Customer facing roles need higher cultural intelligence

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is applicable in every interaction because each individual is a unique blend of cultural values, even in a homogeneous setting. Whether meeting with a friend one’s known for years or asking directions of a stranger, one’s success rate rises where he applies CQ. Nevertheless, not every interaction requires the same level of motivation, preparation, or focus.

In the same way, every role in a company benefits from CQ, but there are some roles for which CQ is a deciding factor to success. Roles which regularly interact with customers demand a higher level of CQ because customers are where many of the most culturally-diverse business interactions happen. Products won’t be sold and deals won’t be made by a culturally ignorant workforce. Internally, those roles which interact with a broad swath of the company also demand a higher level of CQ. A company that values diversity must invest in HR personnel who can serve them well, and that requires high CQ.

What would happen if your sales representatives had low CQ? Take John for example. John grew up in rural Illinois, the son of Republican farmers. While his brother James had been awakened to the world’s diversity on a college trip to Zimbabwe, John distrusts anyone who looks or acts differently. John moves to Austin, Texas, and joins your sales team. His job requires him to sell a communication app called Slick (a Slack look-a-like). On his first business visit he makes a crude comment about how many ‘hajis’ the business has on staff. After another crack when he spots a woman in a hijab, the business' CEO cuts the meeting short. After a few weeks without a responses you learn that the business decided to go with Slack instead.

At the company I worked for (Relativity), every employee requires a high degree of CQ. Nearly everyone’s daily interactions span multiple geographies and cultures. Even software developers - a demographic notorious for favoring technical proficiency over social skills - must interact with coworkers and managers that differ from them in every cultural way. Even so, the damage that a single ignorant software developer could do to the company pales in comparison to the influence of a CQ ignorant HR representative. The advice I would give our company parallels the advice I’d give a startup: take time and effort to hire high CQ employees in critical leadership positions. And if, as sometimes happens, a company discovers that an employee with low CQ was hired into a sales or HR position, take action as if an incompetent employee had been found ((Livermore)).

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