How Eurovision increases my Cultural Intelligence

Last weekend we enjoyed watching the Eurovision Song Contest.  It was a Eurovision (EV) Party. We sang along, we danced, we laughed with some competitors, shouted when the ones we liked didn’t get the points we felt they deserved, and ate and drank in Australian/ European party style.  Like many Australians we enjoy the crazy, cheesy, festival of song and each year learn a little more about the countries that host and compete.

It is a perfect vehicle for increasing all four factors of cultural intelligence (CQ). 

The CQ Drive component is about motivation and confidence; you need to be motivated to learn about and interact with other cultures, and EV can bring some of that motivation.  At first glance it might seem difficult – we watch it in the evening so it is delayed from the live telecast and requires a media blackout if you don’t want to prematurely discover the winner via twitter or on-line news sources.  But the local SBS television channel  makes it easy to party by offering suggestions for food and drinks and party games. Over the years Australians have developed drinking games.  Key changes, wind machines, unusual instruments, and pyrotechnics all bring specific responses in Australian lounge rooms.  We enjoy the fun.

And watching creates positive connections between countries and cultures whose entries we enjoy.  Over the years as we have cheered for Russia, Sweden, Rumania, Greek, France, Germany Moldova, etc. etc. we have felt a connection to them and an affinity with them empathizing as they won or lost.  This increases CQ Drive towards those cultures.

The CQ knowledge component is about cultural knowledge and we certainly gain knowledge that is not a part of our everyday lives here in Australia.  In our house we watch with an atlas (or the google maps app) to help remind us of which countries are neighbours (very important to predicting and understanding voting) or to answer questions such as “What does FYR stand for?” or “Where is San Marino?’  Vignettes from the host country can teach us about them and their perception of themselves and of others.  Watch this one to learn about the Swedish attitude to hierarchy or this one to gain a perspective on many aspects of Swedish life.

The CQ Strategy component is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities for learning. We can practice becoming mindful of our own responses, recognizing judgments and biases we may possess and reminding ourselves to be open to something that is different to our own previous experience or tastes.  And we can look at pushing our boundaries of what we enjoy, expanding them to include different musical styles, interpretations and tastes.

CQ Action is about developing a flexible repertoire of behaviours that we can use in different circumstances.  This is a little harder as the opportunities in our lounge rooms may be limited, however we do learn greetings in different languages  and the ability to award points in French.  

To really develop the CQ Action component, however, I think I will have to visit Denmark next year.

P.S. Take a look at Australia’s greeting to Eurovision (2013) in case you missed it on the night - and Sweden, thank you for the music!