BMGT 464 - Skills Assessment/Job Position
twinkletoes
KCAssessmentResults.pdf
These are the results from the OSPP DISC Assessment Test. The calculated scores for each type are
shown below.
Your highest score was for Type C. There are a number of descriptions of your type on the internet.
Here are a few:
from DISC insights
from Crystal Knows
C Personality Type
The Analyst in DISC
People with the C personality type tend to be objective, skeptical, and logical in their behavior. They are usually �ercely
pragmatic and frequently solve problems with an analytical, fact-driven approach. They are likely to be more reserved in
groups and may take a long time before they build enough trust to open up.
What is the C Personality Type (The Analyst)?
DISC Type C Personality Traits
With a position on the bottom left of the DISC, Analysts are likely to approach life in a serious manner. Preferring
solitary activities, they are likely to guard they privacy and be more involved with their deep, independent thoughts
than external stimuli.
In summary, DISC type C personalities tend to...
Prefer privacy and solitary activities.
Make objective decisions rather than emotional ones.
Skeptically or realistically appraise people and situations.
Be sensitive to lack of sincerity in others.
Maintain a serious demeanor at work.
DISC Type C Personality Strengths
Every personality archetype has strengths and blind spots, and these are often ampli�ed in professional settings
where we often encounter a diverse group of people with vastly different backgrounds and value systems.
DISC Type C Personality Weaknesses
Strengths typically associated with the DISC type C personality include...
Taking time to think things through when making decisions.
Providing clearly de�ned procedures when giving assignments.
Using a deliberate, methodical approach when solving problems.
Being comfortable analyzing large amounts of information.
Giving work assignments in writing and requests written feedback.
Weaknesses typically associated with the DISC type C personality include...
Seeking a perfect solution instead of a workable solutions.
Taking a lot of time gathering information and assessing risk before making decisions.
Avoiding or resisting people who do not use a systematic approach to organizing work.
Feeling the urge to criticize people who don't meet their standards for quality and accuracy.
Checking in too frequently, with too many questions, when someone needs more autonomy.
Overcomplicating solutions to simple problems.
DISC Type C Personality Growth
How DISC Type C personalities like to work
Growth opportunities typically associated with the DISC type C personality include...
Share about the work you’re doing with the rest of the team, even if it’s just in a brief message.
Understand that there are natural differences in strengths; one of yours is likely your organization, so there will likely be many
scenarios in which it’s best for you to adopt the organizational responsibilities.
Remain open-minded to others’ unique strengths, even if they seem frustratingly different from your own; people will often
surprise you with their capabilities.
Work with others who might have a more simple, direct approach to problem-solving.
Communicating with a DISC type C personality
Use a serious, businesslike demeanor and ask strictly objective questions to fully understand what they are thinking.
Meeting with a DISC type C personality
Meetings should be minimal, formally scheduled, and with a prepared agenda.
Resolving con�ict with a DISC type C personality
Con�ict should be viewed objectively to effectively bring underlying issues to the surface.
DISC Type C Personality Motivations
When people experience pain, stress, or dissatisfaction, it can usually be attributed to energy-draining activities.
Therefore, it’s important to know what kinds of activities energize each personality type and which activities drain
them.
Emailing a DISC type C personality
Emails should be clear, detailed, and factual.
Giving feedback to a DISC type C personality
Feedback should be speci�c, detailed, and delivered with logical reasoning.
DISC Type C Personality Stress
DISC Type C Personality Careers
Analysts tend to thrive in private environments where they can take enough time to do their work with accuracy,
precision, and the highest possible quality.
DISC Type C personality types tend to be motivated and energized by...
Solving problems with thorough analysis of the existing data.
Researching the root causes of a problem.
Creating procedures, rules, and guidelines for other people to follow.
Helping others become more methodical and ef�cient in their processes.
Working on projects independently and bringing results back to a group.
DISC Type C personality types tend to be drained by...
Brainstorming about far-out ideas instead of clear ones.
Taking the time to understand how someone else thinks.
Leaving your schedule open and �exible for spontaneous meetings throughout the day.
Explaining things with emotional, expressive language.
Analysts thrive in positions where they can take enough time to do their work with accuracy, precision, and the highest
possible quality. They are likely to prefer independent work over lots of collaboration, and typically prefer more
structured environments that have established rules and processes.
Common jobs for people with the DISC type C personality
DISC Type C Personality Relationships (Professional)
DISC Type C personality types feel energized at work when...
They are given plenty of personal space to solve a problem.
Their boss gives them plenty of autonomy.
Their peers ask them for advice in becoming more ef�cient.
Their direct reports follow the exact rules and guidelines.
DISC Type C personality types feel drained at work when...
They have to work closely with other people.
Their boss requires a lot of face-to-face meetings.
Their peers spend too much time talking.
Their direct reports make things up as they go.
Software Engineer Mechanical Engineer Chemical Engineer
Actuary Investment Analyst Software Developer
Data Scientist Financial Analyst Systems Administrator
Director of Engineering
Analysts can help more outgoing, quick-acting coworkers take the time to stop and think through important decisions.
When working with another C-type, it’s important that they consider new ways of approaching a situation when they
feel stuck on a problem.
DISC Type C Personality Relationships (Romantic)
Analysts can be practical, private partners. When in a relationship with another conscientious personality, it is
important for them to be aligned in their ideas to avoid a great deal of future con�ict.
DISC Type C personality types tend to work well with others who...
Have evidence to back up their claims
Show patience when answering clarifying questions
Give them plenty of space to work independently
DISC Type C personality types may hit obstacles in professional relationships when they...
Neglect to consider other people’s ideas
Misunderstand an assignment because they didn’t meet in-person
Unnecessarily criticize the actions of their coworkers
Related Personality Types
Below are the Enneagram and 16-Personality types that are similar to DISC Type C.
