewpoint. Yes. And parents sometimes misunderstand that because they're not educated. Right. And they are the ones writing the check. Therefore, we should behave according to the check writer and the payer. 
So that's been a lot of fun in terms of helping parents understand. We're even expanding that into one group who's a local university here and teaching parents of university students coming out of a particular culture of a particular school and understanding that this school has a specific base, a specific set of teachers. And as we get into university, there's much less turnover. University teachers, they don't care. You do it their way or you don't. 
So that's. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 14:44  
Been interesting. Fascinating. It reminds me of a program we ran with future global leaders, so end -of -high -school students, and where we encouraged the students to take the conversation about creating culture, creating a culture where people belong, to take it home. And it was fascinating where the parents got involved. Once they understood, even the conversations at the dinner table started to change. And it was fascinating to hear them get excited and say, wow, I had this amazing conversation with my parents, and I was able to take what I learned in school, I was able to take that home and start talking about culture creation and talk about grandpa and grandma and parents and our siblings and how we keep us together in a global world. You alluded to this idea of the classroom and looking at you, Shelley, what would be an example of a teacher trying to use a certain pedagogy, a certain way of connecting with the students, and it doesn't work because there is different cultures in the classroom? 
Shelley Reinhart| 15:50  
Yes, so many examples. One would be brainstorming. Brainstorming is actually an innocent skill concept where you are free in the classroom to share your opinions, and the teacher wants your opinion. They want you to share it. In fact, you're graded on sharing it. Your participation grade counts on that. But from an honor -shame perspective, I'm not going to share unless it's been validated and approved by my community and myself. I'm not just going to spew out whatever I think. No, there's an honor -shame exchange, so I'm not going to do that. 
So kids are sitting in the classroom and they're from a different worldview, and they're not going to share their opinion until you scaffold, until you say, look, in this classroom, we're creating a culture here of all the worldviews, and your opinion matters. Even unfiltered, I want to hear what you think, and that's okay. This is a safe space to do that. If you don't scaffold that in a classroom with different worldviews going on, you're not going to get kids who are willing to share, just off the cuff, brainstorm, debate, have discussions. It's not going to happen. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 17:01  
Right. So if I hear you correctly, if you just make that assumption, certain kids are going to speak up, and other kids are actually going to shut down. Yes. 
Shelley Reinhart| 17:11  
Absolutely. And you're not going to have that beauty of debate. 
Michael Bartlett | 17:14  
And can I top on that with how are we letting the teachers know this is happening or is going to happen? How are we putting them through the interview process of letting them know, listen, this is the culture of children that you're stepping into. 
Yeah. These particular pedagogical strategies, although mainstream where you come from or mainstream in your studies or mainstream as a teacher, these are certain criteria you're going to have to set and rules you're going to have to set in your classroom. Where back in the day, we just put the three rules on the first day of school and off we went. 
Yeah. Right? In addition to that, I think Shelley's actually told me this story. We ask children to think critically and think outside the box and not necessarily brainstorm, but have different viewpoints of different opinions of different statements. 
And then we ask them to practice that or think about them. And then they go home and they sit at the dinner table. Right. Where dad's in charge, you know, and the father is very in charge. And when the child says, you know, today I learned that I have this particular opinion on something you've said. The father comes to school and says, how dare you have this son question my authority in my own house? Yes. When all you're trying to do is teach them the skill of critically thinking or different viewpoints of a particular aspect of what you're learning in the class. I find that we don't as a group here in the Middle East, maybe not even America, I don't think we equip our teachers well enough to know what that looks like. Yes. And I know we don't equip our leaders well enough. And I'm 100 % sure we don't equip our parents to know what it means to be, as you say, an innocent skilled teacher or a Western teacher, which is where the majority of us come from. A. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 19:05  
Lot of the examples you've given so far are more international schools oriented. There's going to be people listening from Asia, from Europe, from North America. And they might potentially say, well, I live in a town where mostly everybody has a passport from this country. There is a cultural mix. There might be second, third generation. It might be inner city international school. What would you say to people who are not in the region that you live in, where almost all the schools you've worked with are international schools and there is like kids from 40 to 90 different nationalities? What would you say to educators in Europe or in North America, where both of you are from? Do they need cultural agility as well? 
