According to an international study from the British Council, employers now place a high level of importance upon intercultural skills¹. Skills such as 'demonstrating respect for others', 'building trust' and 'working effectively in diverse teams' were more important than formal qualifications.

Yet, even though we now live and work in multi-cultural societies and workplaces, there is still seemingly little emphasis placed upon the importance of acquiring these skills.

This article suggests that, to become interculturally adept, training and coaching solutions need to incorporate methods that raise awareness of the fact that culture has an impact on our thoughts, feelings and behaviour and, therefore, in an organisational context, our leadership style.

It examines three methods for doing so and compares and contrasts them. The first is The International Profiler from WorldWork Ltd. TIP is a personal development tool with an online assessment. It measures how much energy a person puts into each of the dimensions that have been identified through research to be critical to the effective functioning of international assignees or multi-cultural teams.

 

The second is from the field of cultural intelligence (CQ). Building on the work of Sternberg's multiple loci of intelligences, the CQ profiler measures a person's effectiveness in an intercultural context. It provides a multi-rater element and a four-step model with the following elements: CQ drive, CQ knowledge, CQ strategy and CQ action. It provides for a structured and logical sequence through which to develop an intercultural engagement.

The third is mine and was developed initially as part of a masters degree in coaching and mentoring practice and then subsequently tested in practice. The Cross-Cultural Kaleidoscope is a tool designed to raise culturally-derived awareness and to raise culturally-appropriate responsibility² and takes a systems perspective upon the need to consider how external factors such as societal or cultural norms, or the economy, may be affecting our emotions, thoughts, behaviours and decisions and, as a consequence, our leadership styles.

 

Click here to read full article published in The Training Journal