CMgr: How to boost your cultural intelligence

Wai Loon Lee CMgr has to deal with stakeholders in 12 countries, each with different cultural norms and expectations. The key to dealing with this effectively, he says, is cultural intelligence.

Cultural intelligence, or CQ, is a subset or continuation of emotional intelligence and can apply to businesses and local cultures, as well as national ones. It involves a lot of active listening and keen observation.

Here’s a definition from Elaine Mosakowski and P. Christopher Earley in the Harvard Business Review: “Knowing what makes groups tick is as important as understanding individuals… A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another. A person with high cultural intelligence can somehow tease out of a person’s or a group’s behaviour 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.”

Lee, who’s a transformation manager for the energy giant Shell, learned about the concept from CMI’s ManagementDirect resource and during his current executive MBA course. However, his own cultural intelligence has been honed through dealings with various cultures around the organisation.

“I’m based in Singapore,” he says. “Generally, people in South East Asia are quite receptive and patient. Having exposure to those colleagues gave me a start as I then began working across other regions.”

There are three components to cultural intelligence: cognitive, physical and emotional/motivational. Lee says that he exercises the first component daily – by, for example, using the first half-hour of meeting a new person or group to identify their key personal and cultural traits.

The second component is about understanding mannerisms and reflecting those back at someone. Being comfortable with cultural customs like this can be a crucial way to build trust.

The third component is essentially about resilience and being able to learn and adapt when you make a mistake or face a challenging interpersonal situation.

“Ultimately, cultural intelligence is about treating people with respect,” says Lee. “It can sometimes take time to build that trust, but if you deliver and understand how to convey that information to your audience, you will build very strong relationships, no matter the culture.”