Enneagram Type 5
16-Personality ISTJ
You can �nd your DISC, Enneagram, and 16-Personality types by taking Crystal's free personality test.
DISC Type C Personality Slide Show
Click through the slides below to learn more about C types:
In a romantic relationship, the DISC type C personality brings strengths like...
Carefully considering their choice in partner
Thinking through what they say before they say it
Being comfortable with necessary con�ict
In romantic relationships, DISC type C personality types may have trouble...
Considering their partner’s perspective
Being emotionally open and vulnerable
Spending quality time with their partner
Or watch the video:
Are you a DISC Type C? Take the DISC Assessment to see.
Select the word that most describes you and the word that least describes you. Once you complete the DISC
assessment below, you'll be able to see your DISC type.
1 of 34
DISC Type C PersonalityDISC Type C Personality
I am... Restrained i Decisive i Chatty i Traditional i
Most
Least
N E X T
DISC C PERSONALITY TYPE
The 'C' Personality Style Explained
The 'C' Personality Style Explained
What are the general characteristics of the C DISC Styles? The C DISC Styles are accurate, precise, detail-oriented and conscientious. They think very analytically and systematically, and make decisions carefully with plenty of research and information to back it up. The C has very high standards for both themselves and others. Because they focus on the details and see what many other styles do not, they tend to be good problem solvers and very creative people.
What do the C DISC Styles contribute to a team?
The C style brings perspective to groups and tend to be the "anchor of reality" in team thought. When something is proposed, it is the C who will think through every detail of how it works and the process. They will make realistic estimates and will voice the problems that they see with the plan or already existing system. The C is conscientious and even-tempered. They will complete tasks they've committed to and will be very thorough. They take great pride in doing their work accurately and are excellent people to analyze, research, or test information.
What are the possible weaknesses for the C DISC Styles?
The C Personality Type is one of the passive styles, which results in avoiding conflict. They will avoid conflict rather than argue, and it is difficult to get them to verbalize their feelings. They need clear-cut boundaries in order to feel comfortable at work, in relationships, or to take action. Sometimes the C can be bound by procedures and
methods, and find it difficult to stray from order. Sometimes they can get too bogged down in the small details, making it difficult to see the next steps or big picture.
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What is the greatest fear of C DISC Styles?
Because C Personality Types take great pride in being accurate and correct, they fear criticism.
What motivates the C DISC Styles?
The C is motivated by information and logic. They have very high standards of quality and are motivated by being well informed, researching before deciding, having clear parameters and instructions, doing work accurately and correctly, and seeing a project through to the end.
What is the ideal environment for the C DISC Styles?
The C Personality Type prefers an environment that is peaceful and organized with few to no conflicts or arguments. They do not need to be social at work and would be fine working alone. They need an environment where tasks and projects can be followed through to
completion, and especially excel in specialized or technical tasks due to their attention to detail. The C feels most safe when there is procedure and routine, and they are given instructions and reassurance that they are doing what is expected of them.
Characteristics of the C style from PeopleKeys
00:53
What does the high C Personality Style desire?
C Personality Types desire independence and autonomy, but also a controlled and organized work environment. They require reassurance that they are doing what is expected and prefer exact job descriptions, expectations and goals to be laid out. They desire that things do not change, but if change is necessary, that it's well thought out and planned. The C does desire reassurance from others and fears being criticized.
What should one remember to do when working with C Personality Types?
When working with a C Personality Style, it's best to be prepared when possible. Do your research and prepare your case in advance. Pay attention to the details because this is what the C focuses on. When you can support a statement or idea with accurate data or examples, that is helpful. Submit a job description or specs for the project to give them parameters and details, and talk about how different tasks fit into the big picture plan. Be systematic and logical in your thinking and planning, and specific when agreeing or disagreeing. When disagreeing, work with facts instead of people examples. Be patient, persistent and diplomatic, and remember that they fear criticism.
What should one remember not to do when working with an C Personality Type?
Do not speak in broad generalizations with no specifics; use details and explanations when possible. Try not to answer questions too vaguely or casually, as they need information and details to make sense of new plans and decisions. Do not criticize the work they've already done, as they take great pride in their work. If you do need
to criticize, be specific with your examples and be diplomatic. Avoid being confrontational as they will not respond well to this and will close off.
What is a high C DISC Style likely to do when working with details or when analyzing information?
They will focus very much on the details and can become too focused on them, lacking perspective on the overall picture. However, they will be cautious when analyzing and will find any mistakes that need to be corrected. They are very effective trouble shooters. When the C style works with details and information, they excel, yet if they find problems or perceive a risk, they will try to avoid or postpone decisions being made based on it.
What positive characteristics does the C Personality Type possess when in teams?
C styles are instinctive organizers, who can both create and maintain systems. They strive for consistency, logic and accuracy, and do very good work. They ask important questions and talk about problems that could hold up projects. They are "do it yourself" managers who
maintain focus on tasks and will see something through until it's finished. They emphasize quality, think logically, and strive for a diplomatic approach and consensus within groups.
What are personal growth areas for C Personality Types?
Although the C style fears criticism from others, especially for their work, they tend to be over critical of others. This is a result of their paying attention in such detail. When doing this, it's easier to find all the faults. It's important to concentrate on doing the right things and not just doing things right. When working in teams, it's important for the C style to be open to others' ideas and methods, and to move quickly to help accomplish team goals. The C may need to focus more on people in order to build strong relationships, as they may have a tendency to focus on tasks more than people and want to work alone. At times, the C will need to push themselves to be decisive and take risks, even if all the research isn't there to support it.
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18 MIN READ
How Emotionally Intelligent Are You?
Boosting Your People Skills
We all know people who are in full control of their emotions. They're calm in a crisis, and they make decisions sensitively, however stressful the situation.
