How the four areas of cultural intelligence aid a leader in understanding culture as well as intercultural efforts?
The introduction to this Unit points out that technological and globalization have taken our interdependence with our work colleagues outside the office. We are now connected in so many ways, to so many people, from so many walks of life. Such, often unintentional, interconnectedness changes the rules about how we need to think about the world and how we need to interact with the people we meet in it. Cultural intelligence can help us negotiate this new world, help us engage people, “create systems of inclusion” (Saylor, 2012, p.188), and thereby be more included ourselves. The four areas in which cultural intelligence will significantly improve our understanding of culture and intercultural work are; reframing, adaptive work, systems thinking, and consciousness. (Saylor, 2012, p.187) Cultural intelligence is our ability to successfully adapt to unfamiliar cultural settings. (Saylor, 2012, p.68) Reframing, adaptive work, systems thinking, and consciousness are all part of our cult...