Talented people from diverse backgrounds create new cultural dynamics in our workplaces and community.
This is an opportunity to pay attention to our capability to work, manage and lead with Cultural Intelligence.
The reality of our global economy demands that business leaders understand how to engage partners, employees and teams with diverse cultural backgrounds. Working, leading and managing in the global economy has created the need to understand culture, minimize cultural barriers and maximize the business opportunities that come from diverse strengths.
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is the ability to function and adapt in intercultural relationships and workplaces. CQ is a method of predicting and developing your personal and team capability to work together. (www.culturalq.com)
Recognizing our own culture and the value of the diverse cultures of our team members creates opportunity to increase competitive advantage resulting from greater innovation; higher talent attraction and retention rates; greater awareness of client cultures; more successful business and new market development.
There are two key ways to identify and engage your cultural intelligence advantage:
·Understand and learn to work with the strengths of your Cultural Values and the Cultural Values of your team members, business partners and customers. Understanding allows us to minimize cultural awkwardness and increase cultural respect and connection that is so vital to business relationships.
· Develop your overall Cultural Intelligence. Assess and understand your ability to adapt to diverse cultural environments. Find and develop your organization’s current and potential capability to develop:
o CQ Drive: the level of motivation, persistence, and confidence to learn how to work in an intercultural environment. What are the motivations of your people to learn, is there awareness that allows diverse strengths to emerge?
o CQ Knowledge: your current understanding of cultural similarities and differences among your team, partners and customers. How well do you understand, acknowledge and respect the diversity of those around you? How can understanding diverse cultural values help your business?
o CQ Strategy: what is your awareness and ability to plan for multicultural interactions? Are the norms of how you work together still working? What can you stop or start doing to build a stronger team or engagement with clients?
o CQ Action: are you, your managers, employees and teams ready and able to adapt behaviors when interacting across cultures?
Paying attention to the strength of a diverse culture allows us to notice and develop the capacity to meet the needs of clients, customers, partners and teams. A cultural advantage creates strength from diversity, allows opportunity for new approaches to old problems and can allow leaders to take an adaptive approach to leading your teams to achieve business results.
Culturally respectful workplaces are recognized by high engagement and retention rates; greater organizational morale and synergy.
As our economy diversifies, our population changes and the global focus of business – domestic and international – shifts we want to be prepared to seamlessly integrate and engage talent with diverse backgrounds to make our organizations stronger.
Let’s talk about how coaching and workshops can build your Cultural Intelligence!