What is Cultural Intelligence?

Cultural intelligence refers to the capability to effectively navigate and adapt to diverse cultural contexts, encompassing an understanding of cultural norms, behaviours, and communication styles.

An individual with high cultural intelligence is not only culturally aware but is able to adapt and work effectively across a range of cultures (national, ethnic, regional, organisational, team). People with high CQ aren’t experts in every kind of culture, but they have the skills to go into new environments with confidence, and to make informed judgments based on observations and evidence.

Researchers (Earley, C. and Ang, S. (2003)), have identified several key aspects of cultural intelligence:

1. Cultural Knowledge: Understanding how cultures influence behaviours, values, and beliefs.
2. Cultural Strategy: Formulating culturally sensitive strategies to navigate diverse cultural environments.
3. Cultural Action: Behaving in culturally appropriate ways and adjusting behaviour when interacting with individuals from different cultures.
4. Cultural Drive: The motivation and willingness to learn about and engage with different cultures.

These dimensions collectively enable individuals to interpret and respond to cultural differences effectively. These dimensions share similarities with an influential Harvard Business Review article (Earley, C and Mosakowski,E. (2004)) that describes the key components of cultural intelligence as:

Head

Cultural intelligence involves more than just memorising cultural facts; it is about developing effective strategies to understand and adapt to diverse cultural environments. It can be about recognising subtle clues to a culture’s shared understandings. For example, rather than assuming that all German companies operate similarly based on previous experiences, a manager may observe various individuals within a new client company to understand its unique culture.

Body

Cultural intelligence is not just about what you know but how you express that knowledge through your behaviours. Someone who demonstrates cultural intelligence will adapt their greetings, gestures, and ways of working to align with the customs and norms of different cultures. For instance, a professional who understands the cultural significance of physical proximity may adjust their personal space boundaries when interacting with individuals from cultures that prefer closer contact.

Heart

Cultivating cultural intelligence requires confidence, resilience, and a willingness to learn. Individuals with high cultural intelligence possess the self-assurance to navigate cultural challenges and the motivation to continuously improve. For example, a manager who encounters resistance in a cross-regional team setting may draw upon past successes of overcoming differences and finding common ground.

Why is Cultural Intelligence important?

Cultural intelligence is extremely important in today’s interconnected global world, serving as a foundation for effective communication, collaboration, and relationship-building across geographical, ethnic and organisational boundaries. By cultivating cultural intelligence and culturally diverse situations and new cultural settings, individuals and organisations gain the ability to navigate cultural nuances, bridge cultural divides, and capitalise on opportunities. This heightened cultural awareness and adaptability not only enhances business performance and innovation but also fosters inclusive workplace cultures where diversity is celebrated and valued. Cultural intelligence predicts:

• Inclusive Leadership
• Employee satisfaction and wellbeing
• Innovation
• Influence and negotiation effectiveness
• Judgement and decision making

Cultural intelligence empowers individuals to transcend cultural barriers, foster mutual understanding, and thrive in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. 

Is Cultural Intelligence the same as Emotional Intelligence?

Cultural intelligence (CQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) have links, but they are not synonymous. While both involve understanding and interacting effectively with others, they focus on different aspects of human interaction.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise, understand, and manage one’s own emotions, as well as those of others. It involves skills such as empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, and social awareness.

Cultural intelligence extends beyond emotional intelligence by emphasising the ability to work effectively in culturally diverse environments. It involves understanding and adapting to the cultural norms, values, beliefs, and communication styles of different groups.

While emotional intelligence helps individuals navigate interpersonal dynamics, cultural intelligence enables them to navigate the complexities of cross-cultural interactions.

Developing emotional intelligence, however, is likely to contribute to higher levels of cultural intelligence. If someone’s behaviour towards us transgresses our own cultural values or norms, we may have an emotional reaction. Our level of emotional intelligence (self-management) may then influence how effectively we are able to resolve this difficulty with the person who was the source of this faux par.