We also know people who can read the emotions of others. They understand what to say to make people feel better, and they know how to inspire them to take action.
People like this have high emotional intelligence (or EI). They have strong relationships, and they manage difficult situations calmly and effectively. They're also likely to be resilient in the face of adversity.
So, how emotionally intelligent are you, and how can you develop further? Find out below.
How Emotionally Intelligent Are You?
Instructions
Evaluate each statement as you actually are, rather than as you think you should be. When you've finished, click "Calculate My Total," and use the table that follows to think about next steps.
15 Statements to Answer Not at
All Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often
I can recognize my emotions as I experience them.1
I lose my temper when I feel frustrated.2
People have told me that I'm a good listener.3
I know how to calm myself down when I feel anxious or upset.
4
I enjoy organizing groups.5
I find it hard to focus on something over the long term.6
I find it difficult to move on when I feel frustrated or unhappy.
7
I know my strengths and weaknesses.8
I avoid conflict and negotiations.9
I feel that I don't enjoy my work.10
I ask people for feedback on what I do well, and how I can improve.
11
Calculate My Total Total = 59
15 Statements to Answer Not at
All Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often
Score Interpretation
ScoreComment
15-34 You need to work on your emotional intelligence. You may find that you feel overwhelmed by your emotions, especially in stressful situations; or, you may avoid conflict because you think that you'll find it distressing.
It's likely, too, that you find it hard to calm down after you've felt upset, and you may struggle to build strong working relationships.
Don't worry – there are plenty of ways that you can build emotional intelligence, starting now. Read our tips below to find out more.
35-55 Your emotional intelligence level is... OK.
You probably have good relationships with some of your colleagues, but others may be more difficult to work with.
The good news is that you have a great opportunity to improve your working relationships significantly. Read more below to boost your EI still further.
56-75 Great! You're an emotionally intelligent person. You have great relationships, and you probably find that people approach you for advice.
However, when so many people admire your people skills, it's easy to lose sight of your own needs. Read our tips below to find out how you can continue to build your EI.
Researchers have found that emotionally intelligent people often have great leadership potential. Realize this potential by seeking opportunities to improve even further.
Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence
I set long-term goals, and review my progress regularly.12
I find it difficult to read other people's emotions.13
I struggle to build rapport with others.14
I use active listening skills when people speak to me.15
Psychologist Daniel Goleman identified five elements that make up emotional intelligence. These are:
1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Motivation.
4. Empathy.
5. Social skills.
Terms reproduced by permission of Bloomsbury Press.
Let’s look at how you can develop good skills in each area.
Self-Awareness
(Questions 1, 8, 11)
Your score is 13 out of 15 In his 1995 book "Emotional Intelligence: Why it can Matter More Than IQ," Goleman explained that people with high self-awareness are "aware of their moods as they are having them."
To increase self-awareness , learn about mindfulness . This involves focusing on the present moment – including how you're feeling. And keep a journal in which you write about and analyze the emotional situations you experience from day to day.
You also need to understand your strengths and weaknesses to build self-awareness. Do a personal SWOT analysis , and ask for feedback from your boss, friends, and trusted colleagues to find out how you can improve further.
Self-Regulation
(Questions 2, 4, 7)
Your score is 12 out of 15 Self-regulation is about staying in control. To develop your skills in this area, learn how to manage your emotions effectively.
If you often get angry , note what triggers this feeling, and think about why this happens. Use techniques such as deep breathing to calm yourself down, and give yourself time to pause before you respond to emails or requests, so that you don't say something that you'll later regret. (See our article on anger management to learn more about this.)
You may also be affected by other negative feelings and emotions, such as anxiety and stress . So, do what you can to manage these feelings effectively.
Accountability is another important element of self-regulation. Take responsibility for your actions and behaviors, and make sure that these align with your values .
Motivation
(Questions 6, 10, 12)
Your score is 10 out of 15 Self-motivation is strongly affected by your emotions. When you're distracted by your emotions, you may find it hard to see tasks through.
Boost your motivation levels by developing self-discipline , and by looking for and celebrating small wins – simple jobs that, when you've completed them, give you a sense of achievement.
Also, set yourself longer-term goals . When you decide what you want to achieve, you'll focus on what really matters to you. This can be highly motivating, especially when you connect personal goals with career-related ones.
If you're still struggling to get motivated in your current role, take some time to rediscover your purpose .
Empathy
(Questions 3, 13, 15)
Your score is 12 out of 15 Empathy is the ability to recognize other people's emotions and understand their perspectives. Goleman calls this aspect of EI "the fundamental people skill."
To develop empathy , start by simply thinking about other people's viewpoints. Imagine how they may be feeling, and use active listening skills to understand them fully when they express their emotions to you.
Try not to interrupt or talk about your own feelings during the conversation. Look at their body language , too: it can tell you a lot about their emotions. If you watch and listen to others, you'll quickly become attuned to how they feel. (The Perceptual Positions technique can give you a particularly sharp insight into what other people may be thinking and feeling.)
Tip:
If you're a leader, read our article "What's Empathy Got to do With it?" for tips on using empathy in leadership.
Social Skills
(Questions 5, 9, 14)
Your score is 12 out of 15 Even if you're not a natural "people person," it is possible to develop better social skills.
Start by taking our quiz to see which communication skills you need to improve on. Then, find out how you can develop trust and rapport with people – this is an essential part of building good working relationships .
Don't shy away from negative situations, either. Learn how to deal with conflict and other difficult situations effectively.
If you're uncomfortable with social situations, work on building self-confidence . Start slowly, but then look for opportunities to practice your skills with bigger groups. For example, you could offer to attend conferences on behalf of your team.
