C HAP TER 1 Culturally Intelligent Leadership Matters The rst time I taught cultural intelligence principles to a group of executives in Minnesota, I miscalculated the time and distance it would take me to reach the hotel where the training was held. I did not have the conference coordinator's e-mail or phone number, which was useless to me anyway since my cell phone froze. When I arrived at the site, the entire parking lot was packed with cars, and so were the side streets and adjacent parking areas for at least a four-block radius. When I nally found a parking space, I hurriedly picked up the large box in the back of my car that held my training materials. By the time I reached the conference room, I was tired and sweaty from walking in my 3-inch-high-heeled pumps. The coordinator was anxiously awaiting my arrival. Even though I profusely apologized for being late, she gave me \"a look\" that said, \"how unprofessional.\" As I entered the room, all eyes were on me, of course. Everyone was on time, and I, as the trainer, should have been there before the rst person entered the room. Any reason I provided would have been a terrible excuse for this particular crowd, made up of professionals dressed in their business suits, with pens and paper in hand, ready to learn. They paid a lot of money for the conference, of which I was teaching only one half-day session. What went through my mind as I set up my materials, quickly handing them out to the participants? I messed up. Wow, this is really bad and unprofessional. They are not bringing me back, for sure. Those people in the corner look mad. At least that woman over there seems sympatheticor was that a facial twitch? \"Good morning,\" I said. \"Thank you for coming. I see you're all early. And now that we've had the chance to get to know each other, let's begin the training.\" You can imagine the facial expressions I received from the audience: confusion, disbelief, bewilderment. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 16 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE \"Oh, I'm sorry. Is there something wrong with what I said? Let me explain. You all arrived here on time, as Americans generally would. I also arrived here on time, as a Hmong person would. You just happened to be on American time, and I'm following Hmong time. You might think I'm late, but in Hmong time, I'm actually quite early.\" That broke the ice for the group, and I decided to use the experience to lead into the session about cultural intelligence. \"Since all of you were here really early, I'm sure you had the chance to introduce yourselves; nd out about each others' families, where you're from, who you're related to, right? No? Well, that's not right. We can't start the training if you haven't had the chance to relax and just learn about each other. We better do that or else we're going to face some problems later.\" The experience was the perfect opportunity to share and discuss the challenges involved in navigating cultural terrains. Turning my personal experience into a \"teaching moment\" gave the audience the chance to pause and reect about the dierences in cultural expression and behavior. The example was used to help the participants dig deeper and to draw out their Western, cultural assumptions. They learned to ask questions like the following: < What are the dierences in time between her culture and mine? < How do Hmong people approach meetings and trainings? < Is this behavior specic to the trainer, as an individual, regardless of her national culture? < Is this behavior specic to her family and how she was raised? < Why do I care if she was \"late\"? < Can I let go of my emotional attachment for her be here \"on time\"? < What am I not seeing in this situation? < What is my motivation for resolving this situation? < How am I behaving? Do I need to change my behavior? If so, what can I do? Why are these questions important to ask? Asking the questions that move you away from immediate reaction to positive action and reection is necessary in cultural intelligence work. It enables you to have an awareness of the idiosyncrasies of culture, the peculiarities of its 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 1 CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP MATTERS 17 eects, and the role it plays in our lives. When you are able to accomplish this, you create a new awareness of your surroundingsyou create a new picture of the situation. The practice of creating new awareness and understanding is your ability to be adaptable and exible. In the Tao te Ching, an ancient Chinese manuscript written by Lao Tzu and translated by Stephen Mitchell,[1] Lao Tzu explains how one can live their life in perfect harmony with conicting forces. He writes throughout the book about the importance of a person's ability to be exible and adaptable. At birth, he says, we are all malleable. As we grow older, knowledge that we gain from our social and cultural environments often leads us to become rigid and blocked. Lao Tzu says that exibility is essential to growth and evolution, and that we need to choose adaptability over rigidity for survival. In a world where organizations must be change-focused, adaptable, and exible in their intercultural work, leaders are being asked to help people work through, and come to terms with, the changes that dierences often bring. Organizations and leaders that expect change are those that tend to thrivethey anticipate and envision dierent scenarios of environmental change, both internally and externally.[2] Leaders who are bound to a single viewpoint or perspective are no longer eective when leading because the perspectives narrow the opportunities for sustainable organizational growth. When leaders are change focused and embrace an adaptability mindset, they can be better informed, make the right decisions, and provide the right resources to motivate their employees to succeed and perform at their best levels. 1. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANAGERS AND LEADERS Warren Bennis famously wrote in his book On Becoming a Leader that a manager does things right and leaders do the right thing.[3] Like other leadership scholars, Bennis makes a clear distinction between leadership and management and between managers and leaders. A manager's behavior and activities focus on controlling, planning, coordinating, and organizing. This diers from a leader, whose behaviors and tasks focus on innovation, vision, motivation, trust, and change.[4] 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 18 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE TABLE 1.1 Difference Between Management and Leadership. Managers Leaders Cope with complexity by... Cope with change by... planning for goals setting direction budgeting for goals developing a future establishing agendas and tasks having a strategic vision for change organizing roles and responsibilities aligning of people structuring sta and jobs communicating direction delegating people creating coalitions monitoring and implementing results being commitment focused identifying deviations motivating and inspiring planning and organizing to solve problems leveraging human value and potential Note. Adapted from Kotter, What Leaders Really Do (1999). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review. Cultural intelligence requires leadership, not management. It calls for what Ronald Heifetz[5] denes as courageous leadership, that is, the courage to see reality and help others see their realities: the realities of who they are, how they behave, what talents and skill sets they have or are missing in this global world, and what opportunities should be capitalized upon and seized. Leaders must be able to see and anticipate what skill sets are needed in the future, not just develop their employees' skills for the moment.[6] Culturally intelligent leaders must create an environment where diversity and culture ourish, and where conicting values can be safely expressed and explored through dialogue. Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte, says that organizations and leaders must ask themselves the hard questions: Does our corporate culture really accept the dierences it invites, and do we really embrace the dierent perspectives that come from increasing our commitment to recruiting?[7] This type of perspective demands leaders who work toward transformation, or what Couto calls citizen leaders, \"transforming leaders who engage others in eorts to reach higher levels of human awareness and relationships.\"[8] 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 1 CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP MATTERS K E Y 19 T E R M S leadership cultural intelligence (CI) The act of delivering results in the short term while building change capacity for the long term. A tool that businesses can use to help leaders work though intercultural dilemmas and create understanding across and between cultures. managers Individuals who conduct business and direct a team through activities that focus on controlling, planning, coordinating, and organizing. leaders Individuals who guide or direct a group or an organization through activities that focus on innovation, vision, motivation, trust, and change. diversity An instance of being composed of distinct and unlike elements or qualities, such as interests, people, ideas, perspectives, ability, and regions that can be visible or invisible. culture The shared beliefs, values, and assumptions of a group of people who learn from one another and teach others that their attitudes, behaviors, and perspectives are the correct ways to think, act, and feel. 2. IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY Over the years, leadership scholars have found in their studies that, when talking about the leadership process, culture matters.[9] In general, the leadership literature points to the critical need for cross-cultural and global leadership, especially given the pressing need to build networks and relationships[10] and to create an appreciation for dierences and similarities. Bennis noted that, although leadership competencies have remained the same, it is \"our understanding of what it is and how it works and the ways in which people learn to apply it has shifted.\"[11] Leadership theories and models available thus far, while helpful in understanding leadership development, are inadequate paradigms for a full understanding of the changing nature of leadership in the 21st century. Goldsmith et al.[12] argued for new forms of leadership that include thinking globally, appreciating cultural diversity, developing technological savvy, building partnerships and alliances, and sharing leadership. Research into cross-cultural leadership revealed that understanding national cultures is critical to leadership development and that organizations must accept diering perceptions of leadership.[13] Leadership theories and programs that operate from a Western-based, androcentric framework hinder the shift that is required for understanding leadership on a broader level. Situational leadership theories,[14] which focus on leadership traits, skills, and styles, are inadequate models in this regard because their basic foundation (understanding the individual as leader) implies a Western-based ideology of leadership that does not exist in many national cultures; therefore, the underlying concepts of this style of leadership do not always translate universally. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 20 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE Other theories, such as transformational and team leadership, emphasize the collective voice as essential yet neglect the cultural implications for leadership. Even cultures that share similar Western beliefs about organizational structure still operate dierently based on their unique cultural contexts.[15] In a global economy, it is becoming increasingly more important to understand the wants and needs of those we serve, that is, the internal and external stakeholders. Having awareness of this need means that leaders must be able to shape the culture of their organizations to address changing stakeholder needs. Edgar Schein noted that leaders can do this by having a \"personal sense that they are the creation of the cultures of the countries, families, occupations, and reference groups, and that culture plays a huge role in the capacities of their organization to form.\"[16] Culturally intelligent leaders need be strategic in aligning the culture of their organizations with the people who work in them. This organizational culture becomes an advantage for leaders, making it easier for them to respond to external environmental factors, which include culture shifts. Debbe Kennedy[17] proposed the following ve qualities that leaders need in order to address and use cultural dierences to the advantage of their organization: Leaders must make diversity a priority. < Leaders must get to know people and their dierences. < Leaders must enable rich communication. < Leaders must make accountability a core value. < Leaders must be able to establish mutualism as the nal arbiter. < These ve characteristics I have seen as important dierences between the ways that managers and leaders handle cultural conicts and situations. Culturally intelligent leaders are those that elevate diversity to the top of organizational planning and view it as a critical factor to innovation and creativity. Innovation in diversity begins with a denition of diversity, which many organizations lack or have poorly articulated. If they do, diversity denitions are focused on race and ethnicity and do not explore the dynamic dimensions implicit in culture. In a 2007 study on diversity in the workplace, the Society of Human Resource Management[18] reported that only 30% of organizations have a shared denition of diversity in the workplace. However, 75% feel that diversity can be used to improve work and relationships. A focus for, and an articulation of, dening diversity and its importance in the work force can open dialogue for organizations. Having culturally intelligent leaders in organizations matter because they help to develop a curiosity for dierences in the workplace in employees. They help to provide access to information and intentionally gather cultural knowledge on a daily basis that will help them and others learn more about dierences and the inuence of dierences in the workplace. Additionally, leaders can foster creativity and curiosity when they set aside some time, on a day-to-day basis, to practice and master their cultural intelligence skills. When I have seen culturally intelligent leaders in action, they cultivate an environment of trust, which is critical when working with dierences in the workplace. Patrick Lencioni[19] wrote that trust is a critical foundational element in interpersonal relationships. Leaders must be willing to be vulnerable in intercultural interactions, openly admitting what they know and don't know about culture and cultural dierences. They must be able to admit that they might not be able to resolve intercultural dierences. By demonstrating vulnerability, a leader enables 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 1 CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP MATTERS 21 richer communication and creates an inviting space and environment for intercultural dialogue. In this situation, people are more willing to ask for help and to provide one another with constructive feedback; they take risks and learn to appreciate the dierences in skills and style that each person brings to the work environment. For diversity and culture to ourish in organizations, everyone in the workplace must hold each other accountable toward dierences. My experiences working with leaders of dierent sectors, both formal and informal, have shown me that the creation of a mission and vision for diversity can only take an organization so far. Culturally Intelligent leaders create standards of accountability, explaining what is expected of each employee and of themselves in intercultural interactions. As an example, I was brought in to facilitate a workshop about cultural dierences for public sector employees. In this workshop, the city manager and a city council member were present; they wanted to demonstrate to their employees the importance of culture and their commitment to diversity in the city. At the end of the session, they stood up and addressed the participants, reminding them that the workshop they participated in was only one of many to come. Moreover, the city manager and city council member told the employees that they would do whatever it took to ensure that everyone was held accountable for delivering culturally relevant services to the department's clients. In this way, \"Putting dierences to work is greatly enhanced when personal responsibility is a common thread woven tightly into everyone's fabric.