Global Leadership Perspectives: Cultural Intelligence in Modern Management

Cultural intelligence, also called cultural quotient (CQ), refers to the capability of relating to individuals from different cultures. It is mainly about recognising and working actively to understand the norms and customs of a culture different from yours. This social skill is considered valuable in this increasingly evolving world and global business, which looks for this development in the leaders and employees. Some individuals have a natural capability of incorporating into the culture of others, but for some people, it is challenging to incorporate into a different culture. It mainly depends on several factors, which consist of the personality traits of the individuals and their upbringing as well. However, the cultural quotient can be easily understood because of the natural tendency. Cultural intelligence is about sensitivity and cultural awareness, which is also important in an organisation. It does not matter how diverse a workplace environment is; individuals still need to remember that all perspectives, perceptions and experiences are similar, leading to problems while working and relationships and causing friction in the working atmosphere. Cultural quotient permits individuals to have a better knowledge of different cultures, which enables them to work more compassionately and positively with employees from different cultures. Fundamentally, it is developing into a more modern knowledge and understanding of different traditions, nationalities, disciplines and corporate cultures that influence the business in any manner. The procedure of receiving cultural intelligence means increased valuable information in the process of cultural intelligence, which shows the functionality of different cultures in the organisation and further helps in developing behaviours and languages in a professional place, which allows for having a better ability for problem-solving. The four important components of cultural intelligence are –

• Cultural intelligence drive defines the person’s confidence in their capability of functioning effectively in culturally diverse conditions.
• Cultural intelligence knowledge – It encompasses the understanding of the differences and similarities of a person between their cultures.
• Cultural intelligence strategy explains the experiences, understanding and processes of how a person is culturally different from others.
• Cultural intelligence action is defined as an individual’s ability to adapt verbal and non-verbal behaviours to match various cultures.

The cultural quotient is regarded as an essential business tool incorporated for internal and external purposes. Mainly, it aids employees working in every stage to understand each other in a better way and return, they generate better outcomes altogether. It is vital for the individuals of an organisation at different locations and in various cities, countries, or states to be equipped to work respectfully and efficiently with their colleagues with various backgrounds. Leaders in the business have to leverage cultural quotient to aid their employees in developing and growing by finding out different attributes that ultimately make every employee feel strong.
From the viewpoint of external purpose, cultural intelligence is of vital importance. Customers come to purchase products and services from different backgrounds and cultures. Cultural intelligence aids in achieving the objectives of doing business with individuals in a process that makes them feel respectful and comfortable. The customers will respond with a positive attitude when the business is run as expected by the customers, and thus, it will give less stress to them in finding the products and services.

Role of Cultural Quotient in Global Business

We know how rapidly cultural quotient is becoming a significant skill in the corporate sector and how it affects team building in the business. The best part of team management is working with the members of the team, where every team member comes up with their exceptional viewpoint and set of skills in front of everyone. To enhance team members’ leadership skills, they have to learn to lead with cross-cultural insights, becoming a representative of various cultural backgrounds and coming in front of their team members to know different cultures.
Multicultural teams make a profit from various diverse opinions. There is a need to motivate and manage teamwork, and one needs to influence the diverse team and thus build collaboration. This is when there is a need for cultural quotient in the organisation.
For instance, some of the team members in the organisation feel much more comfortable when they communicate directly and give their feedback, while some team members feel comfortable receiving indirect feedback. Recognising what the team members need to listen to and feel welcomed at their workplace is one of the best ways of making an individual feel comfortable while working in your group.

How can one develop a cultural quotient in themselves?

Developing the qualities of cultural intelligence in an individual is a continuous process. The cultural quotient is a thing that is not learned like a technical skill and completed after a certain period, but it is a skill that needs individuals to invest their time and develop these qualities slowly and gradually with time. Discussed below are some of the points that need to be focussed by an individual to develop the qualities of cultural intelligence –

