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The decision to write
an e-book on the
subject of cultural
intelligence was an
easy one.
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The borderless
workplace brings
millions of diverse
people together every
day – both face-to-
face and virtually – to
do business,
collaborate, and
innovate.
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What are some of the learning points in the book that can be useful to you and your company?
Every company – as a matter
of competitive commonsense
– must fully understand its
own diversity landscape –
differences in its workforce,
as well as among customers,
partners, suppliers,
governments and
communities.
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What are some of the learning points in the book that can be useful to you and your company?
Diversity has evolved since
the 1960s when the focus
was on compliance to
‘diversity by design’ – the
formation of a workforce and
teams that contain
differences that promote
value creation, e.g. cognitive
diversity.
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What are some of the learning points in the book that can be useful to you and your company?
The business case for diversity is founded on at least four well-researched value propositions:
Diversity generates higher financial returns
Diversity drives new market opportunities
Diversity supports complex problem solving and innovation
Diversity increases employee engagement and performance
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What are some of the learning points in the book that can be useful to you and your company?
One trend in the diversity
field is to focus on the
uniqueness of each
individual.
While I applaud that trend, it
is important we not neglect
the impact that group
cultures have on forming our
identities.
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What are some of the learning points in the book that can be useful to you and your company?
If we only focus on the
individual, we are much more
likely to make the
fundamental attribution error
– assuming someone’s
behavior or thinking style is
driven only by personal
choice rather than situational
factors like group culture.
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What are some of the learning points in the book that can be useful to you and your company?
A group culture can form around any kind of shared experiences, e.g.
age, race, sexual orientation, profession.
Nationality has dominated the cross-cultural field for a long time, but
nationality is only one form of group culture that influences our
identity-formation.
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10 10 In developing readiness for handling borderless diversity, everyone needs to develop or strengthen 10 key competencies:
Curiosity Risk-Taking
Perceptiveness Mindfulness
Self-Awareness Restraint
Tolerance of Ambiguity
Flexibility
Confidence Resilience
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These competencies are crucial to applying the cultural ADAPT cycle effectively
Analyze Decide
Apply
Process
Tune
Analyzing differences
Deciding on appropriate adaptations
Applying adaptations skilfully
Processing what happens in the interaction
Tuning adaptations to increase effectiveness
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12 12 For the power of diversity to be realized, inclusion must become a strategic priority. The concept of inclusion is brought to life by the day-to-day application of three principles (and their associated outcomes)
RECOGNITION
Recognizing the reality of others’
differences?
‘I am known’
RECEPTIVITY
Being open to seeing the world through
others’ eyes?
‘I am heard’
RESPECT
Communicating regard for
differences?
‘I am valued’
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If you go to China for a week, you’ll be able to write a book about it.
If you go for a month or so, you might be able to write a paper.
If you go for a year or more, you won’t be able to write anything at
all.
While the decision to write the book was easy, writing it was difficult
Not because I knew too little about the subject, but because I knew too much. A Chinese colleague once said to me,
“
”
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While the decision to write the book was easy, writing it was difficult
Download the e-book http://www.tmaworld.com/e-book-series/
After 20 plus years working in the cultural space, I hope I have been able in the e-book to respect complexity while distilling my experiences into useful concepts, tips, and tools. Only the reader can judge if that is the case.
What he was saying was that the more you know about something, the more you realize how much you don’t know. You start recognizing the great complexity of what it is you are trying to understand.
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Written by Terence Brake, Director of Learning & Innovation at TMA World. Our new Borderless Working e-book series
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About Us
Visit
www.tmaworld.com/insights
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thinking from our experts
on global, collaborative,
cross-cultural and virtual
working.
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