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Why Cultural Intelligence is important in Leadership?

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Organizational culture can be described as the smell of the place, or the way things are done in the organization, Kotter and Heskett define culture as gained knowledge, explanations, values, beliefs, communication and behaviors of a large group of people, at the same place. This difference in culture is the reason why some companies succeed where another fails within an industry. (Zenger, 2017, November 25).
In this week’s case study, a new leader Kolab is appointed to lead a non profit organization called International Education Center(IEC), which provides international education and information to the citizens of midwestern state, prior to this appointment Kolab directed national programming and services for the office of Refugee Resettlement in Washington D.C, where she joined after leaving an international relief agency where she traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and Africa working in the organization’s field offices, managing its daily operations, although the previous president Hanh, whom Kolab replaced was good at building relationships throughout the state, she lacked the strategic thinking of how to move IEC to a national level. (cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012).
Influence of Kolab’s self-identity on her ability to lead:

Identity manifests in the way we lead, supervise and make decisions, persuade, form relationships, and negotiate responsibilities each day, (Chavez and Sanlo, n.d), this is what is happening to Kolab, given her background as a refuge her experience as a refugee shaped her expectations and working style, that is why she is known as a go-getter and a high performer, (cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012), being a refugee means to start from nothing and work hard because now you have a second chance if not a third one, this same mentality is what Kolab is bringing to IEC, although her appointment was based on her performance, IEC has a different culture of doing things that Hanh had inculcated in the organization.



The organization seems to have gotten used to a culture of collaborative input, where workers are used to discussing issues and carry out planning services and programs for the community. Kolab is a goal-oriented, and achievement focused which wouldn’t be a problem, but her method of achieving this seems to be totally different from what the employees are used to, her workaholic culture and an authoritarian nature of leadership where she doesn’t invite collaborative inputs from workers doesn’t worker at IEC, much as the directors would want to see results.
Kolab needs to study the situation at IEC to understand its culture, to integrate her own cultural values she needs to be a situational leader, there by adapting to the situation, take stock of her team members, weigh the many variables in the workplace and chose a leadership style that best fits the organizational goals and circumstances. (Spahr, 2015, October 30).
Cultural intelligence strategies for Kolab and Employees and how they benefit the IEC.
Both Kolab and her staff need to go through what we call connecting new information, since both have a different way of approaching work, which is inclined to their history of upbringing and previous work style experience, they ought to connect it to the new situation and see how it fits the new situation, (cultural intelligence for leaders, 20120). Kolab has a work approach that differs from her employees and is based on her history as a refugee, she needs to take a look at her self-concept and how it differs from her

employees or corresponds to her employees, by connecting both hers and the employee culture, she will be able to bridge the gap, as she introduces a new culture while keeping the employees motivated, a drastic change will not work.
Conclusion: organization success depends on leaders, but more importantly it is about leaders who have the capability to adapt to different organizational situations, this is to say leadership success depends on how that leader responds to different situations, it is the same reason why a leader who has been successful in one organization may fail to deliver in another, or why some organizations succeed in an industry where others fail, Kolab may have been successful in her previous assignments, the dynamics are different at IEC, the employees are accustomed to a history of working culture left by Hanh, she just needs to study the situation, compare her style to the one known here, and reach an equilibrium, the whole essence is finding a strategy that will benefit the progress of IEC, engage the employees, and make her feel she is control.

Reference:

Jack Zenger, 2017, Novemebr 25, Change your leaders to change your culture, Forbes, retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2017/11/25/change- your-leaders-to-change-your-culture/#389ad6f867d5
Alicia Fedelina Chavez and Ronni Sanlo, n.d, identity and leadership: informing our lives , informing our practice, NASPA, retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://www.naspa.org/publications/books/identity-and-leadership-informing-our-lives- informing-our-practice1
Cultural intelligent for leaders, 2012, Saylor academy, creative commons by -nc-sa 3.0. retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/325629/mod_page/content/5/BUS5211Textbook. pdf
Spahr, P. 2015, October 30, situational leadership, How flexibility leads to success, St. Thomas University retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://www.ssc.coop/cms/lib/MN06000837/Centricity/Domain/9/How%20Flexibility%2 0Leads%20to%20Succes.pdf

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