• Begin with educating oneself – One needs to start their understanding and knowledge before learning the cultural quotient. This involves learning different cultures from different team members, learning the style of communication, and what are the things expected from you after being a leader or a manager. One of the best ways to develop connections cross-culturally is by sharing their experiences, and they should begin by acquiring knowledge about important events and holidays that are important and meaningful culturally for the other team members. This means that one must understand that they need to learn about the birthdays of their team members, some religious holidays, or any local holiday for the members of the team who are mainly relocated to some other place or country. Acquiring knowledge and understanding these things is a continuous procedure, but one needs to demonstrate one’s interest in significant events for every team member. This can help make the team members feel comfortable while working in their organisation and make them feel welcome. After the individual has a little knowledge of the culture of their team members, they can learn those and apply them in their actions as well. For instance, by not eating or having anything in front of colleagues observing Ramadan, one can make them feel good; if they do not incorporate this, they may feel bad. Incorporating these little things can aid individuals by increasing the comfort of the team members.
• Considering the expectations and cultural norms – Each team member belonging to various cultures mainly communicates by different methods. Being a manager, it is part of their job to keep the preference of communication in their minds while having conversations with the team members, especially when they are giving them feedback on their work. If the manager is not ready with this idea, they have to take some time and ask the team members about their preferred communication style. They can ask their team members if they can emulate something according to the experiences of the team members previous work atmosphere. Also, if they are comfortable, they can ask their team members how they like to receive feedback. For instance, they can like receiving feedback in writing, privately or live, in front of everyone. Acquiring these skills in an individual takes time, and slowly, it develops, but the manager needs to collaborate with their team members to develop these skills.
• Paying attention to body language – Effective communication is a significant task in managing the members of the team who work together. The manager must give attention equally to what is said and what is not said for their team members. Several cultures are not contentious, which is why the members of these cultures do not express what is on their minds. For instance, if the manager has a member who feels uncomfortable approaching them regarding a concern or problem. There is a need to notice and observe every member of the team to figure out if any of them remains quiet in the office or while working in the team, and they need to discuss with that member what they feel and what is there in their minds to be an effective manager. Identically, if any team member does not speak or puts up their ideas in the meetings, the manager must ask them face to face if hes dealing with any issue or something so that they can help them with their problem. They may rather like to review the agenda of the meeting before starting the meeting by preparing questions instead of thinking during the time of the meeting. This little knowledge can help a manager move on a longer way to make their team feel comfortable and support them effectively.
• Practising gratitude – Recognition and gratitude are regarded as a good way of building close relations with the team members and thus showing them that he sees the work done by his team members. But, it gives recognition to them while they think proactively about the work done by the team members. Also, it is a complex task for the managers to recognise the members who work remotely or are working from different branches of the office or different locations. To counter this, the managers need to recognise the accomplishments and achievements of their team members not only face to face but also in front of the whole team to make them feel good. The manager needs to consider the setting of gratitude tradition in the team even when it is simple to appreciate the agenda item in the team for gratitude. The managers can lead by giving examples and thus by sharing gratitude, but they have to make sure that every team member is participating.
• Remember to consider the practical details of the team members – Cultural details and nonverbal communication among the team members are significant. However, the manager must think about the logistics of the team. If the manager manages a distributed team across various time zones, they need to consider the team members before scheduling meetings or sending messages. Managers need to make sure they are included or not. If they are not included, they have to record the meeting for those team members so that they can watch them and catch up on things. Every team member can’t participate in every meeting at certain times. And, if the reach of the team members is around the world, then the managers have to conduct team meetings at various times. For instance, if any team member is living in the United States, conduct all team meetings at different times. The manager can schedule it in the morning for one week, and according to the EMEA, team members can take part. And, for the second week, they can schedule it in the afternoon, which may be easy for the team members in the APAC region.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the development of the strategy for global leadership fits the global culture of the organisation and thus needs the commitment and participation of the managers and the seniors by creating a cultural quotient among the employees through different mechanisms like cross-cultural training and knowledge, fugitive work expertise, being manifested to different managers in various styles. Moreover, several points that help develop cultural intelligence in individuals to be effective managers are discussed.

Author Bio: Mark Edmonds is an old pro at Academic Assignments, a prestigious supplier of top-quality management assignment help to students around the world. With broad mastery in modern management and an enthusiasm for global leadership perspectives, Mark carries an abundance of information to his composition. He is focused on sharing experiences on cultural intelligence’s basic job in contemporary management, enabling pioneers to successfully explore different conditions. Mark’s commitments mirror his devotion to encouraging leadership greatness through cultural mindfulness and assignment help.