Are you “culture-wise”? How much effort does it take you to adjust your work style during business interactions which involve people outside of your home culture? There are many similar terms for this power skill: culture-wise, culture-savvy, intercultural readiness, […many more…] and cultural intelligence. You can, of course, work successfully at an international scale and never develop it, but you will not reach your full potential without working on your Cultural Intelligence (CQ).
Here’s how you can build your Cultural Intelligence. Our clients know that CQ is an important factor for global business success. That’s why we include it in our ICE-Q Power Skills Portfolio.
1 – You want to check in with yourself: Do you care enough? What is your level of interest and confidence during multicultural interactions? Ask yourself how relevant it is for you to succeed in a global context. (CQ Drive)
2 – Then take honest inventory: Do you know enough? How thoroughly do you understand the differences and similarities of the cultures you are doing business with? Nobody is asking you to be an expert. The answer to the knowledge question should indicate to you if you have information blindspots and where they are. (CQ Knowledge)
3 – What is your plan? Are you aware that it will benefit you to strategize best practices for dealing with your foreign counterparts? Are you able to map out the “how” of your cross-cultural interactions? (CQ Strategy)
4 – Now that you have a plan, will you deliver? The fourth phase of building CQ marks the transition from thinking to doing. How capable are you to execute on your cross-cultural strategy? Your results will not always be exceptional in the beginning. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll step on people’s toes. Be okay with that. Focus on recovering from faux pas. It will bring you back to step 1. (CQ Action)
This process is ongoing. Sequentially completing steps 1 through 4 will not complete your journey to a higher CQ. It is a continuous practice. Enjoy the ride!
If your goal is to seriously work on your ability to engage and interact with business partners from different cultural backgrounds, to inspire and lead multicultural teams, and to reach your full global potential, we are here to assist you on that path with our training and coaching programs. Take a look:
- Expatriate Culture Coaching
- Executive Global Leader Coaching
- Global Leader Group Coaching
- Culture-specific trainings and briefings (upon request)
To paraphrase management consultant Peter Drucker: Once we accept the reality that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast with the changes around us, the next step is to ask ourselves: “Which skills will help me to stay ahead of change or, at least, deal with change with more ease and grace?”
If you are interested in learning more about cultural competence and foreign language skills, we invite you to sign up for our newsletter, The Culture Reflections. As a token of our appreciation you will receive a series of complimentary materials on cultural competence from us!
Go ahead and sign up here now and we will send you the download links to the COMPLIMENTARY materials via email.