Shelley Reinhart| 19:52  
Yes. Yes. Because if you're an educator, your goal is that you're communicating knowledge and principles to those students and you want to do it in the best way that's going to engage them and reach them. And you can't just walk in and assume that everyone thinks the same way you do, even in a town where most people are the same. 
So if a teacher is committed to creating a culture where every student can engage and every student is heard and is able to be taught in a way that they can understand, then we have to look at world views no matter where we are. 
Michael Bartlett | 20:32  
You know, I kick myself. I taught at the same school for a decade before I came to the Middle East. And I just looked back and I thought, my goodness, how bad of a teacher I was. Because I didn't create those opportunities. I was very cut and dry. I was an athletic coach, which you know that stigma comes in North America or, let's say, American football type. And I look back and I remember I had just as many different cultural viewpoints, even though we might have all been innocent to a certain extent. We still had multicultural viewpoints from all aspects. 
Right? And then we were – that particular school was in South Texas. 
So we had culture of the Mexican, right, or the Spanish. And what that looked like, even though they might have been wealthy enough to attend that particular private Catholic school, it was still a completely different viewpoint. Yes. And a completely different base of what it looked like. 
So, yeah, I kick myself. It doesn't – it shouldn't matter your passport. It shouldn't matter where you're teaching. You're going to have different cultures. And as Shelly said, you've got to create – I like the word safe space, but I like the word share space. I've heard that quite a bit. Create a space of sharing. 
Yeah. And the doors close and this is your place. Right. And so that shouldn't matter what your worldview is. Yes. And I think if you, again, make that assumption of that child that's across from you will share exactly what yours is, then I think you've done an injustice to the classroom. Yes. 
Shelley Reinhart| 22:06  
And you're naive. Yeah. 
Yeah. It's not that way. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 22:09  
Yeah. And when we look at education globally, it's getting more and more Intercultural, especially in cosmopolitan cities. We see in the rise of English as a second language requirements in Europe, in North America. 
So, there's always that cultural mix in the classroom. And the shared space, Michael, that you're talking about, we talk about creating a third cultural space or a space where culturally people feel at home. Shelly, you were alluding to that. Now, if I was a principal of a school – Michael, you've been a principal, you work with them extensively – how do I even start this? How do I get going on this? 
Michael Bartlett | 22:47  
I think the first thing is understanding that there are things that you don't know, right, and recognizing that and having a little bit of humility on understanding. And the principals I talk to, there was always that one thing they couldn't identify, and I believe this is the one thing. 
So, I think, you know, educating them, but them saying, OK, I recognize there's something. I want to know what that is. And I don't think we ever stop learning. And so, being able to have enough humility to admit there's something I want to stop and find out what it is. Where, you know, I taught a leadership class yesterday. We get so caught up in the day -to -day administrative duties of being a principal, we sometimes forget we are the leader. And to be a leader, you have to have an understanding of all of the aspects of the building, whether that's culture, whether that's where you come from in high poverty, low poverty. But I think recognizing that there are things that you still don't know would be a first step. And I think that opening the door to learning more about this can help you open more doors, in my opinion. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 24:01  
That's great. So, if you could sort of dream about a school that really gets this, let's say everybody involved in the school, from the principal, the leadership team, support staff, the teachers. The school is culturally agile, even in the way they engage with parents, with the community at large. Paint a picture for me. What would it look like? What's different about it? 
Shelley Reinhart| 24:28  
Yeah. 
Michael Bartlett | 24:29  
Well, I think everything's different about it, right? Yeah. 
You know, we still have this viewpoint of schools of very brick and mortar, very box, very 3D rectangular classrooms, one little window on the door. And I think, especially in COVID times, we've become so much more open to education. I taught a class yesterday of principals across 31 countries. 
Right? So, it's not just me in front of this particular set of leaders. And so, if you think that perfect cultural agility, I just believe that you're giving more opportunities for learning outside of that box. 
You know, I don't want to call it out -of -the -box thinking. I just think you're giving more opportunities for that. And you're teaching them. 
You know, we talk a lot about our kids don't—we get things so set up for them. When they have a struggle, we don't teach them how to function in a struggle. We fix the problem. I've read a really good book about the difference between saving and coaching a child. And so, understanding what that looks like. And you see Kevin over in the corner, and he's struggling with a particular thing. 
