What would you do..?
Imagine that you are an expatriate manager on a team that included two South Africans. As other team members floated their ideas, the South Africans condemned them repeatedly (and loudly) as ill-conceived, problematic, or worse.
How you handle this situation is an indication of your level of cultural intelligence. Not surprisingly, the greater your cultural intelligence the greater your chances of navigating various situations with aplomb.
I hope you aren’t tired of the many “intelligences” discovered in recent years. There was a time when Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was the king of the hill. For decades IQ was touted ted as the critical factor in a person’s success. Besides the casual observation that there are a lot intelligent people who are bigots, racists, and generally speaking, jerks, more studious research found that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a far greater predictor of success. A close cousin to EQ is Cultural Intelligence, (CQ). I just returned from leading a team building workshop in Spain. The team was made up of 8 people representing 5 countries and 5 continents. Here are some concepts from Cultural Intelligence that will make you a stronger leader and team member.
1. What is culture? The shared beliefs and values (both conscious and unconscious) about time, human nature, relationships, and the world inform behavior among a group of people. Teams, families, clubs, organizations, neighborhoods, towns, cities, and countries can all have unique cultures.
2. What it is: Cultural intelligence is an outsider’s seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person’s compatriots would (Early and Ang, 2003). Or simply put, the ability to adapt to new cultural settings.
3. Why it matters:
- It creates harmony.
- It improves communication.
- It expands innovation.
- It builds rapport with customers and stakeholders.
- It encourages healthy competition.
4. How you can develop your CQ:
- Cultural Knowledge
- Cross-Cultural Skills
- Cultural Mindfulness
Now, about your expatriate leadership situation above. If you felt that the South Africans were being rude and insulting you may be equating the merit of in idea with the merit of the person who had the idea. Conversely, it may be that the South Africans clearly saw that a person is much more than their idea and to discredit an idea did not mean that the person was also being discredited. Someone with higher CQ would be aware of this distinction. Taking things a step further, if you wondered whether or not the South African’s behavior was a function of their nationality, upbringing, or work roles then you can go to the head of the class. You area well on your way to high levels of cultural intelligent and its benefits. Stay tuned and learn more about how to build and strengthen this area of your leadership competencies in an increasingly multi-cultural workplace.
I actually lived that a very situation when I was working in South Africa. I was fascinated by the candor and passion my Afrikaans co-workers. As the meeting went on I was curious about what would happen as we broke for lunch. Lunch time arrived and to my pleasant surprise we dismissed with slaps on the back, laughter, and expressions of appreciation for the good work accomplished in the meeting.
Cultural intelligence can greatly improve your leadership and ability to work and live in different cultures.
We will explore cultural intelligence and how you can grow in this area more thoroughly in future posts.
