{"id":12937,"date":"2017-05-25T10:13:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T17:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=12937"},"modified":"2017-05-25T10:22:22","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T17:22:22","slug":"if-it-were-only-that-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/if-it-were-only-that-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"If It Were Only That Simple!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a time when people stated that the world \u201cis becoming\u201d more and more global. We may be at a point and time where that is no longer the case; in many ways, we now live in a global world. And yet, culture is still culture, and geopolitical lines are still hard lines in the sand. We are individually and culturally unique and that is a good thing because the uniquenesses can be leveraged to create, to solve and to grow.<\/p>\n

In this light, cultural intelligence is an important concept for our global world and being able to function across cultures is possibly more important than every before. This is where Livermore enters the picture with Leading with Cultural Intelligence. <\/i>According\u00a0to Livermore, cultural intelligence (CQ) is the level of ability to function within and across various cultures, including organizational cultures. 1 To address this topic, he presents a four-step cycle that, \u201cyou can run through every time you jump into a new cross-cultural situation.\u201d2<\/p>\n

The first part of the cycle is \u201cdrive.\u201d CQ Drive is the level of motivation, interest and even confidence in yourself to tackle the job of working across culture. Second, is \u201cknowledge;\u201d CQ Knowledge is the knowledge and understanding of the various components of culture, including politics, religion, worldview, cultural norms, values etc.\u00a0Third, is \u201cstrategy;\u201d CQ Strategy is the ability to use the CQ Knowledge component to develop successful strategies applicable to the present cultural context. The final component of the cycle is \u201caction.\u201d CQ Action includes the ability to be flexible in cross-cultural settings. Drive, knowledge, the ability to strategize and be flexible make up the skill set necessary to function successfully across cultures and constitute \u201cThe New Secret to Success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Application<\/strong><\/p>\n

If it were only that simple! We would err on the side of reductionism if we think that someone who simply runs through a four-step cycle would be able to function or even communicate effectively across cultures. To begin, allow me this digression. In the introduction, Livermore highlights the statistic that \u201c70 percent of international ventures continue to fail because of cultural differences.\u201d3 \u00a0This may be the case; however, another valid statistic states that 96 percent of start-up businesses in the USA fail in the first 10 years. In this context, 70 percent is pretty good. In fact, the international ventures are quite successful already, ostensibly without having been aware of the four-step cycle. The bigger question is what caused those failures? Some would say, overconfidence, often referred to as arrogance. 4 When working across cultures, attitude is everything.<\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t it so simple? First, simply calling up a set of skills when you enter a culture, and being able to synthesize and then leverage those skills into sustainable action are two completely different things. It’s not unlike trusting a practicing physician who had no residency: the intelligence, knowledge, and skill are there, but practice is a whole different thing. In fact, it has been my experience that those who actually do have the knowledge and skill and are not shy about letting everyone know,\u00a0but cannot synthesize the knowledge and skill into practice are often the ones who cause the greatest damage.\u00a0It costs to be able to function in another culture. It takes time and a lot of effort. Those who do have a set of skills but are not willing pay the price of presence, time and effort, invariably rely excessively on others to do the heavy lifting\u2014usually on those who are a part of the culture itself or on those who have paid the price and are already enculturated. They claim success\u00a0but is seems that it may be based on something other than \u201ctheir\u201d CQ.<\/p>\n

Second, every set of skills, every business plan, every church planting plan or ministry strategy carries within the originator\u2019s culture–the four CQs included. Though the steps have been applied across cultures and in various setting, I am not convinced it is \u201cThe new secret to success.\u201d People have been succeeding across cultures for many years. It seems that the author\u2019s own culture may be bubbling forth in all of its hyperbolic splendor.<\/p>\n

Finally, I agree that a skill set is important and the CQ skills are helpful if not necessary. However, more important than the skill set is the person. I would argue that arrogance is the greatest hindrance to success in cross-cultural settings. Sometimes you just have to keep your mouth shut and listen, watch and learn, practice and start all over again. It’s not a straight line thing where we check off the skill set boxes, enter the culture and off we go. The person who has an attitude that says \u201cteach me\u201d and not \u201clook what I can teach you\u201d are the ones who make the greatest impact. Lingenfelter and Mayers call it the \u201cIncarnational attitude\u201d 3 \u00a0It is an attitude that exemplifies an adult who is willing, for the moment, to be like a child in order to make a long-lasting and sustainable impact. Attitude is not something you learn it is something you choose. I agree cultural intelligence is important in today’s global world. The four CQs can assist. However, I would argue that the most important attribute of cultural intelligence is a\u00a0humble attitude.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. David Livermore,\u00a0Leading With Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success<\/i>. 9.1.2009 ed. AMACOM, 2009, 4.<\/li>\n
  2. Ibid., 3.<\/li>\n
  3. Ibid., xiv.<\/li>\n
  4. Bill Carmody. \u201cWhy 96 Percent of Businesses Fail Within 10 Years.\u201d https:\/\/www.inc.com\/bill-carmody\/why-96-of-businesses-fail-within-10-years.html (accessed May 25, 2017).<\/li>\n
  5. Sherwood G. Lingenfelter,\u00a0and Marvin K. Mayers. Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships<\/i>. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1992, 50.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Summary There was a time when people stated that the world \u201cis becoming\u201d more and more global. We may be at a point and time where that is no longer the case; in many ways, we now live in a global world. And yet, culture is still culture, and geopolitical lines are still hard lines […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[977],"class_list":["post-12937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-livermore","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12944,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12937\/revisions\/12944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}