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How The Four Areas of Cultural Intelligence Aid a Leader in Understanding Culture?

          Cultural intelligence improves leadership in a culturally diverse workplace through four areas which are, reframing, adaptive work, systems thinking and consciousness (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). Reframing refers to changing perspective to accept more than one thought process and mindfully transforming old, negative thought patterns to ideas that positively improve cultural understanding, as described by Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). They indicate that adaptive work requires actively changing values, beliefs, or behavior and integrating values of individuals in an organization. Interdependency is the integration of individuals in a system. Understanding oneself, and the cultural diversity of others in the group, helps a leader employ resources to motivate people in the organization to understand, explore, and incorporate intercultural differences. Cognition that emotional, physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects create a whole person and, that while some aspects may align with the group while others may not, they emphasize the importance of balance.  Leaders use consciousness to develop this balance to explore the complexities and creativity in each other (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).

            Reframing involves thinking differently about who is part of conversations, how to engage with them, and developing an inclusive environment, according to Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). They also encourage engaging employees to build authentic relationships. Leaders can shift the focus to learning about each other to build an organizational relationship that is adept at learning about diversity and culture for its own sake and interest of the individuals, rather than just as a means to amicably work together to attain a goal. Zetlin (2014) explains reframing as the way a story is shared, that when told by leaders, orients the leader and followers.



            Leaders, in order to be transformative, must first reflect on their own values and beliefs, explore why they hold these values, and determine if they enhance or deter cultural interactions, according to Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012).  They suggest leaders employ continual reflection and change, eliminate gaps in conflicting values, and acknowledge and adjust dissonance. Bradberry (2012) describes adaptive work as attributes that rely on the thoughts and application of skills as needed for a situation as depicted in Figure 1.



Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) recommends leaders explore the values of individuals within the organization, beginning with their own, assessing how the various beliefs connect, and build on cultural aspects that enhance the interdependent relationships. They summarize that interdependence refers to nurturing and building on various value perspectives to achieve value in learning about different cultures and embracing intercultural involvement. Smith (2012) describes systems thinking as a process of change and interdependence as the importance of each part as connected to the whole. In other words, leaders show that each culture is important in the relationship to the whole organization.

            Awareness of the holistic aspects of a person, along with the strengths and weaknesses that create a person’s character, provides a leader with insight to instill balance and harmony (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). Developing our own consciousness and discernment of balance, they indicate, contributes to collective conscious.  A leader guiding people on a teeter-totter can construct balance, but a leader, along with the team, strategically positioning people for balance, is even more effective. Bisk (n.d.) shares that culturally conscious leaders see the positive opportunities in diversity and builds teams on that premise. They continue with acknowledging change and leveraging the benefits, such as creativity, knowledge, and skills, of a culturally diverse organization.





References

Bisk. (n.d.). Become A Better Leader Through Cross Cultural Awareness. University of Notre

Dame Mendoza College of Business. Retrieved from https://www.notredameonline.com/resources/intercultural-management/become-a-better-leader-through-cross-cultural-awareness/#.W9U-u_ZFzj8

Bradberry, T. (2012, November 9). Leadership 2.0: Are You An Adaptive Leader? Forbes.

Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2012/11/09/leadership-2-0-are-you-an-adaptive-leader/#6b6ba1ef32c8

Cultural Intelligence for Leaders. (2012). Saylor Academy. Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0.

Smith, B. (2012, March). Overview of Systems Thinking. Leadership for Change. Retrieved

from http://leadership-for-change.southernafricatrust.org/downloads/module_2_presentations/B%20Smith%20Systems%20Thinking.pdf

Zetlin, M. (2014, September 9). Great Leaders Know How to Reframe a Story. Inc. Retrieved f

from https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/great-leaders-know-how-to-reframe-a-story.html

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