Another link between emotional and cultural intelligence relates to the ‘heart’ or ‘cultural drive’ aspects of cultural intelligence because, as Earley and Mosakowski (2004) point out, “Adapting to a new culture involves overcoming obstacles and setbacks”. People can do that only if they believe in their own efficacy and this will be affected by their ability to manage their emotional reactions to challenging situations. A person who doesn’t believe themselves capable of understanding people from unfamiliar cultures will often give up after their efforts meet with hostility or incomprehension.

What’s the relevancy of Cultural Intelligence for your business?

For businesses, cultural intelligence is not just a nice-to-have skill but a strategic imperative. By developing cultural intelligence among employees, organisations can:

Create competitive advantage

Developing cultural intelligence creates competitive advantage by improving cooperation, teamwork and producing smarter solutions that are more likely to be right first time. CQ promotes greater speed and efficiency when working across borders and is more likely to deliver success in culturally diverse markets.

Help solve complex problems

Big problems can rarely be solved by one individual and the complexity of designing products and services for a global audience requires effective collaboration across boundaries to produce effective solutions.

Produce more inclusive leaders

Leaders can be more skilled and intentional by noticing cultural differences and adapting to them, rather than create conflict or dissatisfaction. They are able to develop the competencies that Pearn Kandola has found to be the core of inclusive leadership. (link to this page)

Enhance team performance

Culturally intelligent teams are better equipped to collaborate, communicate, and innovate across cultural boundaries. By embracing diversity and capitalizing on the unique perspectives and experiences of team members, organisations can foster a culture of inclusion, creativity, and high performance.

Establish greater diversity & Inclusion

Cultural intelligence is closely intertwined with diversity and inclusion efforts within organisations. By fostering cultural intelligence among employees, organisations can create inclusive environments where people from diverse backgrounds feel able to be fully themselves and diverse perspectives are valued and respected.

How Pearn Kandola Can Help Your Organisation

Pearn Kandola offers a unique blend of psychological insight and tailored consultancy services designed to deliver greater levels of both cultural and emotional intelligence within organisations.

HR processes

Our expertise in cultural intelligence enables us to design HR processes that are not only fair and equitable but also culturally sensitive and inclusive. By integrating CQ principles into recruitment, selection, and talent management strategies, we help organisations identify, attract, and develop talent from diverse cultural backgrounds, ensuring that your workforce reflects the diversity of the communities within which you operate.  We can help you design and implement:

• Competency model design. We can help you design competency frameworks that are culturally sensitive and use language that is not misinterpreted by employees in different cultures.
• Cultural intelligence assessment tools. Development of tailored Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs). These tools present real life scenarios followed by a series of alternative actions which someone might make in response to that scenario – designed to assess their level of CQ.
• Recruitment, selection, and talent management process design. We can help you audit your current recruitment and talent management processes to ensure that they are fair, free from bias and culturally sensitive.

Developing cultural intelligence

• Inclusive leadership. Through targeted assessments and training programs, we equip leaders with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate cultural nuances, foster collaboration, and drive innovation across cultural boundaries.
• Inclusive teams. We work closely with teams to foster environments where diversity is celebrated and valued. Through customised workshops, coaching sessions, and culture assessments, we help organisations build cultures of inclusivity, where individuals feel empowered to bring their authentic selves to work and contribute to their fullest potential.

At Pearn Kandola, we understand that true organisational success lies not only in attracting diverse talent with cultural sensitivity but also in creating environments where that talent can thrive. By leveraging our expertise in cultural intelligence and inclusive leadership, we help organisations cultivate cultures of belonging and respect, driving innovation, collaboration, and performance. With our holistic approach to diversity and inclusion, organisations can position themselves as leaders in their industries, driving meaningful change and creating lasting impact in today’s globalised world.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support your organisation in developing both cultural and emotional intelligence, please contact us at info@pearnkandola.com.

References

Earley, C and Mosakowski,E. (2004) Cultural Intelligence. Harvard Business Review

Earley, C. and Ang, S. (2003) ‘Cultural Intelligence,’ Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Business Books.