Key Points
Developing high emotional intelligence (or EI) is incredibly important for a successful career. When we have high levels of emotional intelligence, we're able to build strong working relationships and manage difficult situations
more effectively.
Influential psychologist Daniel Goleman developed a framework of five elements that define emotional intelligence:
1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Motivation.
4. Empathy.
5. Social skills.
Even if you already have many of the elements of emotional intelligence, it's important to look for opportunities to build it further. This will increase your leadership potential, and improve the quality of your relationships.
(For more detail, see our full emotional intelligence article and video and take a look at our infographic, below. Mind Tools Premium Club members and corporate users can also access our exclusive Expert Interview podcast with Daniel Goleman, here .)
Infographic
Click on the image below to see Goleman’s theory represented in an infographic:
atings
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Non Member 2020-10-27 21:08:24
I've read several books on EI over the years. These materials are a good review of the multiple aspects of emotional intelligence.
Warbs61 2020-10-21 11:19:58
Excellent and thought provoking
ng8313 2020-10-16 19:51:04
skramp 2020-10-15 16:33:29
Non Member 2020-10-15 04:29:35
very good
23…1361
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Your Results
Closed-Minded Open to New Experiences
Disorganized Conscientious
Introverted Extraverted
Disagreeable Agreeable
Calm / Relaxed Nervous / High-Strung
What aspects of personality does this tell me about?
There has been much research on how people describe others, and five major dimensions of human personality have been found. They are often referred to as the OCEAN model of personality, because of the acronym from the names of the five dimensions. Here are your results:
Open-Mindedness
High scorers tend to be original, creative, curious, complex; Low scorers tend to be conventional, down to earth, narrow interests, uncreative.
You enjoy having novel experiences and seeing things in new ways.
(Your percentile: 87)
Conscientiousness
High scorers tend to be reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, careful; Low scorers tend to be disorganized, undependable, negligent.
You are well-organized, and are reliable. (Your percentile: 76)
Extraversion
High scorers tend to be sociable, friendly, fun loving, talkative; Low scorers tend to be introverted, reserved, inhibited, quiet.
You are neither particularly social or reserved. (Your percentile: 43)
Agreeableness
High scorers tend to be good natured, sympathetic, forgiving, courteous; Low scorers tend to be critical, rude, harsh, callous.
You are neither extremely forgiving nor irritable. (Your percentile: 57)
Negative Emotionality
High scorers tend to be nervous, high-strung, insecure, worrying; Low scorers tend to be calm, relaxed, secure, hardy.
You are generally relaxed. (Your percentile: 22)
Results Feedback
How useful did you find your results? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 Very Useful
What is the “Big Five”?
Personality psychologists are interested in what differentiates one person from another and why we behave the way that we do. Personality research, like any science, relies on quantifiable concrete data which can be used to examine what people are like. This is where the Big Five plays an important role.
The Big Five was originally derived in the 1970's by two independent research teams -- Paul Costa and Robert McCrae (at the National Institutes of Health), and Warren Norman (at the University of Michigan)/Lewis Goldberg (at the University of Oregon) -- who took slightly different routes at arriving at the same results: most human personality traits can be boiled down to five broad dimensions of personality, regardless of language or culture. These five dimensions were derived by asking thousands of people hundreds of questions and then analyzing the data with a statistical procedure known as factor analysis. It is important to realize that the researchers did not set out to find five dimensions, but that five dimensions emerged from their analyses of the data. In scientific circles, the Big Five is now the most widely accepted and used model of personality (though of course many other systems are used in pop psychology and work contexts; e.g., the MBTI).
What do the scores tell me?
In order to provide you with a meaningful comparison, the scores you received have been converted to “percentile scores.” This means that your personality score can be directly compared to another group of people who have also taken this personality test. The percentile scores show you where you score on each personality dimension relative to other people, taking into account normal differences in gender and age.
For example, your Extraversion percentile score is 43, which means that about 43 percent of the people in the comparison sample are less extraverted than you. In other words, you are neither introverted or extroverted as compared to them. Keep in mind that these percentile scores are relative to our particular sample of people. Thus, your percentile scores may differ if you were compared to another sample (e.g., elderly British people).
Where can I learn more?
If you'd like to learn more about personality psychology, take a look at these links to other personality sites on the web. Take a look at our homepage for more tests!
How do I save my results? How can I share them?
You can bookmark or share the link to this page. The URL for this page contains only the data needed to show your results and none of your private responses. Save this URL now, as you won't be able to get back to this page after closing it: https://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/results/? o=94,81,75&c=75,69,81&e=81,69,13&a=56,88,75&n=38,19,44&y=1980&g=f
For classroom activities: sometimes educators ask students to use this site for classroom projects and need the “raw” scores. Your raw scores, normalized 0 to 1: o:
0.83, c: 0.75, e: 0.54, a: 0.73, n: 0.34
1
Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence
Rate the extent to which you agree with each statement, using the scale:
1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree.
__________
Before I interact with people from a new culture, I ask myself what I hope to achieve.
__________
If I encounter something unexpected while working in a new culture, I use this experience to figure out new ways to approach other cultures in the future.
__________
I plan how I’m going to relate to people from a different culture before I meet them.
+ __________
When I come into a new cultural situation, I can immediately sense whether something is going well or something is wrong.
Total __________ ÷ 4 = __________ Cognitive CQ (Cultural Quotient)
__________
It’s easy for me to change my body language (for example, eye contact or posture) to suit people from a different culture.
__________
I can alter my expression when a cultural encounter requires it.
__________
I modify my speech style (for example, accent or tone) to suit people from a different culture.
+ __________ I easily change the way I act when a cross-cultural encounter seems to require it.
Total __________ ÷ 4 = __________ Physical CQ
2
__________
I have confidence that I can deal well with people from a different culture.
__________
I am certain that I can befriend people whose cultural backgrounds are different from mine.