\"[20] When everyone is held accountable for their choices and behaviors in an intercultural workplace, there is a higher level of respect and trust among workers. Everyone is encouraged to perform his or her best and to hold themselves to the highest standards in working with each other. Intercultural conicts still occur, but the responses to these conicts from individuals are dierent. Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal[21] wrote that organizations are a coalition of individuals and groups with dierent interests, preferences, and beliefs. The dierences among individuals and groups can change, but this usually occurs very slowly. Leaders must be able to identify mutual interests, values, and beliefs in order to create a culture of mutual interdependence. Because conict is unavoidable, and often necessary, it is best for leaders to create a picture of mutual dependence that is both benecial and progressive for employees. Leadership matters even more when cultures are intertwined in the workplace. Leadership and culture are like two pieces of rope. On their own, they can be used to bundle objects, connect one thing to another, and even support weight. When threaded and intertwined, they do all of these things but are much stronger and have less chances of being snapped. A rope is rm and strong yet exible and pliable. Because change is constant, leaders can use their cultural intelligence to steer organizations, and those they lead, toward nding innovative strategies and solutions to intercultural issues. Like an anthropologist, culturally intelligent leaders explore, discover, and nd cultural artifacts in their business environment that are both barriers to, and promoters of, growth. A culturally intelligent leader will accomplish this from an \"outsider\" perspective while keeping his or her \"insider\" perspective in line. Ronald Heifetz[22] says that one should take a leap to get a balcony perspective when one has been on the dance oor too long; this enables one to see a bigger picture of what is really going on in the intercultural business workplace. Reminding yourself that what you see is only one perspective of a bigger picture can help you to pay attention to what you did not notice or what you cannot see. Cultural intelligence 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 22 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE requires leaders to take a critical role in guiding dierent values in order to bring them into alignment with the business. However, leaders need not do this alone; in fact, they should invite and encourage members to assist in addressing diversity and then challenge them to be culturally intelligent as well. K E Y T E R M S cultural diversity team leadership The cultural dierences or variety of people in a group or an organization. A leadership approach in which a team member is tasked with authority over other team members, providing guidance and direction either on a permanent or an intermittent basis. cross-cultural leadership Leadership that focuses on understanding cultures within a global market. androcentric framework A Western-based perspective of adopting a masculine point of view, either consciously or unconsciously. transformational leadership A leadership approach that seeks to promote positive change in individuals, with the goal of creating permanent, inspirational change, including transforming followers into leaders. organizational culture The shared beliefs, assumptions, behaviors, and values that comprise an organization's social and psychological environment. interdependence The connections and relationships between, among, and within systems, including cultural, political, legal, social, economic, and familial. 3. CHAPTER SUMMARY Culturally intelligent leaders are change-focused and change-ready. They anticipate dierent scenarios for change and enable their organizations and people to embrace change. < Many leadership scholars dierentiate between management and leadership and managers and leaders. < Managers are responsible for controlling, coordinating, planning, and organizing. Leaders are people who inspire, motivate, unite people, and create visions for the future. < Cultural intelligence requires leadership and leaders, not management and managers. < Historically, leadership theories and frameworks are based on Western ideologies and perspectives. < Leadership theories and frameworks must incorporate a global perspective that considers dierences in perceptions of leadership and leaders. < 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 1 CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP MATTERS 23 Leaders must be able to create cultures where dierences thrive. They may accomplish this by: making diversity a priority, getting to know people and their dierences, enabling trust, holding each person accountable for dierences, and establishing mutual interdependence. < Leadership and culture are intertwined like two halves of a rope threaded together. At times, leaders must be able to step away from what they are experiencing to understand the full impact of culture on leadership. < 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 24 ENDNOTES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Mitchell (1988). Lawler & Worley (2006). Bennis (1985). Bennis (1985). Taylor (1999). Goldsmith (2006). Salzberg (2008), p. 123. Couto (1995). Koopman, Hartog, & Konrad (1999). Goldsmith, Greenberg, Robertson, & Hu-Chan (2003). Bennis (1985), p. 3. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Goldsmith et al. (2003), p. 7. Derr, Roussillon, & Bournois (2002), p. 298. Northouse (2007), pp. 15-108. Mutabazi (2002), p. 204. Schein (2006), p. 259. Kennedy (2008), pp. 35-40. Human resource management guide (n.d.). Lencioni (2002). Kennedy (2008). Bolman & Deal (2008). Heifetz (1994). Created exclusively for email@email.com C HAP TER 2 Understanding Culture When my parents came to the United States in 1979, their world became vastly dierent than what they had known. Before their arrival, they lived in a small hilltop, tribal village in the mountains of Laos, like many of their ancestors before them. They had the simplest tools for doing their work and for living their lives. The natural world provided everything they needed. If they wanted to use the bathroom, they went outsidenot to an outhouse but to the woods. When they were hungry, they cooked the meal in a pot over a large re pit. When relatives asked them to attend celebrations and notied them that the celebration meal would begin sometime when the sun was to set, my parents knew that the path of the sun would let them know when they should leave their house. There were a lot of assumptions my parents made about their world. When they had to relocate to the United States, they found out how dierent their assumptions were when they were tested in an environment that contradicted their ways of being. They were not aware of a dierent way of living their lives, because the norms that shaped their lives inuenced their actions and behaviors. The norms helped them to learn that what they did was the correct way to live. One of their most dicult challenges was to unlearn what they knew in a dierent context and with dierent materials and tools that they did not have before. What naturally occurred was a process of culture shock and then a period of acculturation. When my parents' sponsors showed them how to use the toilet by gesturing what to do and how to ush, my parents were embarrassed. Coming from a culture where modesty is important, they did not know how to respond to the American sponsor's gestures, yet their embarrassment quickly turned into fascination when they saw how a toilet could dispose of materials. Interpreting body language became a critical piece of adaptation and learning. My parents found the exaggerated gestures of their sponsors turning on and o the stove \"dierent.\" But it was paying attention to the facial gestures and body language that helped 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 26 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE them to understand how to operate a stove. They realized certain things were the same across cultures: taking out a pot to boil water, placing it on a heated surface for the water to boil, taking the pot o the surface to let the water cool. The dierences, they noticed, were in the equipment used and the timing of the water boiling. What a surprise it was for them to realize that one could adjust and control temperature! As human beings who are accustomed to behaving (consciously and unconsciously) in specic ways, we often do not recognize another perspective until it is presented to us. Ellen Langer,[1] a social psychologist, says that it is in the perspective of another that we learn to see ourselvesto see who we really are. As an educator and facilitator, I meet people in positions of leadership every day who believe that their perspective about culture and how they should work with dierences is the right way and that there is no other possibility for a dierent way of working or thinking. For example, a participant in my training session, Jacob, felt very strongly about the \"invasion\" (his word, not mine) of immigrants in his neighborhood. As a result, the city he worked for was increasingly diverse and would need to set up services and programs to meet the needs of the new immigrants. As a native of the city, Jacob felt strongly that his neighbors needed to assimilate more quickly. As a city employee and manager, he felt excluded that the city would create new services for the immigrants. His issue of conict here was that he had developed proposals for expanding current services in his department, but they were never approved, mostly because of budgetary reasons. He did not understand why creating \"special services for a small population\" mattered more than the services for current residents of the city, and he was angry that the funds set aside for the new programming would be large, much larger than his proposed changes. Jacob, in this example, is bound to his single perspective or viewpoint. He cannot see beyond the situation. And, in fact, when discussing this situation with Jacob and other managers present, other pieces of the story began to unravel. Yes, Jacob had a perspective about immigrants based on his experiences with one immigrant-his neighbor. He used his knowledge and interactions with this person to generalize to an entire population. Additionally, what really mattered to him in his place of work was that he did not feel his ideas mattered. Because every time he proposed changes they were not approved, he took 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 27 that as a deliberate attack on him. This was not the case at all and he was told this by his peers in the training. When Jacob was presented with another perspective, he let his guard down. Over time, he was able to focus on the real issue, which was that no matter what your status, creed, ethnicity, or reason for moving to the United States, as a public sector employee it was his role to provide the appropriate services that would meet the residents' needs. As leaders, we must make strong eorts to see a dierent perspective than what we believe and hold to be true. We must challenge ourselves, as Byron Katie[2] says, by asking whether we know what we see to be true is really, in fact, true. And if it is, how do we know that? What stories have we told ourselves? To understand this, we need to look at the \"roots of culture\" and how our cultural systems have shaped our realities of the world. 1. CULTURAL SYSTEMS Imagine a tree as a metaphor for a cultural systemall the things that make up who you are. The roots of a tree are essential for the survival of the tree. They carry the nutrients needed for the growth of the tree and store nutrients for later feeding. Roots of trees are generally located in the top 6 to 24 inches of the ground, not too deep from the surface. The roots are impacted by their surrounding, and environmental factors contribute to their health and vitality. Just like the roots on a tree, cultural systems have roots that are impacted by their surroundings. A culture's rituals, traditions, ceremonies, myths, and symbols provide it with the nutrients it needs to survive. Environmental factors can change a tree by uprooting it or letting it die o, making space for new life in its place. Similarly, environmental changes impact cultural systems, forcing it to adapt and change to its surroundings or transition into death, creating new cultural stories that carry new life. But unlike trees and their roots, we get stuck in our cultural systems and do not budge even when our surroundings have changed. Trees, like anything in an ecosystem, have natural cycles of renewal and rebirth. Sometimes this renewal and rebirth is gradual and gentle, while other times it is fast, disruptive, and violent. Trees, because they share their environments with others, will learn to adapt and allow change to occur, no matter what the direction of change may be. Change in their cultural environments is inevitable and a part of the life cycle. In similar ways, we can think about our cultural systems as part of a larger system. Some cultural anthropologists would describe the cultural systems as \"big C\" (macroculture) and \"little C\" (microculture). The macroculture refers to a larger cultural system, for example, Catholicism is a culture that is not bounded by geography. Within the macroculture of Catholicism are smaller units of culture called subcultures. Change is constant in each cultural system, and transitions, renewal, and rebirth are endless cycles. As cultural shifts occur in the macro- and 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 28 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE microcultures, small and large, gradual and disruptive, the entire system learns to adapt in dierent ways. K E Y T E R M S cultural system microculture The grouping of a culture's rituals, traditions, ceremonies, myths, and symbols. A smaller unit of culture; often referred to as a subculture. macroculture A larger cultural system. 2. WHAT IS CULTURE? Denitions of culture cover a wide range of perspectives. When I ask participants in my business workshops to describe culture, the following are words and phrases they use: food, religion, language, music, region or geography, ethnicity, clothes, and so on. Generally, there is always one person who raises his or her hand timidly and says, \"I think culture is more than that. It's the things we don't see, like our beliefs or views about gender.\" Both are correctculture represents the things we see, the tangible, as well as the intangible things. FIGURE 2.1 Iceberg Metaphor 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 29 The iceberg, a commonly used metaphor to describe culture, is a great example for illustrating the tangible and the intangible. When talking about culture, most people focus on the \"tip of the iceberg,\" which is considered as making up 10% of the object. The rest of the iceberg, 90% of it, is below the waterline. Most leaders in businesses, when addressing intercultural situations, pick up on the things they seethings on the \"tip of the iceberg.