It is a critical skill in cultural intelligence because the behavior acknowledges that you have really heard what another person has said. And they have to be agile learners who identify opportunities by challenging their own and their teams assumptions about how things work in their organization and industry. One of the first changes he made was to instruct his assistant to block out 30 minutes on his calendar before important meetings. Asking Family is central to Hispanic communities. Boldly suggesting value-added changes was a welcome shift to both Tim and his colleagues. Your ability to be a culturally intelligent leader depends on your willingness to maintain a positive attitude. Its also important todemonstrate that you can put new ideas into action. This post first appeared in Cultural Patterns - my weekly newsletter on culture, creativity and strategy for brands. Berrett-Koehler, p. 49. learning, you need to break your plan into smaller steps that will help you to. One practice is simply making the time to think strategically something thats not always easy in todays fast-paced business settings. Do you remember your contributions during that meeting? He decided to engage an executive coach to help him learn how to demonstrate these skills. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. By thinking, it is important to talk about what you will do or what you have to do. Tim had a good reputation for responding to business unit leads, and he worked tirelessly and effectively to keep the supply chain functioning well. Were you an active participant in the conversation, or did others helm it? and Education, 3(1), 100-, Copyright 2023 StudeerSnel B.V., Keizersgracht 424, 1016 GC Amsterdam, KVK: 56829787, BTW: NL852321363B01, Discuss how cultural strategic thinking plays a part withi, Cultural strategic thinking is the ability to think and find specific s, to culture when one finds itself in an unfamiliar cultural setting or environme, rid of what is known and relates new information regarding what the situation coul, social backgrounds. organization: Assigning a mentor: in my organization managers usually assign a mentor to every new (2001). Pay attention to the verbal and nonverbal For example, pay attention to the issues that get raised over and over in your organization and . When you get into the habit of cultural strategic thinking, you will begin thinking on an unconscious level and not even recognize that you are using strategic thinking. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. Although you might not always have the right answers, strategic thinking skills can empower you to spot new opportunities, address emerging challenges, and plan for future success. help solve the problems. find a coach or mentor that can help you analyze your thinking. Why? Approach to Intercultural Training for the Global Manager. Cultural strategic thinking helps you to discard what you think you know and to apply new information concerning what the situation could be. You have to think positively about a situation, and you need to be and stay positive, maintaining a positive energy and attitude throughout. Tim channeled the new energy and vision he had gained into a strategic planning process that culminated in formal recommendations for the supply chain group. Cultural strategic thinking is the ability to think and find specific solutions to problems relating Strategic planning is not a substitute for strategic thinking, acting, and learning, or for leadership. In this dynamic session, Pepsi Chief Marketing Officer Todd Kaplan shared how Pepsi leans into the human side of consumers to understand their needs and behaviors as well as how to infuse those needs into the creative process to drive brand affinity. The content weve added is geared to helping people boost their productivity and effectiveness by making strategic thinking a habit, and includes practical ways that enable them to do so. Connecting New Information. To develop this skill, get in the habit of questioning yourself any time youre about to make an assertion. had to, and it affects their learning environment in a negative way and often. According to Bonn, cultural strategic thinking really helps to get To become really innovative, your company needs a special culture, a new mindset across all levels, disciplines, and functions. Give yourself an hour to grow each week by clicking on the calendar icon. You can do this by using multiple sources and venues. Where will the organization's growth come from in the next five years, and how does it compare with where growth has historically come from? Case Study: Building a Multicultural TeamIs it Worth it? A cadre of formal training, developmental activities, and self-directed learning initiatives can provide leaders with the skills to enhance the strategic thinking of those . It takes heightened self-awareness to avoid getting lost so you need to be aware of the ways in which your mental map may be incomplete. I observed two techniques mentioned in Cultural intelligence for leaders (2012) we used in our Why is this ability to think strategically especially important now? But the reality is that I lead a very talented team, and one of the ideas that we have tried to engender on the team is that good ideas can come from anywhere. To hasten the adoption of a culture of strategic thinking, you need to make it a part of your employees routines. In one of the organizations, I worked cultural strategic thinking bought bliss in our work. Earley, P. & Peterson, R (2004). Strategic thinking is "thinking about thinking." It is being conscious of your thinking processes, such as how you have gathered and organized the information and experience in your memory (old information), and then how you reorganize it (new information) to fit a new situation. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. clueless and frustrating? For each manager, we also surveyed former coworkers whose cultural upbringing was different from the managers, and asked how they rated the managers effectiveness in creative collaboration. If your employer has contracted with HBS Online for participation in a program, or if you elect to enroll in the undergraduate credit option of the Credential of Readiness (CORe) program, note that policies for these options may differ. Communicate your compelling vision and viable mission. step, to understand if you really understood the whole picture. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Here are four ways to improve your strategy skills, so the next time youre involved in a strategic planning meeting, you can ensure your contributions are noticed. We tend to be less adept at divergent thinking, which involves generating lots of ideas with the goal of finding innovative solutions. Checking for signs during the interaction that these assumptions apply is crucial to avoiding wrong turns or collisions in the relationship. There are two types of questions: questions that involve judgments and questions that involve learning. Explore our portfolio of online strategy courses and download the free flowchart to determine which is the best fit for you and your goals. Together well create informed and inspired leaders ready to shape the future of your business. Cultural strategic thinking is the ability to think and find specific solutions to problems relating to culture when one finds itself in an unfamiliar cultural setting or environment (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012). Gain new insights and knowledge from leading faculty and industry experts. To create a culture of strategic thinking permeating every operational aspect, you need to take a few additional steps: Alter beliefs. Think about it as playing cultural detective: You ask your peers questions, and they clarify the information for you, and when they ask you questions, you clarify your thinking process for them. You must reload the page to continue. As in the prior studies, higher cultural metacognition led to greater affective trust and ultimately, more idea sharing and better creative collaboration as rated subjectively by the participants, and as scored objectively by the expert chef judges. By doing so, you can ensure youre not overlooking another possibility. listening focuses your mind on the speaker, and, if done repeatedly and successfully, In a recently published paper led by my former student Roy Chua, now a professor at Harvard Business School, we used three different methods to test whether higher cultural metacognition leads to successful creative collaboration across cultures. No one can predict tomorrow, but by identifying different scenarios, you and members of your team stretch your thinking about what opportunities and threats might emerge, how they might impact your organization, and what you can do about them. Available underCreative Commons-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License(http://. 4.4 Cultural Strategic Thinking Techniques. By asking yourself, Do people know where I stand? you can sharpen your ability to demonstrate this skill. 4.5: Summary. In your review of the situation, you may need to research unfamiliar terms or gestures used, or you may need to break down the picture and rebuild it, step by step, to understand if you really understood the whole picture. It can facilitate an effective cultural interaction with less conflict, confusion, and frustration. Strategic thinking is the ability to think on a big and small scale, long and short term, and into the past and the present. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Higher cultural metacognition predicted greater affective trust and creative collaboration solely in the condition where groups had the personal conversation. What is the other person feeling, information and facts not just feeling or previous experience to what you already know in order While strategic thinking is a valuable skill for everyone in an organization, it becomes increasingly essential as you ascend the ladder. Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Make it a routine exercise to explore and synthesize the internal trends in your day-to-day work. Click on the different category headings to find out more. Our platform features short, highly produced videos of HBS faculty and guest business experts, interactive graphs and exercises, cold calls to keep you engaged, and opportunities to contribute to a vibrant online community. A strategy that is often employed in the practice of cultural strategic thinking is to You can check these in your browser security settings. Note: Adapted from Marilee G. Adams, 2004, Change your questions, change an observer. language and a process, and by helping to point out the cultural strategic thinking Demonstrating that you think strategically about hiring and talent development is a surefire way to make your leaders notice you. It does so by sharing with them a language and a process, and by helping to point out the cultural strategic thinking pieces of the process, which can be done by asking and clarifying the situation for them. First, we assessed individual differences in the cultural metacognition of 43 middle-level managers enrolled in an executive MBA course, using the four-factor self-report cultural intelligence scale. Career and personal branding expert Dorie Clark shows you how to carve out time to think about strategy, gather data, learn from the past, create a vision for the future, and implement strategic thinking within your team. Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor. As in Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. What does this mean and how do you achieve it? Someone who holds a negative perspective about, or who had a negative experience, working with different cultural groups will continue to have difficulty working with the groups. A manipulation in the experiment confirmed our hypothesis about how the affective trust comes about. Cultural strategic thinking is essential because it is this higher strategic thinking that enables you to process the new information and reinterpret it in a new situation. Change isnt easy, but we can help. who have difficulty with cultural strategic thinking. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site. To create a culture of strategic thinking permeating every operational aspect, you need to take a few additional steps: To create a strategic thinking culture, you need to build up the right mental framework. 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Janice Molloy is a content researcher with Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. As a leader, this is a great way of providing a model for those Academy of Management Learning We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. For example, most of us are comfortable using convergent thinking analysis, logic, and reasoning to come up with the best option from a set of choices. Gardner. . Available under Creative Commons-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. thinking processes. evaluate the strategies you have put in place. I encourage you to write down your emotions and feelings, the ambiguities and inconsistencies, and the challenges and successes of working interculturally. Cultural strategic thinking is essential because it is this higher strategic thinking that enables you to process the new information and reinterpret it in a new situation. Do you feel that the pressures to meet todays needs completely consume you and your team? In my organization, we work with a mix of tribes and cultures, age groups, and educational and What you need to know about being in charge. The increasingly international nature of business means leaders need new skills to get the full potential of teams and networks of people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. This special team needs to be strategic, tactical, agile and fast. One of the best things to do in developing cultural strategic