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How does having high cultural intelligence allow a leader to adapt to novel situations?

          Because managers are always saddled with the responsibility of how their employees perform in the workplace, it then becomes an enormous task for them to balance the organizational goals using whatever resources at their disposal (Barrass, 2014). In doing this, they would have to manage both their own duties and personal targets, as well as those of their employees, which sometimes might be different from theirs and could create situations that might affect their relationship with their subordinates (Barrass, 2014). In other words, the cultural intelligent features work together by making sure that for an authentic leader to create the enabling working environment, he must exhibit leadership acumen that will bring their employees together under one goal.  What this means is that the cultural intelligence feature helps leaders to develop a trustworthy relationship among his staff, between their colleagues and the firm (Barrass, 2014).
          I wish to state here that being an authentic leader entails that you bring the four specific feature of; “metacognitive and cognitive CQ (cognition), motivational CQ (motivation), and behavioral CQ (action)” together in order to create and foster a genuine employee trust, and organizational commitment that will lead to improved and effective performance in the workplace (Barrass, 2014). The features allow an authentic leader to develop an effective form of communication that will, in turn, encourage organizational and individual understanding of their limitations in a very cordial manner (Barrass, 2014).
          Authentic leadership seems to be a new approach regarding leadership, highlighting the genuineness (Bishop, 2013), in other words, remaining coherent with our values. An authentic leader is an epitome of high moral standards, integrity, and honesty, acknowledges his/her personal limitations and shortcomings, and is, therefore, less likely to adopt a defensive attitude about organizational problems (Hsiung, 2012). To be an authentic leader, one must be ethically accountable and true to oneself as it relates to the collective good of others (Bishop, 2013).
          Furthermore, using the element of the ABC’s (Acquire, Build, Contemplate, and Do) of Cultural Intelligence to buttress this point, one could enter into an analogy that Acquire (Cognition) & Build (Metacognition) corresponds to the Cognitive Processes. Cognitive CQ focuses on acquiring and understanding the elements of culture, whereas metacognitive CQ encompasses the method to analyze and use those data to recognize behaviors and attitudes (Vogelgesang & Clapp-Smith, 2009). A leader should be able to understand the cultural systems in the different subsidiaries as they can be completely different.
          Contemplate corresponds to Motivational processes. Motivational CQ encompasses of the incentives linked to objectives to boost the engagement of a leader into the Cultural Intelligent process. My former company being an international humanitarian organization, we ensure, as part of our objective, the involvement and the success of our global teams by considering and implementing policies that carry along the different component of the cultural systems of our host communities. While do corresponds to behaviors. Active processes consist of transforming ourselves by adopting new behaviors for better interactions with the unfamiliar culture. Whereas quite a good number of our staff are quick to adapt to changes, we still have those who we would have to be pushed and pushed in the event of unfamiliar cultures.
          A very good level of cultural intelligence is paramount for leaders to quickly learn and adapt to new and unfamiliar cultural system by identifying such elements of culture as “Power distances.” The Cultural Intelligence Model supports people in leadership positions to face difficulties of unfamiliar cultures by continually adjusting their behaviors (Vogelgesang & Clapp-Smith, 2009). It equips them with the required acumen to identify possible areas that might pose cultural issues even before they become prominent. The last but not the least, Cultural Intelligence Model equips an authentic leader with the necessary tools with which to strengthen his relationship to be able to quickly resolve issues related to cultural differences (Vogelgesang & Clapp-Smith, 2009).

References
Barrass, D.B. (November 2014). The relationship between Authentic Leadership,
Cultural Intelligence and Employee Behaviour. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/145052607.pdf
Bishop, W. H. (2013). Defining the Authenticity in Authentic Leadership, The Journal of Values-Based Leadership: Vol. 6: Iss. 1. Retrieved from: http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=jvbl
Cultural Intelligence for Leaders. (2012). Saylor Academy. Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0. Retrieved from: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_leading-with-culturalintelligence/index.html
Hsiung, H. (2012). Authentic Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: A Multi-Level Psychological Process. Journal of Business Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/authentic-leadership-and-employee-voice-behavior-a-multi-level-4S9MMIwOVa
Meyer, E. (2014). Leading Across Cultures: Learn to Adapt Your Style. INSEAD. Retrieved from https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/leading-across-cultures-learn-to-adapt-your-style-3342
Vogelgesang, G., Clapp-Smith, R. Palmer, N. (2009). The Role of Authentic Leadership and Cultural Intelligence in Cross-Cultural Contexts: An Objectivist Perspective. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(2), 102-117. Retrieved from: http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol5iss2/IJLS_vol5_iss2_vogelgesang_authentic_leadership.pdf

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