As somebody who has lived in various cities, I have always been fascinated by the culture of the places I have lived in. I am an avid traveller and one of the biggest take aways for me at the end of every holiday is the culture of the place. Given my background, I believe accepting and appreciating another person’s culture comes naturally to me. One might wonder where I am going with this. In today’s globalised world, it is becoming increasingly important for us to understand different cultures.
Before going ahead, it is important for me to define what “culture” is. Culture can be described as the relatively stable set of inner values and beliefs generally held by groups of people and the noticeable impact those values and beliefs have on the outward behaviours and impact. Social Psychologist, Professor Geert Hofstede, defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one category of people from another”.
Coming back to the topic at hand, today multinational corporations account for a significant share of the world’s industrial investment, production, employment and trade. Tens of thousands of parent companies employ millions of people globally. Many individuals within these MNCs work with colleagues from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. In such a scenario, it is important for them to demonstrate cultural sensitivity in order to achieve business objectives.
This brings me to the concept of “Cultural Intelligence”. Cultural Intelligence, also known as CQ, is a theory within management and organisational psychology that highlights the importance of understanding the impact of an individual’s cultural background for effective business and measuring an individual’s ability to engage successfully in any environment or social setting. I have often wondered how one can develop their CQ. Shouldn’t this be something that comes naturally to people? Given that we as humans are a curious lot, shouldn’t we anyway want to learn about other people’s cultures? However, some research on the topic led me to understand how big this concept of Cultural Intelligence really is and how it is becoming increasingly important for people to develop their CQ if they want to succeed at the workplace. As a Diversity and Inclusion Professional, I have come to appreciate this concept even more. Through this piece I will try to enlighten some others who are yet to catch the CQ bug!
Let’s begin by understanding what constitutes Cultural Intelligence:
1. CQ Drive (motivation) – This is a person’s desire to perform well in an unfamiliar culture.
2. CQ Knowledge (cognition) – This involves a person’s understanding about how other cultures resemble or differ from his / her own culture. The more one knows about another culture’s characteristics, the more easily he / she can read the cues of people from that background.
3. CQ Strategy (meta-cognition) – This looks at a person’s skill at interpreting “culturally diverse experiences”. CQ strategy encompasses being alert to differences, planning ways to conduct oneself and assessing how he / her are doing in a new situation.
4. CQ Action (behaviour) – This is one’s ability to alter how he / she acts in accordance with cultural norms. Developing insights and courtesy lets one assume leadership by transcending cultural differences. This involves adjusting behaviour accordingly.
Cultural Intelligence involves teaching strategies to improve cultural perspective in order to distinguish behaviours driven by culture from those specific to an individual, suggesting that allowing knowledge and appreciation of the difference to guide responses results in better business practice. It’s a given that the more global an organisation becomes, the more complex it will become. Cultural Intelligence plays an important role here. It is one skill one cannot do without in today’s world. Cultural Intelligence includes adapting to ethnic foods, new languages, unfamiliar dress, local gender relations and international currencies. Regardless of specific differences among cultures, Cultural Intelligence involves understanding and being sensitive to people from other cultures and how they think, feel and act.
One can develop their CQ by committing to increasing his / her knowledge of facts about different people and places, their political and economic systems, traditions, diet, fashion etc. There are various ways of doing this – formally – by reading newspapers and exploring international websites, or informally – by engaging with colleagues who have experience of different cultures, learning from their first-hand experiences. It can also be developed by taking time to reflect on the visible and invisible differences that manifest in different cultural groups. It is very important for us to apply what we learn by reviewing existing working relationships and identifying opportunities to gain more cultural understanding for the individuals we work with, who have a different background to our own.
This brings us to understand the need for one to develop his / her CQ. In today’s global business environment, CQ is a requirement for good leadership. Demonstrating understanding and respect for others’ cultural preferences is exceedingly important. In a multicultural work environment, a high CQ will improve and sensitise one’s leadership, decision-making, negotiation and networking skills. Today when more and more organisations are appreciating the importance of soft skills, as a tool to further success, CQ ranks higher in effectiveness as compared to other attributes like age, gender, location, IQ (Intelligence Quotient), EQ (Emotional Intelligence) or SQ (Social Intelligence). An enhanced CQ can lead to greater personal comfort and higher earnings.
A culturally intelligent manager needs to have a repertoire of culturally appropriate behaviour and needs to know when to use each approach. Leaders with high CQ can identify subtle cues and anticipate change, thus ensuring smooth running of business.
Leaders must cultivate cultural intelligence so they have the ability to:
1. Understand diverse customers – The typical customer no longer exists. As cultures converge, managers must understand the nuances of varied target audience.
2. Manage diverse teams – Communicating and building trust are essential management skills that a diverse workplace makes even more challenging.
3. Recruit and develop cross-cultural talent – Companies need to find and nurture people with the aptitude and skill to succeed in various cultures.
4. Adapt leadership style – Different cultures admire and respond to different attributes in their leaders. Some prefer a collaborative style; others favour an authoritative approach.
5. Demonstrate respect – Different does not mean wrong. Learning how to understand, embrace and appreciate differences makes you a better person.
(Source: Leading with Cultural Intelligence – The New Secret to Success, David Livermore)
It is evident CQ is important, increasingly so because of the globalisation of businesses. CQ is closely related to both EQ and SQ, however, an emotionally intelligent or socially intelligent person is not necessarily culturally intelligent. CQ focusses specifically on individual differences in the ability to discern and effectively respond to dissimilar cultures. This skill is vital for global managers, organisations and business in order to be conducive to the multi-ethnic institutional environments.
Have you checked your CQ yet?
