Do you Apply Cultural Intelligence in International Project Management

Question

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE, or CQ, is a globally recognized way of assessing and improving effectiveness in culturally diverse situations and in project management. There are studies that demonstrate that project managers with high cultural intelligence can quickly adapt their management style in order to handle issues raised from multicultural backgrounds.

Do you train, develop, and apply cultural intelligence in project management?
Do you consider that inserting this intelligence in the basket of soft skills of a project manager is increasingly important in this globalized world?

Answer 1

To expand slightly: I've had the good fortune to live in three different countries and learn two languages beyond my native (American) English. [parenthetical adjective due to being married to an English woman] Many readers of this forum have no doubt also picked up their cross-cultural awareness informally unless they were wise enough to seek it explicitly.

Regardless of how one attains it, I believe that CQ is valuable of course in culturally diverse groups. But also even in a "domestic only" group or domestic-only-same-gender group, since the moment there are two or more people on a team there are different perspectives and experiences at the table. I believe one becomes a better listener/planner/anticipator / meeting-facilitator through CQ.

If one hasn't acquired it through the good fortune of a semester abroad, work-abroad, or immersion travel/volunteerism, it's never too late to start. And if concerned about carbon-footprint, seek out cultural immersion experiences close to home: for example help out with immigrants who are learning your local language, or such.