Well, what did we do as teachers? We get over that corner as fast as we can, and we fix his problem. Where at the end of the day, if we just coached him through and helped him understand, you're going to have struggles. This is a perfect opportunity for educating worldviews so that we could teach them more about struggles. Because you're going to struggle. 
I mean, think of the last 20 months. Yeah. 
You know, think of the struggles not just of teachers but of human beings. But look what we've accomplished in the last 20 months in terms of, you know, humanity. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 26:13  
And if I think about that, take that dream a little bit further. Let's say kids graduate from that type of a school where becoming culturally smart, knowing how to create culture together, those types of things are part and parcel of being at that school. Now they graduate high school. What's the difference? How would it help them? 
Yeah. 
Shelley Reinhart| 26:35  
They're going to be able to be agile, to meet people and not make assumptions, to meet new people and to be able to interact with them in a way that's understanding and compassionate and empathetic. Because they know that their worldview is not the only one, that the person in front of them is a unique cultural being with their own worldview. And if I'm trying to understand that person, I need to connect with that piece. And they're going to have the tools to do that, whereas other kids just. 
Michael Bartlett | 27:05  
Don't. You know, I think if we call that functionality, I hear that word quite a bit now in education. Are we teaching children or students or graduates to function in different aspects of the world? Where most of the time we choose the university that closely matches what our parents taught us. We go there, we graduate, right? 
And then we move on to the world. And most of the jobs we take are jobs that more closely match those aspects of the world. Knowing that there are more out there and knowing that we are more multifunctional, I think is a good word, or agile, it opens opportunities and doors. 
You know, Shelly and I both, we have university -age children. My daughter's graduated, was a teacher, is now going back and getting a master's. Shelly's in her university years with her daughter. We recognize that their functionality is what's going to make them successful, not what their grades were. Where 10 years ago, it was how high were your grades? If you're going to an American university, how high is your SAT? And now it's much more functionality. Now it's much more can that child succeed in particular aspects of the world? Especially as social media, and that's a whole other podcast. 
Yeah. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 28:22  
Absolutely. It's exciting. 
Shelley Reinhart| 28:24  
Can I add one more thought about that vision? Yeah. The dream of what a culturally agile school would look like. 
So in my dream, it's the student, the parent walks through the door, and they already feel like they belong. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 28:38  
Love. 
Shelley Reinhart| 28:39  
That. There's a sense about that school that the three worldviews are all acknowledged, that there's beauty seen in each, and we're going to work within those worldviews to create a school culture. Not, okay, this is our school, and our school is innocent skill, and you've got to conform to innocent skill if you're going to belong here. It's not that. It's the school's successfully created a culture where everyone belongs, where everyone is included. And in the classroom, the teacher's able to do that and able to reach a student where they are. 
Like, that would be so awesome. 
Michael Bartlett | 29:13  
It's interesting that you say that because one of a few of my new consulting contracts are from groups purchasing schools or getting ready to open schools. And one of the very first questions they say is, what can we do to put people in seats? 
You know, how can we increase enrollment? And my answer is exactly what Shelly said. You need to have people agile enough to understand their needs. And again, it's that person sitting across from you. You don't assume you want them to conform to you. How can you create an atmosphere where they – and it's a true atmosphere. It's not a fake atmosphere. You're not answering with the answers they want to hear. It's true. And so that's really what will change a school as we talk about with these companies wanting to buy schools or open new schools. 
So I love that analogy. I appreciate it. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 30:04  
That's great. And I can hear the passion in your voice as you speak about it. And you had a chance, Shelly, to develop a program called Culture in the Classroom. And I've seen how that has evolved and how powerful it has become. I want to give you a chance to talk about that because it's important and it's an exciting program that equips teachers. 
So what is it? What is the Culture in the Classroom program? 
Shelley Reinhart| 30:29  
Thanks. Yes. I am so excited about this. And Michael was there at the beginning too. 
Michael Bartlett | 30:34  
I was there. You were there. All the post -its on the walls. And we. 
Shelley Reinhart| 30:37  
Talked through every aspect. But basically it is teaching teachers that they are cultural beings, that they have a culture and a worldview that they're bringing to the classroom. And that impacts the way they teach. And if you're not aware of that, if you cannot see that lens, then you're going to miss touch points with your students. You're going to miss those connectors, those ways of building culture in the classroom. 
