Cultural Intelligence - A journey to an evidence base

I am writing at somewhere around 30,000 feet, returning home from the 2011 industrial organisational psychologists’ conference held in Brisbane. These conferences are held for IO Psychologists in Australia every two years and provide an opportunity for practitioners like me to meet with theorists and catch up with the latest research outcomes.  For someone who doesn't sit in that space on a day-to-day basis it can be a mentally stretching experience.  Mentally stretching should lead to professional growth. Or as our professional development requirements now state – it should give an opportunity for "reflective practice".

The conference two years ago was in Manly, Sydney so didn't require the plane trip or the weekend away from home.  It did however bring me face to face with some mental stretching.   Was I working from an evidence base?  I was working with a variety of theories which helped me to assess and train people who needed cultural competence.  In my training and coaching to help expatriates build a flourishing life and work effectively in their new locations I drew on the work of Hofstede, Hall, Schwartz, Trompenaars, Milton and Bennett, Bond, Berry and other great researchers.  Authors and trainers like Sorti and Rosinski had expanded my own skills and enhanced my practice as had techniques such as Mindfulness but I seemed to be cherry picking. Could I confidently say (as Organisational Psychologists are trained to) that my work had an evidence base?

I sat with a colleague in the bar of the Manly hotel and admitted that I needed to find the core theory that tied my work together and provided evidence from a scientific basis that what I was doing with people was solid.  So I went back to my books and research papers.

And found Ang and Early's work on Cultural Intelligence CQ (already on the bookshelf but had previously read selectively) which tied together the motivational, cognitive, metacognitive and behavioural aspects of competence in working and relating across cultures.  

Yes, there is research which points to Cultural Intelligence as a construct.  Yes, it can be enhanced and developed. Yes it has different components which cover more than just knowledge. And, the most important fact, people who are higher in CQ are more effective working, living or visiting cross cultural environments.

So this year's conference provided an opportunity to reflect on that journey with some satisfaction - and to begin another journey in my understanding of the evidence base of how teams work as I develop tools in that area.

One of the memorable presentations for me at the conference was from one of the top British Psychologists, Binna Kandola, via video. Prof Kandola described the areas of work where IO Psych has much to offer - many of them areas where I am focused.  His challenge to us as practitioners was to engage with the academic, and to seek out or to motivate the research which can help us make a difference.  Especially in the challenging areas of diversity, teams, bias and stereotypes, so that we can say with confidence what factors will bring out the best in a diverse team.

So my relationship with the books and research papers will continue - and if you are researching in any of these areas, I'd love to have a conversation with you!