How can leaders acquire cultural intelligence

Each critical incident has been developed to highlight unique cultural concepts. The ultimate purpose of such an exercise is to train participants to make responses and interpretations similar to those of people from the target culture. This is where experience-based programs come in.

Here, participants from the same or different countries meet and have exposure to different yet equally valuable perspectives from various worldviews.

They share stories, best practices and challenges. Experience-based programs highlight the important difference between learning and development, or developmental stretch. It is one thing to learn about differences, and quite another to actually cultivate behaviors that at the very least acknowledge, or even better, value different personality styles or worldviews, so that people come to appreciate differences and consider alternative views.

To this end, running an explicit consciousness-raising program can help people gain self-awareness by exposing them to a variety of people and views different from their own. For example, volunteering for NGOs, such as those working with homeless people, or engaging in team-building adventure sports, such as mountain climbing, are some ways that can serve to broaden minds.

The self-assessment tests used to train expatriates can also be used to help every employee develop his or her own capacity to adapt to different cultural values. Often, leaders view collectivism and individualism as mutually exclusive and opposing management styles.

Collectivism refers to the practice of prioritizing the group over the constituent individuals, whereas individualism is the converse. A good leader will identify that collectivism and individualism need not be at odds with one another, but may in fact be complimentary and situational. To appreciate this, cultural consciousness should be developed in order to progress our understanding of culture and the fact that different cultures and individuals will tend to prefer either a more collectivist ideal or a more individualistic view.

Having this cultural consciousness will help preempt and successfully navigate possible conflict that can arise from an individualist employee being involved with a collectivist project, and vice-versa. Thus, both paradigms can coexist based on context. Hopefully, this article has inspired you to reflect about your own cultural intelligence and where improvements can be made. This should be seen as an iterative process, and one you can and should involve others in. Remember, there is no necessary end-point to good leadership, and in a constantly changing world it is important to deem oneself as a life-long student of leadership development.

This will reap rewards for you both professionally and personally. Glenn King at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. His research was focused on malaria vaccine development with Prof. During this time he also studied a mini-MBA program in Melbourne focused on research commercialization , had a scholarship to attend the business and enterprise skills course in Dundee, and studied marketing and entrepreneurship at MIT.

Please leave this field empty. Cultural Intelligence and Leadership. Author: Martin Trust Center. Christopher Haggarty-Weir, Ph. This helps break down biases, prevent incorrect assumptions, and motivate individuals to become comfortable in new situations with people from different cultural groups. When people in organizations or institutions develop a high level of cultural intelligence, they have the skills to ask the right questions, give the right answers, and work with people from any culture or cultural mix.

This cultural mix can include ethnicity, age, religion, economic background, sexual orientation, or industry. Develop an awareness of self in relation to others. Look for differences and similarities. Be mindful of the fact that not every person from a particular culture thinks the same, and that there are differences based on generations, economics, etc.

Make your mind a clean slate. When you are observing other cultures, use an objective mindset. Learn and practice ways to break away from those biases. Awareness without practice keeps people culturally ignorant. Put yourself in situations with people from different cultures and practice the other four tools. Visit her website www. You can also call Simma at Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books.

His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc.