Cultivate a Collaborative Enterprise Culture
Over the last month we have explored cultivating collaborative leadership by developing individual CQ (Cultural Intelligence – What’s your CQ & Cultural Intelligence – Raise your CQ). Now we will take a look at developing your organizations CQ in order to cultivate a collaborative enterprise culture.
Mary Stacey, founder and Managing Director of Context Management Consulting Inc. in Toronto held a workshop to explore this topic yesterday December 3, 2009 at MaRS Discovery District.
To offer a summary of the interactive session, Stacey suggests that cultivating a collaborative enterprise culture requires that as a leader you must:
1. Pay attention to the culture of your enterprise at every phase of it’s development
2. Develop your individual leadership capacity
3. Develop CQ through leadership DAC
Direction: each individual knows the
goals and aims of the collective.
Alignment: coordination of knowledge
and work in the collective.
Commitment: willingness of
individuals to expend effort towards the
needs of the collective.
DAC is directly proportional to CQ, that is to say it is a scale where an organization’s DAC can be anywhere on the spectrum between high and low and generally the higher your organizations DAC the higher its CQ. Therefore, since higher CQ is an indicator of collaborative culture where you sit on that spectrum defines the type of enterprise culture you have.
Where is your organization on this spectrum?
For more detailed information on cultivating collaborative cultures both “Action Inquiry” by Bill Torbert and “Leadership Agility” by Bill Joiner are excellent resources.
Cultural Intelligence – Raise your CQ
Cultural Intelligence is defined by the individuals ability to adapt cognitively, physically and motivationally to new cultures whether organizational or ethnic. Simply, CQ represents an individuals ability to successfully adapt and flourish in a changing environment.
Last post we took a look at James and established his low CQ. In this example his low CQ resulted in his leaving his job. Although this is one option for dealing with issues of cultural intelligence, lets take a look at some more productive strategies.
As with any other form of personal development the first step is to be aware of your CQ strengths and weaknesses and pay appropriate attention to each. Next, and again not surprising you will have to step outside your comfort zone and practice overcoming your CQ weaknesses. For example, if you have low physical CQ and have issues adjusting physically to new situations then perhaps you should take a stage acting class. If you have low motivational CQ then spend one evening a week somewhere you ordinarily wouldn’t (like a Native American drum circle or a Salsa club – depending on your existing preferences!) and try to make a new friend.
These suggestions may seem simple or perhaps strange but in the case of CQ it isn’t a ‘business’ issue at root, it is a personal issue that needs to be dealt with accordingly. A business school sponsored training program is unlikely to help someone with low motivational CQ experience the benefits of adaptability more effectively than simply trying something they generally wouldn’t. You can find more strategies for enhancing cultural intelligence through The Cultural Intelligence Centre.
However, CQ does become an issue of ‘business’ when you are trying to boost the CQ level of an organization. A topic that Mary Stacey of Context Management Consulting in Toronto will be exploring at her upcoming workshop at MaRS on December 3, 2009. For those of you unable to attend I will share the session content and outcomes here.
Cultural Intelligence – What’s your CQ?
James has worked for the same financial services company for 10 years. The company structure has always been hierarchical and highly professional. Six months ago the company was purchased by another financial services organization with a more horizontal structure and business casual approach. James’s new supervisor arrived at work on the first day wearing khaki’s and insisting that he be called Bob by everyone versus Mr. Bennet. James, clad in his usual pinstripe suit and professional demeanor felt intensely uncomfortable with this new arrangement and uncertain whether he could fit in to this environment. After trying to adjust to casual dress and informal addresses James began to resent the changes as unprofessional and inappropriate and decided to leave the company.
In this simplistic example James can be considered to have low CQ. Cultural Intelligence is defined by the individuals ability to adapt cognitively, physically and motivationally to new cultures whether organizational or ethnic. Simply, CQ represents an individuals ability to successfully adapt and flourish in a changing environment. An ability I think we can all agree is crucial to collaboration – particularly in the today’s dynamic economy.
In their article “Cultural Intelligence” (featured in Harvard Business Review) Early and Mosakowski presented a simple test to diagnose your own Cultural Intelligence:
Rate the following statements – remember “culture” applies to both organizational and ethnic:
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5= strongly agree
_____ Before I interact with people from a new culture, I ask myself what I hope to achieve.
_____ If I encounter something unexpected while working in a new culture, I use this experience to figure out new ways to approach other cultures in the future.
_____ I plan how I am going to relate to people from a different culture before I meet them.
_____ When I come in to a new cultural situation, I can immediately sense whether something is going well or something is going wrong.
Total_____ /4 = ____ Cognitive CQ
_____ It is easy for me to change my body language (for example, eye contact or posture) to suit people from a different culture.
_____ I can alter my expression when a cultural encounter requires it.
_____ I modify my speech style (for example, accent or tone) to suit people from a different culture.
_____ I easily change the way I act when a cross-cultural encounter seems to require it.
Total_____/4= ____ Physical CQ
_____ I have confidence that I can deal well with people from a different culture.
_____ I am certain that I can befriend people whose cultural backgrounds are different from mine.
_____ I can adapt to the lifestyle of a different culture with relative ease.
_____ I am confident that I can deal with a cultural situation that is unfamiliar.
Total_____/4=____ Motivational (emotional) CQ
In this quiz the closer to 5 your average score is the higher your CQ.
(Earley, C & Mosakowski, E. Harvard Business Review October 2004)
How did you rate on the Cultural Intelligence scale?
Stay tuned, next week we will explore some strategies to increase CQ both individually and across an organization.
