The Cultural Quotient | Ideas, tips and stories for developing Cultural Intelligence

This bonus episode is the very first podcast episode recorded by Dr Catherine long before we started The Cultural Quotient podcast.  We interviewed Andy Wu, Head of Communication for Draeger South East Asia. Listen to stories of leading sales teams in Northern China, tried-and-tested strategies to build trust with teams in South East Asia, and lessons learned from building a career in a multinational organisation.  Remember to  give us 5 stars and leave a comment, question or feedback. We'll be happy to hear from you. Enjoy the show!

Culture is much more than what we can see. Often, it’s the culture that we don’t see that causes the most problems.    In the last episode of season 2, Ting and Dr Catherine explore how your cultural upbringing shapes how you work in teams, why your culture is much more than your nationality, and how you can grow your mental agility to adapt to different cultures like a pro. Listen to stories from Dr Catherine’s visit to Cambodia and Ting’s recent experience as a leadership facilitator. Oh and listen till the end to find out about our little surprise!  Remember to  give us 5 stars and leave a comment, question or feedback. We'll be happy to hear from you. Enjoy the show!

Culture shapes how we relate to power and authority but adapting is also important as professionals navigate different organisations with different cultures.  In this episode, Ting and Dr Catherine discuss power distance, a cultural dimension that affects how people communicate and make decisions.  Listen to the stories of how they met each other as volunteers for a school for migrant workers, Dr. Catherine’s research on the interplay of cultural intelligence and English competence, and Ting’s experience of working in organizations with very different expectations for authority and autonomy.   Remember to  give us 5 stars and leave a comment, question or feedback. We'll be happy to hear from you. Enjoy the show!

What is high context communication? Why Americans have a negative association with indirect communication? Can you be comfortable with conflict and avoid open disagreements at the same time? In this episode, Ting and Dr Catherine speak with Professor Xiao-Ping Chen from the University of Washington in Seattle about different communication behaviors across culture and how to measure your own intercultural communication style using the icEdge (Intercultural Communications Edge) survey, the first scientific tool to assess high and low context communication based on Edward Hall classic description of cross-cultural communication.  Give us 5 stars if you like the show or leave a comment, question or feedback. We'll be happy to hear from you. Enjoy the show!

In today’s multicultural workplace, being able to adjust our personal communication styles - as quickly as we shift from meeting to meeting - is key to being an effective manager.  In this episode, Ting and Dr Catherine trade ‘war’ stories on the frustrations that inevitably arise from a mismatch in cultures… whether that’s investigating an issue with the team, pushing back on project scopes with clients, or how culture unconsciously dictates how we give and receive feedback (and if this was catered for in ‘the sandwich’ coaching method!).   Give us 5 stars or leave us a comment, question or feedback. We'll be happy to hear from you. Enjoy the show!

Season 2 kicks off its first episode with tales from Ting’s time travelling around Europe.  From boarding the plane at Changi Airport to shopping for presents at a Swiss night market, Ting shares stories about various interactions with locals as Dr Catherine walks her through the cultural concepts that account for her observations and experiences.  Hear about how national culture inevitably shows up in business and affect customer experience, why cultural intelligence should be part of customer service training, and how to make travelling out of one’s comfort zone a little bit less intimidating… Give us 5 stars or leave us a comment, question or feedback. We'll be happy to hear from you. Enjoy the show!

Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we discuss how organizations and individuals can adapt their behaviors to different cultural environments. In this episode, we explore strategies to receive feedback in different cultures, how local and global cultures mix and merge in international organizations, why we need to learn new ways of communication and why it can be hard to adopt new communication styles.

Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we explore the psychology, mental habits and strategies for interacting with people from other cultures. In this episode, we discuss why and when culture change, how culture creates habits, strategies to mitigate stereotypes and common intercultural biases, the importance of awareness, how to know when it’s culture and when it’s personality.

Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we discuss how culture is formed and how making sense of our cultural experiences inform our cultural intelligence.  In this episode, we talk about culture as solution to problems, how the physical environment of a country shapes its culture, why culture is hard to see, our personal experience of working in teams with little hierarchy, how power can shape communication and why in some cultures people are comfortable interrupting each other while other cultures speak in turn, how to tease out "professional courtesy" from cultural behaviors, how individualist and collectivist cultures differ, how to know if a culture is collectivist,  how different cultural characteristics work together, and how culture change.   We share many personal stories from growing up in the Philippines and in France, living in Singapore, traveling around the world, and working in international organisations.

Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we explore the topic of motivation and why it is central to developing cultural intelligence. In this episode, we discuss curiosity, joy and confidence when crossing cultures; what it means to immerse ourselves deeply into new cultures during travel and expatriation;  how sometimes even the most cultural intelligent people can feel unsafe in new cultural environments, and the importance of finding comfort in our own culture away from home; what is culture shock, and the challenges of adapting to new ways of working when English is not the first language.

About Season 1 We have all heard about IQ—intelligence quotient, and EQ—emotional quotient. But do you know about CQ—cultural quotient? Cultural intelligence or CQ is the capability to be effective in culturally diverse environments. Specifically, CQ refers to the combination of motivation, knowledge, awareness, and skills that enable individuals to learn and adapt in culturally diverse environments. In our increasingly connected and diverse world, CQ is now recognized as a critical skill. With up to 70% of international ventures failing or experiencing issues due to culture, the need for employees and managers capable of operating across cultures has never been more pressing. On the diversity front, CQ is one of six traits of inclusive leaders identified by Deloitte.  The good news is that CQ can be trained. But with so many Qs to choose from, why should you consider investing in cultural intelligence? In this first season of The Cultural Quotient, we discuss cultural intelligence through the lens of our own intercultural experiences as a professional from the Philippines (Ting) and a professor from France (Dr. Catherine) living in Singapore.  Episode 1: Cultural intelligence - What CQ is, where it comes from, why we need it, what it looks like in real life. Episode 2: CQ Drive - Why having CQ starts with motivation, what is motivation, when motivation goes up... and down when navigating intercultural situations, different types of motivation, strategies to nurture drive. Episode 3: CQ Knowledge - What is culture, definitions of culture, cultural values, different models of culture, which model is "best." Episode 4: CQ Strategy - What it takes to engage our brain in intercultural situations, biases, stereotypes and thinking traps, when to suspend judgments, how to bring more mindfulness to bridging cultures. Episode 5: CQ Action - How to translate your motivation, knowledge and strategy into actions that people can see, why we need to flex behaviors when crossing cultures, when to adapt and when not to adapt, what it takes (psychologically) to learn new behaviors and tips to stretch beyond your comfort zone.