The Culturally Intelligent Safety Professional

The Culturally Intelligent Safety Professional - Looking back - Epsiodes 1 & 14

• Greg Dearsly • Season 1 • Episode 16

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In this episode of the Culturally Intelligent Safety Professional we take a look back at episodes 1 & 14 of season 1. 

In Episode 1, I spoke with Shireen Chua about leadership's role in fostering inclusivity. Shireen emphasized the importance of leaders modeling inclusive behaviors and cultivating curiosity and reflection to develop CQ. She highlighted that CQ is not a one-time project but a continuous practice.

In Episode 14, I interviewed Dr. Catherine Wu in Singapore, who discussed her 20-year journey teaching cultural intelligence in Asia. Catherine explored the CQ framework, focusing on adaptation, knowledge, strategy, and action for effective multicultural interactions. She explained cultural challenges like power distance and communication styles, advocating for storytelling as a tool to enhance CQ and promote inclusivity in leadership.

These episodes underscore the significance of CQ in safety professionals' effectiveness in diverse settings. They provide practical insights and strategies for improving cultural awareness and adaptation. 

For the full recordings of these episodes go to
https://theculturallyintelligentsafetyprofessional.buzzsprout.com

Greg:

Welcome to another episode of the Culturally Intelligent Safety Professional, a podcast aimed at providing a platform whereby safety professionals can develop a pathway to enhance their cultural intelligence capability, which will help them function more effectively when working in a multicultural situation. I'm Greg Dearsly, your host and between February and June of 2024, I interviewed 15 people for season one of the Culturally Intelligent Safety Professional podcast. These fabulous guests range from CQ professionals, academics and communication and safety professionals, and they hailed from not only New Zealand but included people based in Singapore and Australia. I'm grateful for the time that these guests put aside to speak with me and share their knowledge. Over the next few weeks, I aim to further analyze and reflect on some of the content. I have grouped the feedback and discussions into like sessions, including cultural intelligence, education, neurodiversity, Māori/Pacifika and an international episode. In this first summary session we reflect on episodes 1 and 14 which featured outstanding talent in the cultural intelligence space. In episode one I spoke with Shireen Chua who shared her journey of cultural identity and how to create inclusive workplaces. A key insight from Shireen included the importance of leadership in fostering inclusivity. Here's a snippet from what Shireen had to say about leadership.

Shireen:

Particularly as we start to wrestle with this complexity part of, cultural diversity, which is quite emerging and certainly from the PhD here is a sneak preview leadership matters and, that it's actually, the leadership have to do the, the hard mahi or work in themselves to develop their intercultural sensitivity or intelligence, for want of a better word, but, but in terms of sensitivity, to see the nuances before they can actually lead organizations or alongside that, so, you know, it's not a project to be delegated. It's, something they need to, commission work, but they have to model those behaviors that, actually create the inclusion, belonging and equity that the world is moving to it, your workforce is calling for it and, in some ways that's where value and impact is

Greg:

So it's about behaviors as leaders that is an important as a first step to creating an inclusive environment. I guess this harks back to the adage, that leadership is a verb, not a noun, it's a doing word and Shireen talks about modeling behaviors. Shireen also offered some practical tips for developing cultural intelligence, including the value of curiosity, heres more.

Shireen:

I think whether it's individuals or teams, groups of, individuals, aren't they? I think one of your, first tips is to make time to notice and be curious. Because in our busyness of deadlines and things we have to do your, curiosity goes away. Your CQ drive goes away. So slowing down your brain and making time to notice those things is, a really hard but rich tip. Because you may discover the deeper layers that emerge out of that.

Greg:

And another gem from Shireen was around the area of reflection and understanding diverse perspectives.

Shireen:

But I think it's also a real antidote to our busyness to pause and, reflect, you know, the end of each day. Take the time to reflect what, been the best and hardest part of that meeting or that person. Because that's also the other part that you need to be using those muscles. Your, cultural intelligence, your intercultural intelligence muscles because it's not something you happen overnight.

Greg:

These last two snippets where Shireen discussed curiosity and reflection talk directly to two aspects of the CQ framework being CQ drive and CQ strategy. Being how we reflect on experiences of being involved in multicultural situations. I liked Shireen's last point in which she effectively said, if you don't use it, you'll lose it, referring to what she called your intercultural intelligence muscles. In epsiode 14, I was lucky enough to find myself in Singapore and had the great honor to meet and chat kanohi te kanohi or face to face with Dr. Catherine Wu, someone who has been teaching cultural intelligence in Asia for 20 years. In this episode, Catherine explored her journey from growing up in a French village to teaching in Asia, emphasizing the impact of cultural values on those interactions. Catherine explored the cultural intelligence framework, highlighting components like drive, knowledge, strategy and action for effective adaptation in multicultural settings. This concept of adaptation is important as Catherine explains.

Catherine:

And so they did it backward and they started by looking at, okay, what is adaptation? And if I ask you, what is adaptation? I've already told you adaptation is getting the job done and building better relationship. Adaptation is. Is define, is actually the definition of intelligence. In psychology, intelligence is adaptation. Is adaptation to the, a particular environment. Yep. Now this is a common misunderstanding. People think intelligence is about, how well you do in school and how good you are, but actually IQ is only your ability to adapt to the demand of an academic environment.

Greg:

Catherine also delves into cultural challenges such as power distance and communication styles.

Catherine:

Okay, so power distance is associated to respect for authority and also a high level of sensitivity to the social order. Yeah. So when you encounter a culture that has a high power distance, People are going to first sense you and they, in their mind, even without realizing it, they have a certain number of criteria that are going to determine, help them determine whether they should approach you as someone who is above them, equal to them, or below them.

Greg:

Catherine went on to explain some of the differences in pronoun use, not in respect of gender but in respect of hierarchy. And she pointed to examples from both French and Chinese cultures we're pronouns are different based on social status of things like age or authority. She also discussed how people in power tend to have more flexibility in the way they communicate, which can sometimes be a source of tension and conflict. Catherine advocated for storytelling as a tool for cultivating cultural intelligence and promoting inclusivity in leadership.

Catherine:

Begin by telling your stories. These stories They will help someone who has no clue, someone who has never encountered another culture or has never thought about those differences. By listening to those stories, they will start seeing things they didn't see before. They will start thinking about other people's behaviors in a way that They had never thought of before, and then once they have that awareness, then they will be prepared, to learn more, to read the books, to learn about this cultural dimensions, the theories and all of this.

Greg:

These summaries capture the essence of these episodes with a particular focus on the capability that is cultural intelligence. I hope you found something valuable that you can take away that might enhance aspects of your own cultural intelligence. I'll add the transcript from this episode to the show notes. If you'd like to talk about cultural intelligence get in touch with me via LinkedIn. I'm posting content regularly so keep an eye on your feed and comment if you see something that resonates, if we aren't connected send me an invite. If you want to hear more about CQ, you can follow and subscribe to this podcast I'd really appreciate it if you did that. And keep an eye out for the next episode. In the next episode I'll provide an overview from an academic and education perspective in our discussions with Chris Peace, Marilyn Hubner and Deborah Rhodes. Thanks again for tuning into the Culturally Intelligence Safety Professional. Ka Kitei