__________
I can adapt to the lifestyle of a different culture with relative ease.
+ __________ I am confident that I can deal with a cultural situation that’s unfamiliar.
Total __________ ÷ 4 = __________ Emotional / motivational CQ
________________________________________________________________
Earley, P. C. and Mosakowski, E. (2004, October) Cultural Intelligence. Harvard
Business Review, 139–146.
CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Cultural Intelligence by P. Christopher Earley and Elaine Mosakowski From the October 2004 Issue
You see them at international airports like Heathrow: posters advertising the global bank HSBC that show a grasshopper and the message “USA—Pest. China—Pet. Northern Thailand—Appetizer.”
Taxonomists pinned down the scientific definition of the family Acrididae more than two centuries ago. But culture is so powerful it can affect how even a lowly insect is perceived. So it should come as no surprise that the human actions, gestures, and speech patterns a person encounters in a foreign business setting are subject to an even wider range of interpretations, including ones that can make misunderstandings likely and cooperation impossible. But occasionally an outsider has a seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures in just the way that person’s compatriots and colleagues would, even to mirror them. We call that cultural intelligence or CQ. In a world where crossing boundaries is routine, CQ becomes a vitally important aptitude and skill, and not just for international bankers and borrowers.
Companies, too, have cultures, often very distinctive; anyone who joins a new company spends the first few weeks deciphering its cultural code. Within any large company there are sparring subcultures as well: The sales force can’t talk to the engineers, and the PR people lose patience with the lawyers. Departments,
Cultural intelligence: an outsider’s seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person’s compatriots would.
divisions, professions, geographical regions—each has a constellation of manners, meanings, histories, and values that will confuse the interloper and cause him or her to stumble. Unless, that is, he or she has a high CQ.
Cultural intelligence is related to emotional intelligence, but it picks up where emotional intelligence leaves off. A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another. A person with high cultural intelligence can somehow tease out of a person’s or group’s behavior those features that would be true of all people and all groups, those peculiar to this person or this group, and those that are neither universal nor idiosyncratic. The vast realm that lies between those two poles is culture.
An American expatriate manager we know had his cultural intelligence tested while serving on a design team that included two German engineers. As other team members floated their ideas, the engineers condemned them repeatedly as stunted or immature or worse. The manager concluded that Germans in general are rude and aggressive.
A modicum of cultural intelligence would have helped the American realize he was mistakenly equating the merit of an idea with the merit of the person presenting it and that the Germans were able to make a sharp distinction between the two. A manager with even subtler powers of discernment might have tried to determine how much of the two Germans’ behavior was arguably German and how much was explained by the fact that they were engineers.
An expatriate manager who was merely emotionally intelligent would probably have empathized with the team members whose ideas were being criticized, modulated his or her spontaneous reaction to the engineers’ conduct, and proposed a new style of discussion that preserved candor but spared feelings, if indeed anyone’s feelings had been hurt. But without being able to tell how much of the
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engineers’ behavior was idiosyncratic and how much was culturally determined, he or she would not have known how to influence their actions or how easy it would be to do that.
One critical element that cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence do share is, in psychologist Daniel Goleman’s words, “a propensity to suspend judgment —to think before acting.” For someone richly endowed with CQ, the suspension might take hours or days, while someone with low CQ might have to take weeks or
months. In either case, it involves using your senses to register all the ways that the personalities interacting in front of you are different from those in your home culture yet similar to one another. Only when conduct you have actually observed begins to settle into patterns can you safely begin to anticipate how these people will react in the next situation. The inferences you draw in this manner will be free of the hazards of stereotyping.
The people who are socially the most successful among their peers often have the greatest difficulty making sense of, and then being accepted by, cultural strangers. Those who fully embody the habits and norms of their native culture may be the most alien when they enter a culture not their own. Sometimes, people who are somewhat detached from their own culture can more easily adopt the mores and even the body language of an unfamiliar host. They’re used to being observers and making a conscious effort to fit in.
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People who are somewhat detached from their own culture can more easily adopt the mores and even the body language of an unfamiliar host.
Although some aspects of cultural intelligence are innate, anyone reasonably alert, motivated, and poised can attain an acceptable level of cultural intelligence, as we have learned from surveying 2,000 managers in 60 countries and training many others. Given the number of cross-functional assignments, job transfers, new employers, and distant postings most corporate managers are likely to experience in the course of a career, low CQ can turn out to be an inherent disadvantage.
The Three Sources of Cultural Intelligence Can it really be that some managers are socially intelligent in their own settings but ineffective in culturally novel ones? The experience of Peter, a sales manager at a California medical devices group acquired by Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, is not unusual. At the devices company, the atmosphere had been mercenary and competitive; the best-performing employees could make as much in performance bonuses as in salary. Senior managers hounded unproductive salespeople to perform better.
At Lilly’s Indianapolis headquarters, to which Peter was transferred, the sales staff received bonuses that accounted for only a small percentage of total compensation. Furthermore, criticism was restrained and confrontation kept to a minimum. To motivate people, Lilly management encouraged them. Peter commented, “Back in L.A., I knew how to handle myself and how to manage my sales team. I’d push them and confront them if they weren’t performing, and they’d respond. If you look at my evaluations, you’ll see that I was very successful and people respected me. Here in Indianapolis, they don’t like my style, and they seem to avoid the challenges that I put to them. I just can’t seem to get things done as well here as I did in California.”
Peter’s problem was threefold. First, he didn’t comprehend how much the landscape had changed. Second, he was unable to make his behavior consistent with that of everyone around him. And third, when he recognized that the arrangement wasn’t working, he became disheartened.
Peter’s three difficulties correspond to the three components of cultural intelligence: the cognitive; the physical; and the emotional/motivational. Cultural intelligence resides in the body and the heart, as well as the head. Although most managers are not equally strong in all three areas, each faculty is seriously hampered without the other two.
