Applying Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

00:05 Let's talk about cultural intelligence and how you can apply it to organizational wellness.

00:10 We'll also talk about how you can apply it to managing those biases, as I alluded to earlier on, and also in controlling those microaggressions that we talked about.

00:21 So in terms of moving towards speaking about cultural intelligence, I mentioned already that cultural values preferences matter, especially in relations of personal and professional relationships and organizational wellness.

00:35 We're also going to talk about how cultural intelligence matters in terms of those relationships.

00:43 And then we're going to analyze that.

00:45 I want you to think about certain things as I talk about these.

00:49 And then how do you develop your own strategies for managing your biases, rather, and recognizing when something is about your values preference, versus making your opinion and your preference factual, and using that as leverage to judge people, because that's what happens we all get into that.

01:08 So when we consciously make the effort, then we can move toward changing and shifting those different inequities and inequalities not just in health, but even in organizations.

01:19 Because hopefully, the goal is that you will decide you want to become a leader.

01:23 And it's going to be very important that you remember, all of those DEIB principles diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and think about inclusive excellence in terms of making everyone in an organization feel like they belong, and know that they have equal opportunities for advancement.

01:41 So I also want to talk about culture, and why culture matters.

01:46 Typically, the discord happens because there are gaps.

01:50 And those gaps usually are in awareness, knowledge, and understanding.

01:54 And what cultural intelligence does is help us to narrow or close those gaps.

01:59 And remember, I talked about self-awareness.

02:02 In terms of developing self-awareness, we have to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, be willing to be vulnerable.

02:09 Because again, remember I said, as long as you're human, you're gonna have biases, and you're gonna make mistakes.

02:15 So when we think about vulnerability, I developed an exercise as my always thinking of how to bring these points home.

02:23 There is value in vulnerability.

02:26 So typically, I do a missing letter link.

02:28 So literally and figuratively, the word value shows up in vulnerability.

02:34 And I love quotes and this one is anonymous.

02:37 But vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, accountability, and authenticity.

02:45 Okay, so I want you to focus on those words. Love.

02:49 We all want love, right? And remember, I talked about everybody deserves peace.

02:54 We all want to feel like we belong. That's a space of comfort.

02:57 We like being happy.

02:59 The issue when we talk about DEIB related issues, or any kind of discrimination, sometimes we're uncomfortable.

03:07 So vulnerability also takes courage, because everybody won't always agree with you.

03:13 And when you do this work, and you become an advocate, and an activist, and an ally, oftentimes, you will get attacked.

03:21 So you have to have the courage to stand by what's right.

03:24 You also need to be able to empathize with people.

03:27 Thinking back to those humanitarian principles, if you can't show empathy is going to be almost impossible to operationalize, compassion, and mercy and service.

03:38 And then being accountable, not only holding other people accountable, but we really have to practice holding ourselves accountable.

03:46 And all of that requires us being authentic, because people can see through performances.

03:51 And so it also requires practice and consistency.

03:54 So remember, again, I said that this is a transformation.

03:58 You're never going to achieve this fully because context matters, our lived experiences matter.

04:05 And again, I like to drive points home with quotes.

04:08 So Brene Brown has another quote about vulnerability.

04:11 Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.

04:15 And truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness.

04:20 The other concept is integrity.

04:23 Choosing courage over comfort.

04:25 What is right over what's fun, fast, and easy, and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.

04:32 That's another great Brene Brown quote, because in doing this work, you will find a lot of people who are doing it as part of it being trendy, and it's a performance.

04:41 So we can't just say the words without actually operationalizing the words.

04:45 And I like to say, put some legs and shoes on the words and keep them moving.

04:50 And then I love to tie this up with a Maya Angelou quote, about courage.

04:55 Courage may be the most important of all virtues because without it, one cannot practice any other virtue with consistence.

05:03 And I'll just leave you to think about that one.

05:12 I used to think it was integrity.

05:14 But after reading that, how can you have integrity if you don't have the courage to stand up for things that aren't right, Even when you're afraid to do so? And just knowing that, in terms of being able to be an advocate, that you have to practice that consistently, because just because you know, something's wrong, and you don't say something about it.

05:35 So this quote by Lawrence Lee helps to kind of validate that.

05:40 The world does not pay for what a person knows, but it pays for what a person does with what he or she or they know.

05:47 And then here we go again, Maya Angelou.

05:50 So this is just to prep us for the rest of the talk.

05:53 Do the best you can until you know better then when you know better do better.

05:57 So I'm gonna give you a lot of information that helps you to know better so that you can do better.

06:02 Are you willing to look deeply because you have to be willing to look deep inside yourself, do some introspection frequently so that you can move forward in this work and sometimes you have to look at life from a different perspective.