CQ and Differences in Business Culture Around the World
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Your vision is that you and your employees communicate well with customers from all backgrounds. Ideally, you and your employees would be strong in cultural intelligence. This article goes through what cultural intelligence is, why it matters, the four areas, how to improve your CQ, and some interesting facts about how other cultures differ from U.S. business culture.
Cultural Intelligence or CQ is the way of the future in business interactions so what is it?
CQ is an abbreviation used to measure cultural intelligence. It’s a step beyond Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ), and you could argue that to be successful in business and leadership, you have to all three of these.
Like many of the topics in this blog, there is a software option to assist with this, LearnCQ.com being one of them. However, this article is going to discuss the aspects of CQ so that you can get started evaluating yourself and thinking in this direction.
If you were to score highly in CQ, that would mean you have a strong ability to look at differences in culture to come up with better solutions to problems. This is a step further than just being aware of and conscious of cultural differences.
Why does CQ matter?
Think about a case where you are traveling to a different country for an important contract deal. Let’s say you get there, and during your first meeting, people respond poorly to you. They seem like they can’t be bothered to speak with you. How do you if it’s your product? That wouldn’t make sense because they agreed to a meeting and knew you were coming from miles away. How do you know if you offended them? That is more likely to be the case. So, are you going to be successful in closing the deal? Unlikely.
The four areas of cultural intelligence
Cultural Intelligence Drive
You have to be able to push through the challenges when it comes to learning about new cultures. Are you able to do that? Do you have the drive learn and change? Make sure you aren’t just going through the motions.
Cultural Intelligence Knowledge or Cognition
To improve cultural knowledge, you can travel, meet people from various cultures, check out forums, written material like books, or movies. Approaching the experience with an analytical thought process is key. Think about what makes the culture different from another. This SHRM tool is on page 5, and it’s a comparison of key cultural values. It’s worth checking out as it mentions various cultures, whether it’s high or low, and a definition.
CQ Strategy or Metacognition
This one is called cultural mindfulness and to improve this, you have to be aware and in control over your own learning and you need to be able to analyze and make choices in how you approach various situations. When you are analyzing, think about how other people are responding to you, and then think back on what went well and what didn’t and how you can do it differently going forward. Are you able to put together a strategy before, during and after? Think of this in terms of planning, being aware, and then checking to adjust.
CQ Action or Behavior
This refers to knowing when you should adapt and should not adapt to another culture. You have to be able to change behavior to adapt when needed. There are ways to talk, specific words to use, and body language to pay attention to here.
What is the benefit of improving CQ?
- The business problems of the world today need diverse sets of eyes looking at them.
- Groupthink needs to be avoided if you want to stay innovative and keep moving forward.
- Customers of nearly all businesses are global, they have every different background you can think of. As in the case example, you have to develop CQ to remain successful.
- You can visit different areas of the world, but if you aren’t able to learn while interacting with new people, you are essentially just adding stamps to your passport.
For all these reasons, it is important to continually develop CQ.
Cultural differences in various countries worth noting
Cultural differences in Germany from the U.S.
- SHRM cites an example of an American woman manager who started meetings with informal conversation and it turns out, they didn’t view her as credible because she was doing what was ‘normal’ to her.
- Last names are more commonly used in Germany, rather than going by first names.
- The oldest person should enter the room first for a meeting if in Germany.
Cultural differences in China from the U.S.
- The direct nature of businesspeople in America is the opposite of China and if you are too direct, they may pull out of the talk or agreement.
- Similar to avo, if you put pressure on Chinese business people, they are also likely to back out as they don’t put the speed requirements on decisions as Americans do.
- Avoid physical contact at a meeting in China, and allow the Chinese to leave the meeting first.
Cultural differences in Japan from the U.S.
- In Japan, first names are not used at work as they are in America, Japanese would think that’s rude.
- In Japan, all decisions, no matter how small have to go through the chain of management, so much so there’s a mnemonic device- Ho-ren-so, meaning report, contact and consult. This is unlike America where you are expected most often to be able to figure things out.
- The senior person in a meeting in Japan is the one who runs it and everyone else talks less.
- Avoid saying the word no directly in Japan, it’s beter to say yes even if you disagree.
Cultural differences in Italy from the U.S.
- Italians are less focused on time than Americans, and therefore, meetings may often start late.
- Appearance is very important in Italy and it’s common to expect business professionals to be dressed in their best.
Cultural differences in India from the U.S.
- Don’t say thank you at the end of a business meal, that is insulting.
- Skip beef as cows are sacred in India.
In summary, I recommend you try these out the next time you are in a situation where you interact with a different cultural background and comment how it went!
Written by Nicole Hullihen, September 19th, 2021
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References recommended to learn more about cultural intelligence.
https://culturalq.com/about-cultural-intelligence/
https://commonpurpose.org/knowledge-hub/what-is-cultural-intelligence/#anchor_5
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/american-vs-chinese-business-culture-59039.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/differences-between-japanese-and-american-work-culture-2018-3
https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/global/2013/12/02/business-culture-in-italy
https://www.business.com/articles/so-international-business-etiquette-from-around-the-world/
https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/cultural-comparisons/cultural-comparisons-part-4/