thinking is to learn to be will assist managers to attain a holistic cultural view besides positive CQ assessing the people in It can also help you sharpen the logic skills you need to communicate and execute your strategy. Leaders on every level have to hold their reports accountable for fulfilling these expectations. All rights reserved. A strategy that is often employed in the practice of cultural strategic thinking is to create peer-learning opportunities to explore cultural interactions and resolve cultural problems. Observation is acquired through day-to-day activities in your life by making This is the type of resistance you need to overcome as a leader. When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the generation and application of unique business insights and opportunities intended to create competitive advantage for a firm . effectively manage cultural interactions. This section of the chapter provides ideas that will help you to increase . Strategic management is the never-ending process of managing your business for success. I have learned that in order to work well with this diversity. active listener is making a conscious choice about your responses to others. A useful tool I have used in my workshops and classes is writing down experiences Heres what Mason had to say: I often think Im expected to have all the answers about what to do with digital strategy. Some people will talk to themselves; others find it helpful to have someone to talk to. Every member of your organization should know this plan and understand the expectations it creates. situations, which help you to function more effectively. Your writing serves as a reflection of your thinking processes and how you have dealt with, or how you could not deal with, the process. We ask both 1. Should you consider a different perspective? They might, for instance, relate to launching a new business or product, beating a competitor, or structuring your organization for innovation. back to and learn from. You need to develop strategic thinking and create a culture of strategic thinking within your organization. For example, imagine that the business you work for has begun losing market share for one of its products among its traditional customers. If you do not receive this email, please check your junk email folders and double-check your account to make sure the application was successfully submitted. Using that cultural situation as a Kodak moment, take the opportunity to reread the picture to see if you really understood how that cultural fact was used. Because employees capable of thinking critically, logically, and strategically can have a tremendous impact on a businesss trajectory. In gaining cultural knowledge, it is very helpful to get into the habit of checking your facts and knowledge about a culture. /wp-content/uploads/2018/12/HBPubCorpLearn_wide_crimson.svg, Strategic Thinking: Because Good Ideas Can Come From Anywhere. When you get into the habit of cultural strategic thinking, you Learn more about your compensation, benefits and everything that goes into a Total Rewards package. Management Decision, new information to the old, (b) select the appropriate strategies, and then (c) plan, Your plan should be concrete. Using that cultural situation as a Kodak moment, take the. When you get into the habit of cultural strategic thinking, you will begin thinking on an unconscious level and not even recognize that you are using strategic thinking. If you want to improve your strategic thinking skills, one of the simplest things you can do is ask more strategic questions. Understanding why new customers are attracted to your product can enable you to tailor your marketing strategy and product development to better embrace their needs. This section of the chapter provides ideas that will help you to increase . emotions and feelings, the ambiguities and inconsistencies, and the challenges and And, do they trust the person cognitively from the head, based on evidence? Think Outside the Brand: How to Embrace a "Culture-First" Mentality in Today's Fragmented Media Landscape April 27, 2023. JOHN MATTONE GLOBAL, INC. As he gets ready to jump into the 2024 presidential race, the Florida governor is sticking with his strategy of putting culture wars front and center. cultural interaction with less conflict, confusion, and frustration. positive, maintaining a positive energy and attitude throughout. Leaders want to know what you think, and they view your worthiness for promotion through the lens of how ready you are to make bigger decisions. How could I lose? Cultural strategic thinking may seem overwhelming at first, but as with any new learning, you need to break your plan into smaller steps that will help you to accomplish your goals. Active You can also change some of your preferences. HBR Learnings online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Leading People. Another involves inviting dissent on your team. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Some people will talk to themselves; others find it helpful to have someone to talk to. wrote that learning about a new culture requires putting all the pieces of a pattern together when you do not know the totality of what that whole picture should look like. is your ability to understand, interpret, reflect, and respond to what you have heard. We ask both types of questions, and we choose which ones to ask in any given situation. This forces you to think and plan several moves ahead than you would normally. text discuss some of what you observed, both in terms of positives and deficits and discuss social backgrounds. What you need to know about being in charge. Bonn, I. Your writing serves as a reflection of your As indicated earlier in the chapter, if this new . 1. All course content is delivered in written English. Cultural intelligence improves my strategic thinking and sits . depends on your willingness to maintain a positive attitude. Specifically, by incorporating the opinions of many young employees, known as Generation Z, we have succeeded in creating attractive products and services. What is the other person feeling, needing, and wanting? monitor, and evaluate the strategies you have put in place. Our focus on the People & Organization Development Team is to ensure that we are giving you the growth and development opportunities at the #1 public university in the world. Suspend judgments of people and their beliefs, Be open to experiences that are unfamiliar. them. Earley and PetersonEarley & Peterson (2004). If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before starting an application for the program of your choice. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies. Today, Microsoft is the largest software company in the world and has . To navigate a working relationship with someone from another culture, you should be aware of your working assumptions about the other person. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application.