\" This means that they never address the cultural issues and problems that are underneath the surface level. Solutions become temporary band-aids covering deeply rooted cultural systems. I once had a manager describe and dene culture as \"a monster.\" After some laughter from the group, he claried his statement: \"It's so messy and sometimes it's too big to handle. And, it's scary because you don't know what you're dealing with.\" What he said rings true for many people and businesses that work in multicultural settings. It is certainly not fun to clean up cultural messes, bloopers, or misunderstandings, and when not addressed right away, they can result in large cultural conicts. The ability to acknowledge one's cultural mistakes, and having a commitment to learning what culture brings, is a skill that one must have in cultural intelligence work. This denition of culture as a \"monster\" is one that looks at culture and its manifestations. Some may even say it is negative and does not paint culture in a positive light. From my experiences working with leaders, dening culture is not about positives or negativesculture just is, and that is why it can be a challenge to describe it. Denitions of culture usually incorporate an expression of values and beliefs of groups, the learning that occurs in groups, and the expressions of those cultural norms. The following is a denition of culture that is used in this book and that will be useful in your work:[3] Culture consists of the shared beliefs, values, and assumptions of a group of people who learn from one another and teach to others that their behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives are the correct ways to think, act, and feel. It is helpful if you can think about culture in the following ve ways: Culture is learned. Culture is shared. < Culture is dynamic. < Culture is systemic. < Culture is symbolic. < < 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 30 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE FIGURE 2.2 Elements of Culture K E Y T E R M S perspective Ideas or point of view based on one's experiences and background. 3. CULTURE IS LEARNED Geert Hofstede[4] views culture as consisting of mental programs, calling it softwares of the mind, meaning each person \"carries within him or herself patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting which were learned throughout their lifetime.\"[5] Similarly, Peter Senge[6] argued that mental models lock individuals and groups into a specic perception about the world. Like a computer, we are programmed to act or behave in certain ways. The conscious and unconscious learning 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 31 we undergo, over time, turns into beliefs that we consider to be valid. We then teach each other that these beliefs are cultural norms, and they are then expressed in our daily lives as behaviors and actions. Think about your rst day with your current organization or one you worked for in the past. Typically, your boss or a co-worker gave you an orientation to the company, describing its mission, products, and services. Most likely, you met your co-workers and received a tour of the oce facilities. Perhaps you met and talked with co-workers to get a sense of how your job related to their work. Maybe you spent time reading company materials, reviewing your department les, or talking with your supervisor about the details of your job responsibilities. Perhaps you had lunch with other sta members and were told about some parts of the organization such as, \"Jane Doe should be red but is still working here,\" \"The CEO has control issues,\" or \"The fax machine breaks down three times a day.\" Whatever you did in those rst hours or days of orientation and training, you created an image of how you would t into the company. In that moment, you told yourself a story of how you would work with the company and how it would work with you because others in that business culture told you how you needed to behave. This moment is so powerful that it shapes your experiences, including your thoughts, actions, behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes for the rest of your time with the company. K E Y T E R M S mental programs An individual's patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting that have been learned throughout his or her lifetime. Sometimes referred to as softwares of the mind and mental models. 4. CULTURE IS SHARED Ming is a recent college graduate with a degree in accounting. She has taken a job with a large accounting rm. Although she gets along with members of her department and team, she tends to spend her free time with other colleagues who are of Asian descent, especially those who are in her generation. She feels that this group of coworkers understands her better and shares her values and ideas around work-life balance. John has been with his state employer for thirty years, working up the ranks into seniority in his state agency. It's been customary for him and six coworkers of his age group to meet for lunch every day and discuss the latest sporting events. Once a week during the summer they meet up after work to play baseball at a local park and recreation site. These two examples describe culture as a shared learning experience. Although you may think of yourself as an individual, you share beliefs, rituals, ceremonies, traditions, and assumptions with people who grew up or live in similar cultural backgrounds. It is easier for you to relate to someone who has shared value systems and ways of doing things than someone who does not share the same values. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 32 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE The patterns of culture bind us together and enable us to get along with each other. Even though it feels good to be around people who think, act, and behave as you, shared learning can create blind spots. Shared cultures create a dynamic of an in-group, where people segregate themselves from each other. Within teams in organizations, in-group blind spots can lead to \"group think,\" a term coined by Irving Janis[7] to explain the ways in which groups ignore alternative solutions and take on actions and behaviors that discount the experiences for others. K E Y T E R M S group think A group dynamic in which the pattern of thinking conforms to the group's values. 5. CULTURE IS DYNAMIC Culture is dynamic and thus complex. Culture is uid rather than static, which means that culture changes all the time, every day, in subtle and tangible ways. Because humans communicate and express their cultural systems in a variety of ways, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what cultural dynamics are at play. Consider, for example, a conversation about a person's attitude or feelings. In this type of conversation, Albert Meharbian[8] found that people pay attention to (a) the words, or what is being said; (b) the tone, or how the words are said; and (c) the visual behind the words, often called the body language. All of these are aspects of culture that are interpreted dierently depending on the cultural context. Add multiple layers of culture to the conversationsuch as time, power and authority, emotion, age, gender, religion, nationality, and even previous intercultural interactionsand communication at a cross-cultural level becomes complex and hard to manage. The following is an example of the dynamism of cultures: Sheila is the director of marketing for a social services agency. She provides feedback to one of her managers about how to improve services. Sheila sits behind a large executive desk and is leaning forward. The employee sits with her arms crossed, leaning away from Sheila. If you were observing this scene, are you able to tell from the body language what each person is thinking? Why or why not? What cultural factors might be present? In the example, Sheila's body language can be interpreted as any of the following: eager to assist or help, intensely interested in what the employee has to say, aggressive and wanting more information, or needing deeper engagement in the conversation. Her employee's body language could mean any of the following: protective, suspicious, not caring, or relaxed. To understand the dynamics of culture in this example, you would need to pay attention to the things you do not see such as: Is Sheila older or younger than her employee? < What has been their working relationship? < 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 33 Does Sheila naturally lean forward when speaking with her employees? < What is the tone of voice in the conversation? < 6. CULTURE IS SYSTEMIC In systems theory, systems are interrelated, interconnected parts that create a whole. There are patterns of behavior, deeply rooted structural systems, which are beneath the waterline. What we see at the top of the iceberg are the behaviors; we do not see what contributes to those behaviors. Consider, for example, a white woman walking down a quiet street. She quickly clutches her handbag closer to her body as she passes a black man. Then, when she spots a white man walking toward her, she loosens her hold on the purse. To address the system, one must be able to address the underlining patterns. These patterns, because they are deeply embedded in the system, will take up signicant eort, time, and resources. Changes to the system are slow and gradual; visible changes may not appear until months, or even years, later. Because most leaders spend their time evaluating and nding solutions to an \"event,\" they revisit the issues over and over again, with no positive and sustainable results. The following case study illustrates the systemic nature of culture: FIGURE 2.3 Culture from a Systems Approach Langley, Knox, and Cooper, a law rm in the Midwest, knows that it has to do more to be inclusive to women attorneys. It has met challenges in retaining its female work force. The majority of women hired to work at the rm leave within a three year period. To address the issue, the rm provides gender sensitivity training to the entire company, attends graduate career fairs to actively recruit female attorneys, and has quotas for promoting women. However, the eorts in the past ve years have yielded little results. Langley, Knox, and Cooper focus much of their attention on the \"events\" of the system: women leaving after three years or providing gender sensitivity training. A look at the structural patterns reveals a more complex issue that cannot be solved through training and career fairs. The structural pattern is an insidious belief that women enter the law profession with the same opportunities and access to 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 34 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE practicing law as men in the rm. Underlining this belief are more patterns of thought that keep this structural pattern in place. Possible patterns of thought could be: FIGURE 2.4 A Systems Approach to Find Structural Patterns in Gender Conflicts Other women attorneys don't have this problem, what's the big deal here? Everyone faces the same challenges in making partner. It's part of becoming a lawyer. < We match our junior attorneys with senior attorneys who serve as their mentors. Everyone gets the same level of attention, so I am not sure what all the complaints are about. < This law rm is dierent from others. If they don't like it here, then they can leave. < We give the women in this rm more time o and exibility than ever before, yet they still think it's not enough. < < Understanding the thoughts help leaders to recognize that yearly gender sensitivity training would never work. These thought patterns, when combined and supported (intentionally or not), are dicult to unravel. The systemic nature of the problem becomes more complex and chaotic as time goes by and the issues are not addressed. 7. CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC Symbols are both verbal and nonverbal in form within cultural systems, and they have a unique way of linking human beings to each other. Humans create meaning between symbols and what they represent; as a result, dierent interpretations of a symbol can occur in dierent cultural contexts. Take, for example, a meeting of senior executives who need to make a decision about a new service. This group of leaders has a team culture that orients itself toward a democratic process: decision making is based on one vote from each member. Now imagine a similar group of leaders with the same task but, this time, the group of leaders is comprised of Native Americans. Leaders who are younger in the group ask their elders for advice. This is an example of how cultural systems dier in their interpretation and expressions of culture. In some cultural systems, voting is not an option. The symbol of a vote has dierent meanings and interpretationsor simply may not even exist in any practical sensedepending on the cultural background. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE K E Y 35 T E R M S symbols Verbal and nonverbal representations that link human beings to each other. Because the meaning attached to symbols is arbitrary, dierent interpretations of a symbol can occur in dierent cultural contexts. 8. STEREOTYPES AND GENERALIZATIONS One of the things that can happen in the context of discussing culture is falling into the stereotypes and generalizations of a cultural group or norm. It is important to recognize the dierence and the impact these factors have in cultural interactions. In general, stereotypes are negative statements and interpretations made about a group of people. Stereotypes, whether deemed positive or negative, place people into boxes and categories and limit them to those specic perspectives. A stereotype, such as \"Asians are good at math,\" does not provide the complete picture someone needs to understand the Asian culture or the dierences between Asian cultures. Similarly, just because you meet a 70-year old who does not know how to use current technology, it does not mean that other individuals in that generation do not know how to use it. By contrast, generalizations of cultures are broad statements based on facts, experiences, examples, or logic. There are two kinds of generalizations, valid and faulty, and it is your role to determine which generalizations have validity behind them. Broad characterization of cultural groups can serve as a framework for cultural interactions. For example, Hispanic societies have a high degree of machismo, or, in Middle Eastern cultures, women have a lesser status than menthese types of generalizations are helpful when engaging with people of those cultures. But in all cultural interactions, culturally intelligent leadership requires you to recognize that generalizations do not apply to everyone within a cultural group. K E Y T E R M S stereotypes generalizations Statements and interpretations, usually negative, made about a group of people which limit that group to specic perspectives. Broad statements, either valid or faulty, that are based on facts, experiences, examples, or logic. 9. LEVELS OF CULTURE One of the basic tenets of culture is that it consists of levels and sublevels. It is useful to think about culture in terms of ve basic levels: national, regional, 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 36 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE organizational, team, and individual. Within each of these levels are tangible and intangible sublevels of culture. 9.1 National Culture A businesswoman from the United States is in Germany for contract negotiations between her employer and a large German bank. The meeting is scheduled for nine o'clock in the morning. When she arrives to the meeting a few minutes before its start time, she is amazed that all her German counterparts are already seated and ready to begin the meeting. A few days later, upon her arrival back to the United States, she remarks to her American colleagues her experience with German culture. In particular, she notes their level of attentiveness to punctuality and planning and says, \"I thought we were punctual here in the U.S.! It's nothing compared to how Germans view punctuality.