By deepening our understanding, practice and confidence in cross-cultural interactions, we set ourselves and our organizations up for success in an increasingly interconnected world.
By deepening our understanding, practice, and confidence of cross-cultural interactions ,we set ... [+]
For those of us who work in multinational companies with colleagues from around the world or for anyone who works in heterogenous, multicultural societies, having a strongly developed sense of Cultural Intelligence is a must. We need it for our teams to function well and to maintain productive business relationships with our peers, customers and other business partners.
Culture Intelligence, or CI, refers to our ability not only to observe and understand the behaviors that arise from culture—generally national culture—but also to recognize cultural differences and act on the challenges and opportunities that those cultural differences present to us. Strong CI helps our cross-cultural teams work together more effectively, whether we are a team leader or a team member. Just like Emotional Intelligence is a must for healthy social interactions, CI helps in the same way on multicultural teams. But because Emotional Intelligence helps us react to social cues and empathize with those around us in our usual context, it may fail us when working with others from different cultures where social cues differ. This is why we need both Cultural Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence when working across borders.
Developing our CI is even more critical now as we do more work remotely and with the greater team diversity that remote work allows. Fortunately, CI can be evaluated so we can learn to develop it ourselves. Here are three ways that any of us can start that.
The Three Components of Cultural Intelligence
There are many CI frameworks and models out there, but what they have in common is recognizing that CI, which is measurable, comprises multiple components. One of these is the three-component model developed by P. Christopher Earley and Elaine Mosakowski. The three parts, each of which we can evaluate separately, are as follows.
1. Cognitive CI, or CI from the head
How well can we understand the ways cultures vary and so be able to observe and analyze cross-cultural interactions?
2. Physical CI, or CI from the body
How can we act on our awareness and recognition of culture to take actions that will help bridge cultural differences?
3. Motivational CI, or CI from the heart
Maybe the trickiest one of all. Bridging cultural divides is not easy, and for many, it can be daunting to act, even if we know how. Motivational CI tells us how willing and confident we feel about overcoming cultural differences and facing the unfamiliar.
To build our CI, we need to develop our CI score in these three areas, each requiring a different approach. Let’s look at how.
Build Your Cognitive CI Through Study and Observation
Cognitive CI is the easiest part of CI to develop.
1. Start by reading about how cultures vary and can be measured. I recommend starting with The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. This book is simply the best I have come across for providing a framework to understand how cultures can be understood in a business context. I use this framework all the time in my day job leading global projects teams and in my teaching to international M.B.A. students.
2. Apply our critical thinking faculties. Metacognition is a big word that means thinking about thinking and shows the need to recognize that how we think and process the world around us is colored by our assumptions and biases, so we must be conscious of those. Reflect on how you think, on how you evaluate others and on how you make decisions. Is it logical? What assumptions might you be making, or what cognitive biases might be coloring your thoughts? Metacognition will help us in our everyday business but takes on additional importance when working across cultures.
3. Working across cultures starts with self-awareness, so we must combine the previous two tips. While we want to study other cultures, we must also explore our own culture and recognize what is unique about it and how it differs from other cultures. What parts of our culture do we take for granted or treat as common sense? Knowing this and applying our critical thinking capabilities helps us recognize our assumptions and biases, which have been built into us by our native culture. We can then be conscious of those assumptions and biases, recognizing that our common sense is not so common with other cultures and use that knowledge to identify what we need to do to overcome cultural gaps. Such gaps are as much about knowing ourselves and our culture as they are about knowing others.
Practice Improves Your Physical CI
Now that you are more mindful of your behaviors and cultural tendencies from developing your Cognitive CI, it’s time to turn that into action.
1. Flip your assumptions and common sense by being your Devil’s Advocate. In cross-cultural interactions, when things that are contrary to your expectations or simply confusing occur, take a minute to pause and step back. Think back to those cultural assumptions and common sense, then think about things from the opposite perspective. How could you be wrong? What assumptions are coloring your understanding, and how might the other parties’ cultural assumptions and common sense be influencing their behavior? Act appropriately based on that awareness.
2. Above all, try! Practice, fail, or succeed at adapting your cultural styles and learn from that. Take small steps to try and adjust your cross-cultural behaviors as needed. You will make mistakes, but if you take small steps, those mistakes will not be significant, and they will provide you with multiple opportunities to try out new things. But whatever you do, don’t try to make giant leaps in your Physical CI by stretching your behaviors too far or trying to mimic another culture. When you fail at bridging significant cross-cultural gaps, the falls from those failures can be considerable and demotivating.
3. Make a learning plan with incremental and achievable milestones over several months. Plans with targets keep our focus on action, and incremental gains help us see our progress. For example, say you are from a hierarchal culture and want to speak up more in meetings when the boss is present. Set a goal of raising your hand once this month, twice the next month, and chairing a meeting in a few months. You can revise these milestones as you try things out, but they keep your momentum going, which motivates you and boosts your Motivational CI.
Frame Motivational CI as a Source of Fun and Energy
Learning and adapting is daunting and will be more so if you make it feel like work. Here are two ways to see the positive in CI and increase your Motivational CI.
1. Learn through aspects of a culture that match your interests. Rather than framing cross-cultural study as something academic or a pain that must be relieved, tie it to your interests and passions. Are you a fan of music, media, or cuisine? Develop your CI by learning about and enjoying the music, media, or food of a country that you work with or which represents the culture of a global team member. By inserting a dimension of fun and enjoyment, we can increase our Motivational CI.
2. Don’t do any of this alone; find a cross-cultural mentor, buddy, or coach. Recognize that we are more likely to succeed when we have the support of others. Look out to your network and see who can mentor you as you build your CI or who can be a sounding board for you. This could be someone who knows the culture you are working with, either as a native or who has lived there. That could even be one of your team members—engage with them in cross-cultural reverse mentoring. It could be a colleague facing similar challenges. It could be a professional coach who can help you navigate your challenges. Building your CI is not always easy, but the support of others will help you see the positives and the progress you are making, and in doing so, you will boost your Motivational CI.
In a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected and diverse, Cultural Intelligence is an essential skill for all of us; team members, team leaders, and organizations alike. By developing our CI, we enhance our ability to navigate different cultures and foster understanding, empathy, and collaboration across borders. Better Cultural Intelligence translates into a win for all.
