What Cultural Safety Means to Me - Exploring Cultural Safety in the Workplace | Shemewé Collective

Beginning with Relationship

At Shemewé Collective, everything begins with relationship, not as a concept, but as a living experience. Cultural safety is not a policy or a checklist for me. It’s a deeply relational practice, one that honours the uniqueness of each person I sit with and the cultural world to which we each belong.

Cultural safety, for me, begins by asking a simple question: what does safety mean to you - especially when I’m working with people whose cultural identities differ from mine. The idea is often new for people, but when the invitation is also expressed with a genuine tone, and respectful approach, it’s welcomed.

We start with a focus on relationship, that together we are establishing a safe working space with each other. When I begin working with someone, I usually say something like this: “This is your space to learn and practice. You can’t do anything wrong here. My role here is to serve your learning experience.”

I call one to one work with people lessons rather than sessions. Our focus is on learning rather than something being wrong or in the need of fixing. This is part of creating safe learning environments for diverse teams, where people are invited to learn and practice without fear of getting it wrong.

Starting with Acknowledgement

Cultural safety, for me, also begins with an Acknowledgement of Country, because in Australia that’s how we honour the First Peoples of this land. I’m not offering a Welcome to Country, that is a sacred custom carried out by Traditional Custodians. Instead, I acknowledge Country as a way of showing respect.

When I’m working with people outside Australia, the Acknowledgement of Country is often unfamiliar, including those who are Indigenous to the lands they live and work on.

So, we talk about where it comes from, that it draws on the cultural practice of Australia’s First Peoples to welcome visitors to their Country and protect their safe passage while on their lands. Being encouraged to use such a unique cultural practice in my own work is a privilege.

So right from the start, culture is front and centre. This also invites questions like: tell me about your culture, your people or tribe. Are you living and working on the lands of your people? If not, do you know the Traditional Custodians on whose land you are on? Such questions lead us to consider the importance of culture in our work together.

Moments of Cultural Safety

Cultural safety is often found moment to moment with a person. In each of the stories below, I was working with First Peoples of different nations, both within and beyond Australia, who worked in corporate roles.

One woman had recently learned of her Indigenous roots. The stories of discovery she shared in each lesson were woven to became part of her support while navigating some difficult and significant life decisions.

Another shared her choice to step away from some limiting cultural beliefs, that women should remain silent and that a leader is defined by who is the most convincing. With support and practice, she found her voice and the resolve to become the kind of leader she strives to be.

With presence and encouragement, another began to reconnect with her people and culture as part of her healing from a sudden and shocking life event. These are some of the ways that cultural safety can show up in our work together.

Letting Culture In

Cultural safety means recognising that culture shapes beliefs, values, attitudes and identity. It's vital to me that both the person and their culture feel welcome in the learning space.

At a FECCA conference, I recall a presenter sharing her frustration that her cultural heritage was often treated as a point of novelty. She spoke about wanting to be introduced as a DJ and radio host first, because when her cultural identity was in the foreground, it often came at the cost of being seen and respected for her professional skill.

I follow what feels safe for the person in front of me, not what I assume it should be. This includes those of us from Western backgrounds too. Part of our Western inheritance is to, in a way, deny that we are formed by culture. We're supposedly free from all of that, which I know is simply not true. In fact, the culture card can often be pulled or ignored when it suits the individual. This is something we, as Westerners, need to be more mindful of.

Cultural Empathy and Humility

People can feel my genuine desire to learn and know about their culture. They can feel my respect, as I approach their culture with an openness to learn and be guided by them as a newcomer. I know because I have received feedback without asking for it. An African man once described what he experienced in our interaction as “cultural empathy.” That stayed with me.

Experiences like this affirm that who I am and how I work with people is valued. It reminds me that this approach has a place in my work with HR managers and teams striving to create safer, more inclusive workplaces.

A Desire to Know

For me, one of the foundations of cultural safety is an enthusiasm, a desire to know and learn. That desire is deeply real, because every time I learn, it expands my world.

I want to connect with people across this extraordinary planet, the human family to which I belong. I don’t want to be limited by my own lens of perception. I want to meet people from different places, with different life experiences, who see the world in ways I don't. I want to learn to see through their eyes.

The Cost of Ignoring Culture

If I have no interest in a person's cultural identity, or think my cultural lens is superior in some way or behave as though I am the expert in their life, well, to me, that's just a very unsafe place for any person to come into. It shuts down rather than opens a space for learning.

Without trust, the vulnerability to name and come to terms with the obstacles or limitations a person is facing, or the challenges they're navigating, isn’t possible. And when that happens, we can't get anywhere.

Living What I Speak

At Shemewé Collective, I speak often of multiplicity and inclusion, not as slogans, but as lived values. That means I must embody what I speak. Not just say I value inclusion but demonstrate it, moment by moment, in how I show up, how I listen, and how I relate. Because when we begin with cultural safety, we begin with trust. And from trust, real learning and real change can happen.

Call to Action

Learn more about the work of Shemewé Collective: https://shemewe.com.au

If you're a leader, HR professional, or someone committed to building inclusive workplace culture, I’d love to hear from you. Shemewé’s approach can support employee wellbeing strategies that honour difference, trust, and relational care.

Reach out if you’d like to explore how cultural safety can be embedded into your team, your EAP, or your broader wellbeing strategy.