Developing Cultural Competency: Leading with a Global Mindset

Part 1

With the expansion of the global economy, working across countries or continents has been part of the most successful business leader endeavors for many years. To face today’s economical and human challenges, navigating cultural diversity has become even more important to leverage international relationships and build cohesion across borders. Business leaders need to be effective on the global stage, which requires them to learn a different set of skills and develop a “global mindset”.

A global mindset can be simply defined as, “the ability to integrate cultural awareness about self and others and function effectively in different cultural contexts. It takes personal development and flexibility”. It is part of what is also called Cultural Intelligence, Cultural Dexterity, Cultural Competency, Cultural Agility.
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Why It Matters

Developing cultural agility is a business and leadership competency for global leaders. To leverage people’s knowledge and capabilities, managers must make it easy and comfortable for people to contribute. Cultural competency is key to motivating people.  The truth is, good leadership does not necessarily cross international boundaries and cultures. What works in one culture could fail in another!
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Here is what Global Leadership Effectiveness Model looks like:

So, how do we move to the right part of the graph?
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Continue to Part 2 - HOW IT'S DONE
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Resources

Further reading:

The Cultural Map from Prof. Erin Meyer.

Why do you need cultural intelligence and how to develop it. Forbes.

‍Leading with a global mindset. Culture Wizard.

ICBI™(Individual Cultural Blueprint Indicator). Cultural Business Consulting.

Riding the Waves of Culture. TED Talk from Dr. Fons Trompenaars.

Understanding Cultural Differences. MindTools.

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Check out our blog articles on Culture here.

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About Sophie Morelle

As a Leadership and Executive Coach, Sophie partners with leaders and organizations who want to develop their global mindset and to thrive in complex, changing and multi-cultural environments.

Her diverse clientele has included corporate and private clients from global companies and non-profit organizations around the world. She also supports global entrepreneurs and start-ups. She’s a native French speaker and works in 3 other languages (English, Spanish & Italian).