So the first step is to understand who you are as a cultural being. And then we get into the nitty -gritty, the fun stuff of, okay, what does it look like in a classroom when you have different worldviews? How does it work? What are you going to see? What behaviors are you going to see? And how are you going to relate to them, understand them? And some of the things we talk about are like lying and cheating and bargaining and plagiarism. And. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 31:28  
When you think about teachers that have gone through the culturally agile teacher program versus the ones that haven't, would it potentially have an impact on retention of that teacher as well? 
Michael Bartlett | 31:41  
Yes, definitely. I think because they're more knowledgeable and understanding of the particular environment they're in, they're much more likely to stay. And they're much more likely to be – to recognize this has nothing to do with the principal. This has nothing to do with me. This is just a product of our particular environment of school. Hey, you know, I know this. I can work with this. I can do this. Yes. 
Right? And I think it's – it helps them understand, you know, maybe the grass is not always greener. 
Right? And now that I know these things and I've gotten to know my particular teachers or my science department or whatever, I can function here and I can not just survive. I can be successful. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 32:28  
Yes. So, I might be a teacher from four or five different continents potentially listening to this podcast. And if I want to become more culturally agile as a teacher, what do I do, Shelley? 
Shelley Reinhart| 32:42  
Take my course. No. But no, yeah. 
I mean, talk to me because there's so many ways to get this out there. It's such good material. It has such an impact. It makes a difference. I wish I could have, you know, talked to my friend, the one I talked about at the beginning of the podcast, and said, okay, you know, your school operates in these world views. Here's what you're going to see. Here's what to expect. Don't be shocked. This is what's going to happen and here's how you can respond. I wish I could have. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 33:14  
And we'll definitely make sure that there is information available for people to connect. And Michael, I really appreciate you coming in because you have that almost like strategic level as well as practice level, principal experience, insight. How do you typically engage with schools? If schools or principals or leaders of schools are listening to this podcast, how do you start? 
Michael Bartlett | 33:38  
One hundred percent of my interactions with schools is word of mouth. I don't go in and become a one -stop shop. I try to take schools on journeys. What I'm learning, and especially since I've been certified and understand this cultural agility, I find I'm better for schools. Because I have an understanding of before I was very cut dry. You're a principal. You have a problem. Let me fix your problem. I'm much more understanding of what it looks like from their side of the desk, both from an experience as a principal, but their particular likely worldview, even though I haven't necessarily assessed them. I would say that from my point of view, take the step. Contact whoever you need to contact. Find a way to get one, two, three, ten, all of your teachers through this. Designate some leaders to help cultivate this, that word culture, but cultivate it within your school. As far as what I do within schools, I think what's important is I help them in their education journey. I don't educate them. I give them information. I give them resources. I do provide some professional development, but ultimately it's them that makes the decision to go on the journey or not. And I think I spoke earlier about the leadership particular class that I'm doing at the moment. It's awesome, even when you're a chemistry physics teacher, when you see those light bulbs, right? And it's like, hey, when you see that in a 25 -year middle leader of a school. 
Yeah. That's awesome. And you can just see it. 
And then all of a sudden they walk out with a smile instead of a scowl of the 35 emails they have to return. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 35:27  
Right. That's awesome. 
Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I have so many more questions I would love to ask, and there's lots of stories to tell. But anybody who's listening to this podcast, you will be able to get in contact with Michael and Shally via our team. Thank you so much for coming in. I'm pretty confident there's many more stories to tell in the foreseeable future. Yes. As we have the opportunity to bring cultural agility to schools. 
So thank you for being part of that journey and that important work that happens hopefully around the world. 
Michael Bartlett | 36:00  
Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. 
Marco Blankenburgh | 36:04  
Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Cultural Agility Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, share it with someone. The best way to help us out is by leaving a review on your favorite podcast app or channel or forward and recommend this podcast to people around you. As always, if any of the topics we discussed today intrigue you will find links to articles discussing them in greater depth in the podcast notes. If you would like to learn more about Intercultural intelligence and how you can become more culturally agile, you can find more information and hundreds of articles at KnowledgeWorkx .com. A special thanks to Jason Carter for composing the music on this podcast and to the whole knowledgeworks team for making this podcast a success. Thank you, Nita Rodriguez, Ara Azizbekyan, Rajitha Raj and thanks to Vipin George for audio production, Rosalind Raj for scheduling and Caleb Strauss for marketing and helping produce this podcast.