Doing Business Globally with Cultural Intelligence

Shaped by our everyday personal interactions, we humans expect each other to behave in somewhat prescribed ways. Politeness pleases us and bad manners offend us. Trouble is, manners and courtesy are interpreted very differently throughout the world.

In this short, amusing video, you will see seven hand gestures that Americans not only use regularly but find completely acceptable. Around the world, however, they all can be interpreted as extremely offensive. One common gesture can even get you arrested.

When it comes to doing business in different cultures around the world, knowing which gestures to use and avoid is just the beginning. To succeed abroad, leaders must develop Cultural Intelligence—the ability to detect, understand, and appropriately respond to cultural cues.

Improving Cultural Intelligence (CQ), it has been shown, improves international business success. Specifically 92 percent of companies that used the Cultural Intelligence approach increased revenues within 18 months of implementation.

How to Get CQ

Align4Profit has developed a training program called Doing Business Globally. Our program will increase your effectiveness in business by developing a broad view of cultures around the world, an awareness of cultural differences, and how to leverage that awareness into effective leadership and decision making.

You and your leaders will leave the workshop with the ability to manage diverse teams more effectively across different cultures. You will learn about the day-to-day global business challenges of working with people from diverse cultures and how to adapt your behavior while remaining your genuine self.

Every workshop participant also receives a powerful tool, the CQ Helper. It gives you and your leaders much more than just tips on proper business etiquette. The tool goes deep into 20 categories of personal, business interaction, including leadership, motivation, teamwork, feedback, and conflict.

Learn More Now

Align4Profit offers Doing Business Globally along with a host of programs that support the alignment of people to performance with research-based, best-practice, validated content on leadership and team topics that focus on practical application and skill-building. Use the form below to learn more.

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