\" This example illustrates the national dierences between two cultures: American and German. National dierences refer to the cultural inuences of a nation that result in its national characteristics. Although nation-states have regional and political dierences, national culture can be viewed as the values held by a majority of the population within the nation. These values are largely unconscious and developed throughout one's childhood. The values are pushed to a level of consciousness when in contrast to another nation's cultural values. Within national cultures, values are generally seen as stable over time. National values, because they reect the traditions of the nation-state over time, will change slightly from generation to generation, but the overall values will remain the same. For example, a German who comes from a culture of punctuality and travels for business in Italy will notice a national cultural dierence in how Italians view time (more leisurely and relaxed) as compared to their own national culture. 9.2 Regional Culture An interesting thing about living in the United States is the regional dierences that make each part of the country unique. When I attended college in Boston, I heard the expression \"wicked\" used quite often. After asking my New England friends what \"wicked\" meant, I learned that it was used to emphasize a point. If I attended a concert that I really enjoyed, I would say, \"That concert was awesome!\" New Englanders would say, \"That concert was wicked awesome.\" After living in the Boston area for 4 years, the word became a part of my vocabulary. When I used the word in conversations with my friends and family members in Minnesota, they did not understand what I meant. All national cultures consist of regional subcultures that inuence the characteristics of one group from another in a nation state. The word \"pop\" refers to a soft drink in the Midwest, but if you go to the East Coast, it is referred to as \"soda.\" In other regions of the United States, a soft drink is referred to as \"Coke.\" The following is an example of regional cultural dierences and one way the dierence is expressed: 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 37 Dianne moves from Texas for a job opportunity in Georgia. She lives in Georgia for 25 years and feels that it is her home state. However, her neighbors and co-workers do not think that she is a Georgian. Even though Dianne thinks she is from the south, she is reminded by others that she is \"not a southerner.\" Dianne experiences a regional cultural shift that she did not know existed until her move. Although she considers herself a Georgian, she is constantly reminded that she is not a southerner. At a conscious and unconscious level, her regional cultural experiences will dictate her thoughts about herself and others. She may develop the following assumptions and beliefs as a result of the regional cultural inuences: I better just tell people that I am from Texas. < Georgians think that you have to be from certain states to be considered a \"southerner.\" < If you are from the south, you must have lineage or roots that directly link you to the south. A \"transplant\" is not considered a true southerner. < What are regional dierences and similarities that you have experienced or have been a part of? The following is a chart to help you identify regional similarities and cultures. In the column labeled \"Regional Culture Names,\" write down two regions of a nation or country, such as West Coast and New England. Then, for each cultural expression listed, write down the regional similarities and dierences you notice about each region you have chosen to identify. TABLE 2.1 Exercise to Identify Regional Cultural Differences and Similarities Regional Culture Names Cultural Expression Regional Dierences Regional Similarities Food Dress code Language Housing Music 9.3 Organizational Culture When you walk into a Target Store, what do you see? What does it look like? What kinds of items do they sell? What do you see when you walk into a Wal-Mart? What does it look like? What types of people shop at Wal-Mart? Who works there? Shoppers have dierent experiences walking into a Target versus a Wal-Mart store because even though they are both retailers, their buildings are dierent, the types of products they carry vary from each other, the workers wear dierent clothes, the layout of a Wal-Mart store is very dierent from the layout of a Target store, and the behaviors expressed by workers in each organization are unique to each retailer. These elements give the organization its distinct culture that separates it from the other. Organizational culture speaks to the culture that is specic to an organizationthe culture that makes it distinctive from competitors and non-competitors. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 38 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE Organizational cultures are often referred to as \"corporate cultures\" and reect the beliefs, values, and assumptions of an organization. For example, the culture of one school in a school district can be dierent than the culture of another school located in the same district simply because of what the people in one school culture adhere and react to. 9.4 Team Culture Lupe oversees a business division that includes sales people, engineers, research, and customer service sta. All teams work in dierent ways to accomplish their business strategies, but they also have work that is cross functional, relying on each other to get their work completed. At times, Lupe is overwhelmed at the teams' cultural dierences and the impact it has on productivity and sales. She knows that each team has their own working styles, but she didn't realize how much these styles could interfere in the day to day operations of the division. The sales department seems more outgoing and energetic than her engineers, who as a whole seem introverted and serious. Her researchers are detailed and scientic in nature, always questioning the tactics of the sales people. Her customer service employees who are by nature people and service friendly and always wanting to make sure everyone gets along. These departments work well, but Lupe knows that silos in the organization can hinder growth and creativity. The example above illustrates culture at the team level. The values, beliefs, and norms of culture are present in team environments, dictating the team's operations and eciency. Cultural norms in teams guide members in their dress and appearance, their language, how they relate to one another, and how they get along. Some teams are very serious, while others use humor in their work life. Departments, teams, or workgroups can, and will, act very dierently from each other even though they are located in the same building and in the same organization. Although you might not think about personality or temperament as cultural elements, they can and do shape a team's culture. 