Head. Rote learning about the beliefs, customs, and taboos of foreign cultures, the approach corporate training programs tend to favor, will never prepare a person for every situation that arises, nor will it prevent terrible gaffes. However, inquiring about the meaning of some custom will often prove unavailing because natives may be reticent about explaining themselves to strangers, or they may have little practice looking at their own culture analytically.
Instead, a newcomer needs to devise what we call learning strategies. Although most people find it difficult to discover a point of entry into alien cultures, whose very coherence can make them seem like separate, parallel worlds, an individual with high cognitive CQ notices clues to a culture’s shared understandings. These can appear in any form and any context but somehow indicate a line of interpretation worth pursuing.
An Irish manager at an international advertising firm was working with a new client, a German construction and engineering company. Devin’s experience with executives in the German retail clothing industry was that they were reasonably flexible about deadlines and receptive to highly imaginative proposals for an advertising campaign. He had also worked with executives of a British construction and engineering company, whom he found to be strict about deadlines and intent on a media campaign that stressed the firm’s technical expertise and the cost savings it offered.
Devin was unsure how to proceed. Should he assume that the German construction company would take after the German clothing retailer or, instead, the British construction company? He resolved to observe the new client’s representative closely and draw general conclusions about the firm and its culture from his behavior, just as he had done in the other two cases. Unfortunately, the client sent a new representative to every meeting. Many came from different business units and had grown up in different countries. Instead of equating the first representative’s behavior with the client’s corporate culture, Devin looked for consistencies in the various individuals’ traits. Eventually he determined that they were all punctual, deadline-oriented, and tolerant of unconventional advertising messages. From that, he was able to infer much about the character of their employer.
Body. You will not disarm your foreign hosts, guests, or colleagues simply by showing you understand their culture; your actions and demeanor must prove that you have already to some extent entered their world. Whether it’s the way you shake hands or order a coffee, evidence of an ability to mirror the customs and gestures of the people around you will prove that you esteem them well enough to want to be like them. By adopting people’s habits and mannerisms, you eventually come to understand in the most elemental way what it is like to be them. They, in turn, become more trusting and open. University of Michigan professor Jeffrey Sanchez- Burks’s research on cultural barriers in business found that job candidates who adopted some of the mannerisms of recruiters with cultural backgrounds different from their own were more likely to be made an offer.
This won’t happen if a person suffers from a deep-seated reservation about the called-for behavior or lacks the physical poise to pull it off. Henri, a French manager at Aegis, a media corporation, followed the national custom of greeting his female
You will not disarm your foreign hosts simply by showing you understand their culture; your actions must prove that you have entered their world.
clients with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. Although Melanie, a British aerospace manager, understood that in France such familiarity was de rigueur in a professional setting, she couldn’t suppress her discomfort when it happened to her, and she recoiled. Inability to receive and reciprocate gestures that are culturally characteristic reflects a low level of cultural intelligence’s physical component.
In another instance, a Hispanic community leader in Los Angeles and an Anglo- American businessman fell into conversation at a charity event. As the former moved closer, the latter backed away. It took nearly 30 minutes of waltzing around the room for the community leader to realize that “Anglos” were not comfortable standing in such close physical proximity.
Heart. Adapting to a new culture involves overcoming obstacles and setbacks. People can do that only if they believe in their own efficacy. If they persevered in the face of challenging situations in the past, their confidence grew. Confidence is always rooted in mastery of a particular task or set of circumstances.
A person who doesn’t believe herself capable of understanding people from unfamiliar cultures will often give up after her efforts meet with hostility or incomprehension. By contrast, a person with high motivation will, upon confronting obstacles, setbacks, or even failure, reengage with greater vigor. To stay motivated, highly efficacious people do not depend on obtaining rewards, which may be unconventional or long delayed.
Hyong Moon had experience leading racially mixed teams of designers at GM, but when he headed up a product design and development team that included representatives from the sales, production, marketing, R&D, engineering, and finance departments, things did not go smoothly. The sales manager, for example, objected to the safety engineer’s attempt to add features such as side-impact air bags because they would boost the car’s price excessively. The conflict became so intense and so public that a senior manager had to intervene. Although many
managers would have felt chastened after that, Moon struggled even harder to gain control, which he eventually did by convincing the sales manager that the air bags could make the car more marketable. Although he had no experience with cross- functional teams, his successes with single-function teams had given him the confidence to persevere. He commented, “I’d seen these types of disagreements in other teams, and I’d been able to help team members overcome their differences, so I knew I could do it again.”
How Head, Body, and Heart Work Together At the end of 1997, U.S.-based Merrill Lynch acquired UK-based Mercury Asset Management. At the time of the merger, Mercury was a decorous, understated, hierarchical company known for doing business in the manner of an earlier generation. Merrill, by contrast, was informal, fast-paced, aggressive, and entrepreneurial. Both companies had employees of many nationalities. Visiting Mercury about six months after the merger announcement, we were greeted by Chris, a Mercury personnel manager dressed in khakis and a knit shirt. Surprised by the deviation from his usual uniform of gray or navy pinstripes, we asked him what had happened. He told us that Merrill had instituted casual Fridays in its own offices and then extended the policy on a volunteer basis to its UK sites.
Chris understood the policy as Merrill’s attempt to reduce hierarchical distinctions both within and between the companies. The intention, he thought, was to draw the two enterprises closer together. Chris also identified a liking for casual dress as probably an American cultural trait.
