Understanding your cultural self is the first step toward
intercultural competence. Knowing one’s own perspective for
interpreting behavior—having a strong sense of self—contributes to
comfortable connection with culturally different others and is the
foundation of intercultural competence. After all, how can we know
others if we don't know ourselves? Peter Senge in his 2004 book titled Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society defines
this shift as “a shift in awareness of self ... getting rid of the
habitual view of the self.” This shift allows one to identify the
internal strength he or she possesses as well as the areas of the self
that need to be developed. Senge adds, “Looking at our ‘failings’ is
always hard, but it is easier when done against the backdrop of our
strengths.”
Three dimensions of this awareness—self-reflection,
self-development and experience—repeatedly and continuously build upon
each other as one moves toward intercultural competence and
sensitivity. Self-reflection inspires one to reassess cultural
strengths and weaknesses, re-evaluate successes and failures, gain new
knowledge, and develop interactive skills. Self-reflection also
challenges complacency and enhances one’s sensitivity to subtle shifts
in context that require the flexibility to react to situations that are
uncertain and sometimes uncomfortable. The result is self-development,
which transforms self-reflection into awareness—a refining of the
cultural self, based on what is learned in the reflective process—and
allows one to adopt a mindset that promotes thinking in terms of a
reality check, trying things out, working through, making the effort,
and looking at the possibilities. Both reflection and development are
practiced and honed through experience. The three dimensions of this
theme—self-reflection, self-development, and experience—build upon each
other in a sort of constant recycling as one moves toward intercultural
competence and sensitivity. Examining informed experiences will, in
turn, lead to further reflection, resulting in a continuous cycle of
self-reflection and personal growth.
An important aspect of
self-reflection and development is the motivation to recognize and adapt
to changing patterns. Dana Comstock in her 2005 book, Diversity and Development: Critical Contexts That Shape Our Lives and Relationships,
asserts, “The better we know ourselves, the more capable we are of
bringing forth our authentic experiences into all of our
relationships—knowing ourselves needs to include the ability to identify
and dismantle our blocks to understand a wide range of human
experiences.” The cycle of self-reflection, self-development, and
experience leads to the mindset of “seeing freshly … stopping our
habitual ways of thinking and perceiving” as described by Senge. In
other words, knowing one’s cultural self allows one to develop enough
self-confidence to evaluate and adapt to the varying and challenging
cultural patterns that arise in each new context.
Recognizing the
three dimensions of the cultural self results in awareness—a
mindset—that enables development of the competencies needed for building
and maintaining successful relationships across cultures.
Published on LinkedIn . . . Friday, July 17
This blog will feature questions (ranging from leadership and diversity to culture-specific communication, global team-building, and the nuances of business and social protocol in different countries and cultures) raised by working, adult students in higher education. You are invited to share your insights and perspectives based on your own personal work experiences. See "Welcome . . . more about this blog" for additional information about the blog's history and purpose.
One of the main challenge faced by global leaders is not only dealing with the ‘global’ context per se but the added complexity this represents for them, which includes influencing individuals and groups (who represent diverse cultural/political/institutional systems) to help achieve their corporation’s global aspirations. The most effective global leaders can manage multiplicities, tackle huge challenges, grapple with instability, and navigate uncertainty and ambiguity.
ReplyDeleteSebastian,
ReplyDeleteAs a leader in global leadership development, when working with clients to help them achieve the skills necessary to lead globally--including the skills listed in your post (the ability to manage multiplicities, tackle huge challenges, grapple with instability, and navigate uncertainty and ambiguity), where do you begin? In other words, is reflection on how they perceive cultural difference the starting point in your work? The first module in the design of my global leadership courses involves students identifying their personal cultural orientations, and how they perceive cultural difference. Are our starting points similar or different?
Thank you, Sebastian, for posting to our blog.
Hi Charlene, a very thought provoking post. On the topic of the skills to be developed by global leaders, I think we need to understand business, political and cultural environments worldwide. Second, they need to learn the perspectives, tastes, trends, and technologies of other countries. Third, they need to be able to work simultaneously with people from many cultures. Fourth, leaders must be able to adapt to living and communicating in other cultures. Fifth, they need to learn to relate to people from other cultures from a position of equality rather cultural superiority. I personally agree with Adler and Bartholomew, and also agree with Ting-Toomey that added the needed the skill to create transcultural visions. I would weigh them and prioritize differently depending on the situation and would add flexibility, which is critical to be able to adapt to different environments. For example, in my first middle-management job about thirteen years ago (yikes! That sounds like a lot!), I was managing projects across many countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia from the US. I needed to very quickly develop many of these skills, and unfortunately learned many of these lessons the hard way. Fast forward a decade later and for my exiting job we cater only to US-based consumers with a US-based employee force. Nothing to worry about and not being able to leverage the skills developed in my international assignments, right? Nope, actually they became very handy for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious is that despite of being US-based, our team is very diverse, with people from all over the world. The least obvious was that each company has their own culture, and the skills that I developed over those years came in handy to be able to identify and define the new culture, and adapt to the new environment quicker and better. I honestly don’t think I would be able to successfully change companies after a 16 year career, if it wasn’t for the skills I developed while in a culturally diverse environment.
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