9.5 Individual Culture Individual cultural dierences relate to your preferences for things through your personal experiences that include the inuence of your family, your peers, school, media, co-workers, and so on. You may share a national culture, such as being an American, with another person and live in the same regional culture, the Midwest. You may even work with the person in the same organization and department, thus sharing an organizational and team culture, and even though you share similar interests, you will likely have dierences in individual culture based on who you are and your social upbringing. The following example illustrates these individual dierences: 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 39 Bao, 31 years old and Hua, 32 years old, are both Chinese American managers living in San Francisco. They both grew up in the area as third generation Chinese Americans. Both attended universities on the East Coast in the same city and majored in public policy. Bao and Hua work for a national nonprot that funds grassroots leadership projects in Chinese-American communities in the United States. Both work in the programming department of their organization and have been there four years each. Bao and Hua, although similar in their cultural backgrounds, have dierent perspectives based on their individual cultures. Bao's mother passed away while she was very young and she was raised by her father and aunts. Her father was not around because of long work hours. Bao, with the help of her aunts, raised her younger siblings. Her mother's death was a signicant event in her life as she felt she did not have the mother-daughter relationship that many of her peers did. As a result she is overly protective. Hua is the youngest child in her family. Both her parents are still alive. Hua was raised around many of her relatives who took care of her while her parents were working. She has always been given what she wanted or needed. Whenever Hua had a problem, her older siblings took care of the situation. As a result, Hua is quite relaxed in her demeanor and approach to life. When Bao and Hua make programming decisions, Bao approaches her decision-making process from a methodical and careful perspective, always looking out for the program's and organization's needs. Hua, on the other side, is more relaxed in her approach, more willing to allow for exibility and ambiguity. Bao and Hua's cultural experiences have shaped them into dierent individuals and have impacted their managerial and leadership styles. Even though they share many similar cultural experiences, their individual cultural experiences have strong inuences on them. Bao's methodical and careful decision-making processes are a result of her having to be responsible at a very early age. Hua's relaxed approach comes about because of her experiences as the youngest child and always knowing that she would be taken care ofthat everything would be okay in the end. These ve levels of culture are important to think about and recognize, but it should also be understood that each of these cultures can be expressed in subcultures or microcultures. Not everyone acts or behaves the same in a national culture such as the United States. There are regional, county, and city dierences within the national culture of being an \"American.\" There are religious dierences as well as gender cultures, ability and disability cultures, cultures revolving around sexual orientation, and even cultures centered around concepts or states of being, for example, the culture of homelessness or the culture of juvenile delinquency. 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com 40 LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE K E Y T E R M S national culture organizational culture The values, largely unconscious and developed throughout childhood, that are held by a majority of the population within a nation. A culture that is specic and unique to an organization, making that organization distinctive from competitors and non-competitors. regional subculture team culture A subgroup of a national culture in which the characteristics of that subgroup are distinguished from those of another subgroup. The values, beliefs, and norms of culture exhibited on a team level. individual culture Individual dierences that relate to an individual's preferences for things based on culture and personal experiences, including the inuence of family, peers, school, media, coworkers, and geographic region. 10. THE ROOTS OF CULTURE Cultures show up in many forms and are expressed dierently. Yet all forms and levels of cultures express and share three fundamental aspects: values, assumptions, and symbols. 10.1 Values You need to recognize that value systems are fundamental to understanding how culture expresses itself. Values often serve as principles that guide people in their behaviors and actions. Our values, ideally, should match up with what we say we will do, and our values are most evident in symbolic forms. Consider, for example, a picture of the American ag. If you were an American, what words do the pictures evoke for you? Freedom, liberty, America, united, independence, democracy, or patriotism, perhaps? What if a Nazi symbol were painted on the American ag? How would that make you feel? Disgusted, sad, angry, revengeful? What would the desecration of the ag symbolize? Hatred, terrorism, nationalism? What about freedom of speech? Symbols like the American ag evoke strong emotions for people, and when the symbol is desecrated, it can feel like a personal attack on the person's value system and their beliefs about the world. It feels out of alignment from what we believe to be truewhat we see as our reality of the world. This is because our values and beliefs are rooted in stories we tell ourselves over and over again. Joseph Campbell[9] noted that stories and myths are our psychological maps of the world. We use them to guide our thinking and behaviors, and when we do not like a story or it does not align with stories we know, we discard them. We learn through culture to create a story about the story. Campbell said that when we can unravel our stories, we begin to see the meaning we have placed on them and the 2013 Flat World Knowledge, Inc. All rights reserved. Created exclusively for email@email.com CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 41 impact they have on our lives. The case study that follows illustrates this notion of values: James works full-time managing a fast food restaurant chain. Working extra hours every week helps him bring home more income for his family of four. He will do whatever it takes to help take care of his family. Ana is also a manager in the same restaurant. She works her forty hours a week and then goes home to her family of three. She doesn't want to work more hours because she wants to spend as much time with her family as possible. How does James's perspective of family dier from Ana's? What assumptions does each have about the value of family? What might be the stories they are creating for themselves that shape their values of family? Both individuals have the same value of family, but their values are expressed dierently through their behaviors. A value such as family can be expressed and thought of dierently from one culture to the next or from one person to the next. James believes that working hard illustrates his value of family, while Ana believes that spending time with her family demonstrates her commitment to the value. These assumptions are not expressed verbally, and, in some cases, the assumptions can be unconscious. Notice how, in the following scenario, James' assumptions are challenged: Both Ana and James receive a bonus for their work. James nds out that Ana has received the same percentage of bonus that he has. He's quite upset because he knows that he works more than she does and sometimes covers her shifts when she has family emergencies or is late because of day care issues. He thinks to himself, \"How could she get the same bonus as me? She doesn't even work that hard and she comes in late to her shift using excuses that her day care didn't show up again.\" In the case study, the assumptions that James has of Ana (Ana makes excuses; Ana comes in late; or Ana does not work hard) can become a problem and conict between the two. His assumptions are based on his own denition of family, which could consist of any of the following: be responsible, show up on time, or working hard can bring in more money for the family. His assumptions are challenged when Ana receives the same bonus for a perceived dierent level of commitment. As a leader, it is important to understand and identify to employees that most of us share the same values. It is our interpretation and expression of the values that creates the conict. Many people justify bias and discrimination on the grounds of \"values\" wit