Since the world is a world, cultural exchanges occur between peoples. These contacts have shaped various aspects of the society in which we live today.
With globalization, the distances became even smaller. And it is here that the concept of cultural intelligence arises.
The idea revolves around a set of skills that allows a person to interact positively with others who are culturally different.
And we are not only talking about different nationalities, but also about regional customs, religious beliefs, alternative behaviors, etc.
To better understand what this concept is about, its importance in the business world and in the keep reading this post!
What is cultural intelligence?
The culture in which we live directly influences who we are and how we act. Several spheres have a shaping effect on our lives: values, customs, beliefs, perceptions and behaviors.
To give you an idea, we are so immersed in our culture that many times we limit our options to follow a certain path automatically.
This is the case of some religions with adherents concentrated in a single locality — Hinduism, for example, is the religion of .
Cultural intelligence is the ability to understand the impacts of the environment on the human being.
In this way, we begin to deal with differences with more flexibility — an intelligent person in multicultural terms manages to better manage and deal with cultural singularities.
The main components of cultural intelligence are:
- motivation: the intrinsic interest of interacting with culturally different people;
- cognition: the understanding of the “norms” that govern other societies, such as social adaptation according to what is expected in another culture;
- metacognition: the understanding or awareness of ideas elaborated from culturally different or opposing perspectives;
- behaviour: the ability to behave differently in other cultures, such as covering the shoulders when entering sacred environments of a certain religion.
These four components are skills that can be developed and that allow you to maintain a friendly relationship with people from other cultures.
More than that, they enable us to grow personally and professionally from contact with different worldviews.
Why think about multiple cultures?
In a highly globalized world like the one we live in today — where geographical barriers are less and less significant in professional and commercial exchanges — it is common for large companies to have to deal with multiple cultures, especially if they intend to expand their business to other countries.
Therefore, employees end up having contact with different cultural elements.
How to prevent this from becoming a trigger for intolerance in the work environment? How to take advantage of and extract the best from heterogeneous coexistence? How to promote a What leads to collective development?
Thinking about the concept of multiple cultures and understanding its importance is the first step. The companies that have this concern have already taken the lead over their competitors, since cultural intelligence has become a decisive aspect for the health of the business. In environments where that trait does not exist, relationships can become conflictive.
On the other hand, the lack of ability to deal with differences can lead to reciprocal communication and understanding difficulties.
So, we can say that, today, knowing how to manage multiple cultures and starting a corporate education process for that purpose is as important as solving and management.
How to develop cultural intelligence?
Teams of technical, service, and management employees and, most importantly, business leaders benefit from understanding multiple cultures. Cultural intelligence can be developed through:
Here are 5 steps to help you put this type of learning into practice.
1. Study cases of multinationals
Knowing the intercultural experiences of multinationals is an efficient way to observe how beneficial exchanges between people with different perceptions are.
Look for cases of companies that are a reference in their areas and share their reality with employees.
2. Meet new cultures
If possible, invest in international corporate travel. Knowing other cultures, especially leaders, contributes to the strengthening of a creative economy, since cultural heritage — or heritage — is one of the pillars of dynamic business development.
3. Exercise tolerance for differences
In training, training and dynamics, include reflections that encourage the exercise of tolerance. Activities that stimulate contact with what is different and better ways of acting in relation to diverse values are very welcome.
Thus, employees will be able to exercise three of the components of cultural intelligence: cognition, metacognition and behavior.
4. Develop interest
Regarding the component of motivations, awakening interest in different cultures and in the multicultural context is fundamental. This is the basis for establishing a genuinely tolerant work environment.
To achieve this, it is worth investing in conferences on diverse cultures. Another tip is and collect statistics that demonstrate the benefits that cultural exchange can bring not only to the work environment, but also to personal development.
5. Invest in emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is being highly valued in the corporate environment. It is about managing emotions, so that interpersonal interactions are not affected by possible negative feelings.
This is also an interesting way to develop the ability to deal with culturally different people.
Therefore, one piece of advice we give you is to promote to provide the understanding and refinement of the emotional intelligence of the collaborators. This includes:
- self-analysis;
- rational command of emotions;
- ability to deal with pressure;
- development of empathy, etc.
In the end, why bet on cultural intelligence?
As we have seen, cultural intelligence is the ability to recognize, accept and deal with differences in values and perceptions related to the cultural environment.
Currently, investing in this characteristic means preparing employees for a context of exchanges that, if they are well used, can lead to everyone’s development.
Not to mention that it contributes to the internationalization of the business, because, in this case, you need to understand multiculturalism to adequately promote your product or service around the world.
And, speaking of which, !
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