Not all Mercury managers were receptive to the change, however. Some went along with casual Fridays for a few weeks, then gave up. Others never doffed their more formal attire, viewing the new policy as a victory of carelessness over prudence and an attempt by Merrill to impose its identity on Mercury, whose professional dignity would suffer as a result. In short, the Mercury resisters did not understand the impulse behind the change (head); they could not bring themselves to alter their
appearance (body); and they had been in the Mercury environment for so long that they lacked the motivation (heart) to see the experiment through. To put it even more simply, they dreaded being mistaken for Merrill executives.
How would you behave in a similar situation? The exhibit “Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence” allows you to assess the three facets of your own cultural intelligence and learn where your relative strengths and weaknesses lie. Attaining a high absolute score is not the objective.
Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence
Cultural Intelligence Profiles Most managers fit at least one of the following six profiles. By answering the questions in the exhibit, you can decide which one describes you best.
The provincial can be quite effective when working with people of similar background but runs into trouble when venturing farther afield. A young engineer at Chevrolet’s truck division received positive evaluations of his technical abilities as well as his interpersonal skills. Soon he was asked to lead a team at Saturn, an autonomous division of GM. He was not able to adjust to Saturn’s highly participative approach to teamwork—he mistakenly assumed it would be as orderly and deferential as Chevy’s. Eventually, he was sent back to Chevy’s truck division.
The analyst methodically deciphers a foreign culture’s rules and expectations by resorting to a variety of elaborate learning strategies. The most common form of analyst realizes pretty quickly he is in alien territory but then ascertains, usually in stages, the nature of the patterns at work and how he should interact with them. Deirdre, for example, works as a broadcast director for a London-based company. Her principal responsibility is negotiating contracts with broadcast media owners. In June 2002, her company decided that all units should adopt a single negotiating strategy, and it was Deirdre’s job to make sure this happened. Instead of forcing a showdown with the managers who resisted, she held one-on-one meetings in which she probed their reasons for resisting, got them together to share ideas, and revised the negotiating strategy to incorporate approaches they had found successful. The revised strategy was more culturally flexible than the original proposal—and the managers chose to cooperate.
The natural relies entirely on his intuition rather than on a systematic learning style. He is rarely steered wrong by first impressions. Donald, a brand manager for Unilever, commented, “As part of my job, I need to judge people from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and understand their needs quickly. When I come into a new situation, I watch everyone for a few minutes and then I get a general sense of what is going on and how I need to act. I’m not really sure how I do it, but it seems to work.” When facing ambiguous multicultural situations that he must take control of, the natural may falter because he has never had to improvise learning strategies or cope with feelings of disorientation.
The ambassador, like many political appointees, may not know much about the culture he has just entered, but he convincingly communicates his certainty that he belongs there. Among the managers of multinational companies we have studied, the ambassador is the most common type. His confidence is a very powerful component of his cultural intelligence. Some of it may be derived from watching how other managers have succeeded in comparable situations. The ambassador must have the humility to know what he doesn’t know—that is, to know how to avoid underestimating cultural differences, even though doing so will inflict a degree of discomfort.
The mimic has a high degree of control over his actions and behavior, if not a great deal of insight into the significance of the cultural cues he picks up. Mimicry definitely puts hosts and guests at ease, facilitates communication, and builds trust. Mimicry is not, however, the same as pure imitation, which can be interpreted as mocking. Ming, a manager at the Shanghai regional power authority, relates, “When I deal with foreigners, I try to adopt their style of speaking and interacting. I find that simple things like keeping the right distance from the other person or making eye contact or speaking English at a speed that matches the other person’s puts them at ease and makes it easier to make a connection. This really makes a difference to newcomers to China because they often are a bit threatened by the place.”
The chameleon possesses high levels of all three CQ components and is a very uncommon managerial type. He or she even may be mistaken for a native of the country. More important, chameleons don’t generate any of the ripples that unassimilated foreigners inevitably do. Some are able to achieve results that natives cannot, due to their insider’s skills and outsider’s perspective. We found that only about 5% of the managers we surveyed belonged in this remarkable category.
One of them is Nigel, a British entrepreneur who has started businesses in Australia, France, and Germany. The son of diplomats, Nigel grew up all over the world. Most of his childhood, however, was spent in Saudi Arabia. After several successes of his own, some venture capitalists asked him to represent them in dealings with the founder of a money-losing Pakistani start-up.
To the founder, his company existed chiefly to employ members of his extended family and, secondarily, the citizens of Lahore. The VCs, naturally, had a different idea. They were tired of losses and wanted Nigel to persuade the founder to close down the business.
Upon relocating to Lahore, Nigel realized that the interests of family and community were not aligned. So he called in several community leaders, who agreed to meet with managers and try to convince them that the larger community of Lahore would be hurt if potential investors came to view it as full of businesspeople unconcerned with a company’s solvency. Nigel’s Saudi upbringing had made him aware of Islamic principles of personal responsibility to the wider community, while his British origins tempered what in another person’s hands might have been the mechanical application of those tenets. Throughout the negotiations, he displayed an authoritative style appropriate to the Pakistani setting. In relatively short order, the managers and the family agreed to terminate operations.
Many managers, of course, are a hybrid of two or more of the types. We discovered in our survey of more than 2,000 managers that even more prevalent than the ambassador was a hybrid of that type and the analyst. One example was a female African-American manager in Cairo named Brenda, who was insulted when a small group of young, well-meaning Egyptian males greeted her with a phrase they’d learned from rap music.
“I turned on my heel, went right up to the group and began upbraiding them as strongly as my Arabic would allow,” she said. “When I’d had my say, I stormed off to meet a friend.”
“After I had walked about half a block, I registered the shocked look on their faces as they listened to my words. I then realized they must have thought they were greeting me in a friendly way. So I went back to talk to the group. They asked me why I was so angry, I explained, they apologized profusely, and we all sat down and had tea and an interesting talk about how the wrong words can easily cause trouble. During our conversation, I brought up a number of examples of how Arabic expressions uttered in the wrong way or by the wrong person could spark an equivalent reaction in them. After spending about an hour with them, I had some new friends.”
