The Uniqueness of Cultural Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) as in Thomas & Inkson (2003) state “cultural intelligence is about being skilled and flexible about understanding a culture, learning more about it from your on-going interactions with it, and gradually reshaping your thinking to be more sympathetic to the culture and your behaviors to be more skilled and appropriate when interacting with others from the culture” (p. 68). Cultural intelligence or CQ is also an outsider’s seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures in just the way that person’s compatriots and colleagues would, even to mirror them; it is the interloper’s capability to deal with constellation of manners, meanings, histories, and values that can confuse and cause him or her to stumble (Earley & Mosakowski, 2004). Though our skill and knowledge of different cultures can help us adjust to situations, CI enables us to have an awareness of the idiosyncrasies of culture, the peculiarities of its effects and the role it plays in our lives to create a new picture of the situation thereby improving our ability to be adaptable and flexible (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012, p. 17). Being culturally intelligent can make us adept in responding to the immense cultural interactions we encounter in life.  

The ABC’s of Cultural Intelligence

The framework for cultural intelligence (a research-based model of intelligence that can be used to help leaders work through intercultural dilemmas and create understanding and awareness across and between cultures) consists of the following parts: knowledge, strategic thinking, motivation, & behaviors, and can be thought about as the ABCs of CI: Acquire, Build, Contemplate, and Do (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012, p. 70). Accordingly, Acquire: is obtaining information and knowledge - on how cultures are created, interpreted, and shared, as well as how cultural interpretations, meaning, and symbols can impact behaviors and attitudes - to identify cultural elements at play; this acquisition of knowledge that results from being attentive to cultural systems and from tapping into what we have stored in our memory is cognition (p. 71). Build: is figuring out strategic ways of thinking to build awareness of your surrounding and to develop and expand your behavioral repertoires; often referred to as metacognition, it is how you think about, or make sense of, the knowledge and use it in a way that helps you better perform & interact with different cultures (p. 72). Contemplate: is reflecting upon your own interests, your drive, and your motivation, as well as your willingness to work through, and with, cultural interactions as you pay attention to your surroundings and when you respond to unfamiliar situations by: being present and alert, taking a step back, suspending your judgments and biases, reflecting upon your assumptions, and listening carefully (p. 72); the principle of motivation refers to your self-efficacy and confidence, your ability to be persistent, and the alignment to your personal values (p. 70). Do: is choosing consciously, adapting, and performing new behaviors based on new cultural surroundings by changing your behaviors to mimic these surroundings as chameleons in social environments (p. 73); behavior, in CI, is about your ability to have a repertoire of skills and your ability to adapt your behavior (p. 70).

Cultural Intelligence is unique because it is this insight that has proved to be of success in helping one to deal with and benefit from diverse and mostly unfamiliar cultural situations. To do this, CI addresses not only a person’s cognitive abilities but also covers the metacognition, motivational, and behavioral aspects that are rudiments in intercultural interactions. Cultural intelligence is also “built upon a unifying psychological model of cultural adaptation rather than the piecemeal and country-specific approaches” (Earley & Peterson, 2004, p. 101). Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) also presents other ways in which scholars and practitioners believe cultural intelligence is different from other approaches: 1) it is a growing field with a universal appeal that is continuously being researched and tested in many societies 2) it demands that leaders gather more than knowledge of cultural facts including  awareness of how culture works, of the values and beliefs that ground a person’s thinking and motivation, and of exploring behavioral intelligence 3) it emphasizes a circular path, not a linear one; it is not a step-by-step process that culminates in an ultimate outcome but with a room for improvement and development 4) it is a broad approach that looks at developing a set of skills, as well as awareness and knowledge that help us to adapt and interact with multiple cultures (p. 76).

CI is also different from emotional and social intelligence. Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) as in Thomas & Inkson (2003) wrote that “compared to emotional and social intelligence, cultural intelligence theory includes the influence of cultural factors and their impact in intercultural interactions” (p. 74). In comparison, emotional and social intelligence, though important, lack some of the basics that are important to deal with cultural diversity. This is because “emotional intelligence presumes a degree of familiarity within a culture and context that may exist across many cultures for a given individual” and “social intelligence differs from culture to culture” (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012, p. 74). In contrary, Earley and Peterson (2004) argue that adaptation (the ability to modify one’s self based on the culture and the environment) is a requirement when one enters new cultural contexts, and cultural intelligence provides the theoretical background for understanding how one would need to adjust, adapt, or reinvent oneself based on the culture and the situation. Unlike emotional intelligence that “helps us to grasp what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another, cultural intelligence enables us to somehow tease out of a person’s or group’s behavior those features that would be true of all people and all groups, those peculiar to this person or this group, and those that are neither universal nor idiosyncratic; the vast realm that lies between those two poles is culture” (Earley & Mosakowski, 2004). It further says “the people who are socially the most successful among their peers often have the greatest difficulty making sense of, and then being accepted by, cultural strangers and become the most alien when they enter a culture not their own”.

CI & Leading in Today’s Global Market

According to Agin & Gibson (2010) “the new world is complex, dynamic, fast paced, and knowledge intensive; markets, products, and organizations have become global, diverse, and multicultural; the view of the world and its systems as stable and predictable has been replaced with uncertainty, nonlinearity, and chaos; and we are experiencing increasing interdependency among individuals, organizations, communities, nations, and the biosphere (p. 129). Because of this dynamic situation, Agin & Gibson argues that one best way forward is innovation. Cultural intelligence fosters innovation and hence is particularly valuable in terms of leadership competency in today’s global market. Culturally intelligent employees “possess the potential to drive up innovation and creativity, due to their ability to integrate diverse resources and help the business make best use of the multiple perspectives that a multicultural workforce brings to the workplace; such abilities go beyond simply being intelligent, emotionally mature, and/or having good general social skills” (Liao, 2015). The other aspect that we must nurture in the global economy is to embrace change. Today’s global market requires organizations to be change focused, adaptable, & flexible in their intercultural work. In the global economy, “organizations and leaders that expect change are those that tend to thrive while leaders who are bound to a single viewpoint or perspective are no longer effective when leading because the perspectives narrow the opportunities for sustainable organizational growth; when leaders are change focused and embrace an adaptability mindset, they can be better informed, make the right decisions, and provide the right resources to motivate their employees to succeed and perform at their best levels” (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012, p. 18). This quality can only be cultivated through CI work. Yet, another important facet in globalization that must be cherished is diversity. Culturally intelligent leaders are those that elevate diversity to the top of organizational planning and view it as a critical factor to innovation and creativity; these leaders matter because they help to develop curiosity over differences in the workplace and in employees by cultivating an environment of trust (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012, p. 22). “As globalization has rendered the business environment more complex, dynamic, and competitive, the ability to function effectively in different cultural contexts, called Cultural Intelligence (CQ), has never been more important for organizations” (Liao, 2015). Therefore, leaders must possess a high level of cultural intelligence to be able to compete in today’s global market.

References

Agin, E., & Gibson, T. (2010). Organizational Culture & Change. Retrieved July 16, 2017, from: http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/Chapter_15_Web_A46143E86597C.pdf

Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0. Retrieved September 06, 2018, from: https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/cultural-intelligence-for-leaders.pdf

Earley, P.C. & Mosakowski, E. (2004). Cultural Intelligence.  Harvard Business Review.  Retrieved September 21, 2018 from:  https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence

Liao, E. Y. (2015, March 24). Why You Need Cultural Intelligence (And How To Develop It). Retrieved September 21, 2018, from IESE Business School: https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2015/03/24/why-you-need-cultural-intelligence-and-how-to-develop-it/#400eb8d217d6