Procurement Across Borders – Are You Aware Of Your Surroundings?

Are you aware of what is going on in a cross-cultural situation? How do you use that awareness to adapt and manage these situations effectively? 

In this series of articles we have been discussing the importance of Cultural Intelligence when working across culture, distance and time. Using and developing CQ is a highly effective way to achieve better outcomes and smoother business interactions. We have already looked at two of the four components of CQ, which are CQ Drive and CQ Knowledge and defined some of the characteristics that influence these areas. We will now move on to the third component of CQ which is CQ Strategy.

CQ strategy or meta cognition refers to the extent to which you are aware of what is going on in a cross-cultural situation and your ability to use that awareness to adapt and manage the situation effectively. Employing CQ strategy, requires us to consider diverse encounters ahead of time, during the encounter and after they have occurred. CQ strategy is comprised of three elements, these are planning, awareness and checking.

Planning requires us to take into account the nine cultural dimensions we discussed in earlier  articles as well as any other factors. Some of those factors may include the organisational culture as well as economic, political, social and administrative aspects. By understanding some of the challenges you may face and strategizing actions and behaviours that are appropriate for dealing with the situations you will encounter, you are well placed to anticipate and mitigate tensions and misunderstandings. Some questions or prompts you may like to consider when planning include:

• What are my goals?
• What are my client’s/partner’s goals?
• How will my client/partner’s cultural values and beliefs guide their communication, behaviours and decisions?
• What do I already know about this person and cultural setting that could guide me?
• What past experiences can I draw on to assist me?
• What else do I need to know to achieve my goals?

Awareness relates to what you are doing during the interaction. It is about being present and mindful of what is occurring around you whilst engaging in a cross-cultural situation. This includes looking for expressions of interest and scrutinizing facial expressions and non- verbal communication as well as verbal communication. Are you understanding what is being said and being understood? Some questions to consider for yourself in relation to awareness in cross-cultural situations are:

• Am I achieving the goals I need to?
• What is confusing or unclear for me/my client/ partner?
• What other questions are being raised?
• What questions are not being raised?
• What am I doing that is working/not working?
• What could I be doing better?

Checking is the third aspect of CQ Strategy. We have mental models, where we make certain assumptions based on our previous experiences. We need to be alert to check that our assumptions are correct. This requires being cognizant and checking in on what is being communicated verbally and non-verbally.  Checking is a key part of evaluating the situation and judging how successful your cross-cultural interaction is. Some questions to consider in regard to checking are:

• What helped or inhibited my performance?
• What were my strengths and weaknesses?
• Did I try anything new? Did it work?
• What did I find easy?
• What was most challenging?
• What did I learn from the encounter?
• How will I do things differently next time?

These three components of CQ Strategy- planning, awareness and checking provide a useful framework to analyse performance and progress when carrying out cross-cultural interactions. They also provide an opportunity to assess and improve our on our ability to utilise CQ strategy .  When entering new relationships, using these steps can be particularly helpful as a guide to navigating the situation and getting off to a good start that can lead to positive and mutually beneficial outcomes.