Brenda’s narrative illustrates the complexities and the perils of cross-cultural interactions. The young men had provoked her by trying, ineptly, to ingratiate themselves by using a bit of current slang from her native land. Forgetting in her anger that she was the stranger, she berated them for what was an act of cultural ignorance, not malice. Culturally uninformed mimicry got the young men in trouble; Brenda’s—and the men’s—cognitive flexibility and willingness to reengage got them out of it.
Cultivating Your Cultural Intelligence Unlike other aspects of personality, cultural intelligence can be developed in psychologically healthy and professionally competent people. In our work with Deutsche Bank, we introduced a program to improve managers’ work relationships with outsourcing partners in India. We developed a two-and-a-half day program that first identified a participant’s strengths and weaknesses and then provided a series of steps, which we outline below, to enhance their CQ.
Step 1.
The individual examines his CQ strengths and weaknesses in order to establish a starting point for subsequent development efforts. Our self-assessment instrument is one approach, but there are others, such as an assessment of a person’s behavior in a simulated business encounter and 360-degree feedback on a person’s past behavior in an actual situation. Hughes Electronics, for example, staged a cocktail party to evaluate an expatriate manager’s grasp of South Korean social etiquette. Ideally, a manager will undergo a variety of assessments.
Step 2. The person selects training that focuses on her weaknesses. For example, someone lacking physical CQ might enroll in acting classes. Someone lacking cognitive CQ might work on developing his analogical and inductive reasoning—by, for example, reading several business case studies and distilling their common principles.
Step 3. The general training set out above is applied. If motivational CQ is low, a person might be given a series of simple exercises to perform, such as finding out where to buy a newspaper or greeting someone who has arrived to be interviewed. Mastering simple activities such as greetings or transactions with local shopkeepers establishes a solid base from which to move into more demanding activities, such as giving an employee a performance appraisal.
Step 4. The individual organizes her personal resources to support the approach she has chosen. Are there people at her organization with the skills to conduct this training, and does her work unit provide support for it? A realistic assessment of her workload and the time available for CQ enhancement is important.
Step 5. The person enters the cultural setting he needs to master. He coordinates his plans with others, basing them on his CQ strengths and remaining weaknesses. If his strength is mimicry, for example, he would be among the first in his training group
to venture forth. If his strength is analysis, he would first want to observe events unfold and then explain to the others why they followed the pattern they did.
Step 6. The individual reevaluates her newly developed skills and how effective they have been in the new setting, perhaps after collecting 360-degree feedback from colleagues individually or eavesdropping on a casual focus group that was formed to discuss her progress. She may decide to undergo further training in specific areas.
In the sidebar “Confidence Training,” we describe how we applied these six steps to the case of Helmut, one of five German managers we helped at their employer’s behest as they coped with new assignments within and outside of Germany.
Confidence Training Helmut was a manager at a Berlin- based high-tech company who participated in our cultural-intelligence training program at London Business School. Three months earlier, he had been assigned to a large manufacturing facility in southern Germany to supervise the completion of a new plant and guide the local staff through the launch. Helmut came from northern Germany and had never worked in southern Germany; his direct reports had been raised in southern Germany and had worked for the local business unit for an average of seven years.
Helmut was good at developing new learning strategies, and he wasn’t bad at adapting his behavior to his surroundings. But he had low confidence in his ability to cope with his new colleagues. To him, southern Germans were essentially foreigners; he found them “loud, brash, and cliquish.”
To capitalize on his resourcefulness and build his confidence, we placed Helmut in heterogeneous groups of people, whom we encouraged to engage in freewheeling discussions. We also encouraged him to express his emotions more openly, in the manner of his southern compatriots, and to make more direct eye contact in the course of role-playing exercises.
Helmut’s resourcefulness might have impelled him to take on more ambitious tasks than he could quite handle. It was important he get his footing first, so that some subsequent reversal would not paralyze him. To enhance his motivational CQ, we asked him to list ten activities he thought would be part of his daily or weekly routine when he returned to Munich.
By the time Helmut returned to London for his second training session, he had proved to himself he could manage simple encounters like getting a coffee, shopping, and having a drink with colleagues. So we suggested he might be ready for more challenging tasks, such as providing face-to-face personnel appraisals. Even though Helmut was skilled at analyzing people’s behavior, he doubted he was equal to this next set of hurdles. We encouraged him to view his analytic skills as giving him an important advantage. For example, Helmut had noticed that Bavarians were extroverted only with people familiar to them. With strangers they could be as formal as any Prussian. Realizing this allowed him to respond flexibly to either situation instead of being put off balance.
By the time he was asked to lead a quality-improvement team, he had concluded that his leadership style must unfold in two stages— commanding at the outset, then more personal and inclusive. On his third visit to London, Helmut reported good
relations with the quality improvement team, and the members corroborated his assessment.
• • •
Why can some people act appropriately and effectively in new cultures or among people with unfamiliar backgrounds while others flounder? Our anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that the answer doesn’t lie in tacit knowledge or in emotional or social intelligence. But a person with high CQ, whether cultivated or innate, can understand and master such situations, persevere, and do the right thing when needed.
A version of this article appeared in the October 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review.
P. Christopher Earley is a professor and the chair of the department of organizational behavior at London Business School.
Elaine Mosakowski is a professor of management at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- Kyami Clarke - OSPP DISC Assessment Test Results
- Crystal - DISC Personality Type_ C - The Analyst
- DISC Styles_ C Personality (Conscientious)
- Kyami Clarke - MindTools Emotional Intelligence Results
- Kyami Clarke - Big Five Test Results
- Kyami Clarke - HBR Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence Results
- HBR Cultural Intelligence Article
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