Cultural Intelligence, Why You Need It and How to Develop it

We have known for a long time about IQ; then there was EQ emotional intelligence developed by Daniel Goleman, we now have CQ. What is CQ you-you may ask, is cultural intelligence, we now live in a globalised world, many of us work for multinationals and come in contact with very different cultures than our own?

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is a person's capability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity (Ang, Van Dyne, & Koh, 2005; Earley & Ang, 2003; Earley & Mosakowski, 2005).

We now live and work in a world is far more competitive, dynamic and business processes and practices have become complex.

So the managers of the future will need to have a high degree of cultural intelligence, the workforces they manage will be culturally diverse, and they will work across countries. Not only will they need to be able to communicate and work with these many cultures, but they will also need to understand the nuances and practices to be effective and respected.

An article in Forbes by  IESE Business School', suggests such abilities go beyond simply being intelligent, emotionally mature, and having good general social skills. CQ is a system consisting of three interactive components - cultural knowledge, cross-cultural skills and cultural metacognition. While these three components of CQ can be developed in different ways (see below), it′s important to note that they do not operate in isolation from each other.

IESE Business School suggests the following;

Cultural Knowledge is composed of content (what) and process (how) knowledge of other cultures, such as how and when people express disagreements with each other, and how to give feedback to subordinates.

How To Develop It: You can gain cultural knowledge through multiple channels, such as newspapers, movies, books, travelling to another country, or working with or being friends with people from a different culture. This learning experience will be optimized if you are mindful during the process, such as through carefully identifying what is unique about one culture, analyzing why it is unique, and forecasting when and how you could utilize this knowledge in the future.

Cross-Cultural Skills consist of a broad set of skills instrumental for intercultural effectiveness, specifically:

1.     relational skills; whether you enjoy talking and interacting with people from other cultures

2.    tolerance of uncertainty; whether you are able to tolerate uncertainties, ambiguities and unexpected changes in an intercultural interaction

3.     adaptability; whether you can change your behaviour according to the cultural demands

4.    empathy; whether you can put yourself in a culturally different person′s shoes and imagine the situation from his or her perspective

5.     perceptual acuity; whether you understand other people′s feelings and subtle meanings during intercultural interactions

How To Develop it: Cross-cultural skills are best developed through experiential learning, e.g. through studying or working in a foreign culture where you can practice these skills through trial-and-error.

The development of these skills is accelerated when one is equipped with the appropriate cultural knowledge that was developed earlier. For example, if you know that in cultures such as Spain meeting someone 10 minutes after your arranged time is not considered late, you will feel more at ease when a Spanish colleague does not turn up exactly on time for a meeting. Similarly, being adaptive in a new cultural context requires the knowledge of how to behave appropriately in that culture. Again, this learning experience will be optimized if you are mindful during intercultural interactions and analyze your own behaviour as well as your counterpart′s reactions.

Cultural Metacognition (sometimes called Cultural Mindfulness) is the knowledge of and control over one′s thinking and learning activities in the specific domain of cultural experiences and strategies. Being culturally mindful means one is aware of the cultural context, consciously analyzes the interactive situation, and plans courses of actions for different cultural contexts.

I have worked in many cultures across the globe, the way that I have developed my cultural awareness is via watching movies and gaining an insight into the history and often the pop culture of countries.

The more that you understand about other cultures the more that you grow yourself to be a citizen of the world, there are many opportunities now, to be able to work globally which will provide you with a rich and rewarding career.