SAMPLE SELF-TEST (complete assessment is found in Building Cultural Intelligence by Richard D. Bucher)
Where Am I Now?
Print the following to assess a sampling of your current CQ
Directions : For each statement, mark M (most of the time), O (often), S (sometimes), R (rarely), or N (never).
1. ___When I meet someone from another culture, I am aware of the physical space between us.
2. ___When I communicate with someone from another culture, I am aware of my tone of voice.
3. ___When I participate on multicultural teams, I am aware that my experiences may be very different from the experiences of my teammates.
4. ___I realize that I have a difficult time listening to certain people because of my biases.
5. ___I am aware of the different ways in which I might express bias.
6. ___I am aware of my cultural values when I interact with people from very diverse countries and cultures.
7. ___I understand that gender roles may vary significantly among people from various cultural backgrounds.
8. ___I understand the difference between prejudice and discrimination.
9. ___I understand how cultural intelligence (CQ) promotes an organization's ability to achieve its goals.
10. ___I understand why it may be necessary for me to change my non-verbal behaviors in a new cultural setting.
11. ___I understand why CQ requires more than just good intentions on my part.
12. ___I understand why it is important to be aware of differences in power and privileges.
13. ___In a new cultural setting, I vary my verbal and non-verbal language when necessary.
14. ___When I communicate with people from culturally diverse backgrounds, I ask questions to make sure I have heard and understood all of the relevant details.
15. ___When I observe people showing cultural insensitivity or bias, I intervene in some way.
16. ___I seek feedback from others regarding my biases.
17. ___I seek feedback from others regarding my ability manage conflict effectively.
18. ___When I interact on multicultural teams, I check the accuracy of my knowledge about other cultures.
Analysis
The preceding self-assessment provides insight into your current CQ. Questions 1-6 relate to your awareness
Questions 7-12 measure your understanding
Questions 13-18 deal with your behaviors or skills.What do your answers in each one of the sections reveal about your CQ, and your strengths/weaknesses in awareness vs. understanding vs. skills?
When you examine your answers in these three areas, are there any differences or similarities that stand out?
Your overall results:
Number of M responses _____
Number of O responses_____
Number of R responses_____
Number of S responses_____
Number of N responses_____
If you marked M or O for most or all of the statements, you see yourself as culturally intelligent, at least as far as these indicators are concerned. If you responded R, S, or N to many statements, you do not rate yourself as high on CQ.
What this means varies from individual to individual. For example, individuals may have similar competencies but rate themselves differently because their expectations and self-awareness vary. Regardless of how we evaluate ourselves on these and other indicators of CQ, we must view building CQ as a never-ending process for continual improvement.
Use this assessment periodically to track your CQ growth.
