It is important to do more than simply acquire cultural knowledge; competence is both knowing, being able to apply, and exhibit cognitive flexibility, where one assimilates new information into new categories rather than creating meaning through immediate, socialized ways of thinking. Intercultural encounters can be both formal(one consciously pursues) and informal(through volunteering or working in diverse settings). The example of cooking a frozen pizza illustrates the need for cognitive flexibility: the author relied on an enculturated belief of Farenheit being the standard for measurement but realized that she should have been more informed of Swedish systems of measurement, thus adapt her knowledge to another cultural context.

Uncertainty can be prevalent in intercultural encounters, which leads to us doubting what we should or should not do; those with low tolerances for uncertainty are more likely to exhibit lower competence or avoid future encounters while those with high tolerance are more willing to "experientially learn" and may be more intrinsically motivated.

Other knowledge can be developed by making an effort to interact outside of a culture or shared identity; e.g. of Swedes and Americans. This leads us to become more mindful. There are various ways to build self and other knowledge, but is important to vet the sources we are engaging with; also, learning another language does not immediately lead to knowledge of the other culture.

Motivation(intrinsic and extrinsic) are both part of ICC but cannot alone produce ICC. People with dominant identities, for example, may engage in intercultural communication but once they obtain a reward or get what they need out of it, they may abandon a relationship altogether=no relational maintenance. Furthermore, non-dominant peoples are more likely to communicate interculturally when they percieve power imbalances: for example, Black individuals may speak Standard English because it is more acceptable in a corporate setting while others suppress their sexualities. People with dominant identities may also expect the other communicator to adjust to their communication styles: this is evident when international commerce is considered. E.g. Indian cell-phone receptionists were pressured to adopt American accents and names to avoid frustrating Western clients.