Global Proposal Smarts

As firms become more globally focused in their outlook and operations, the necessity to work in and understand diverse cultures intensifies.¹ Proposal professionals tasked with winning global work are witnessing that domestic and global markets are substantially different and using domestic strategies globally is an insufficient approach for market and client penetration.^2,3 To be successful overseas and in multicultural markets, proposal professionals must not only be culturally aware but also be willing to enhance their global proposal “smarts.”

A leading area of research and focus for understanding and growing cultural competency is cultural intelligence. An individual’s cultural intelligence, or cultural quotient (CQ), goes way beyond knowing when to shake hands or bow. The latest CQ models focus on communicated motivations, demonstrated behaviors, and higher-level thinking related to culturally diverse or different environments. New research showcases ways managers can self-assess their cultural understanding and develop ways to improve how they communicate and conduct business globally. For proposal professionals, understanding how to communicate multiculturally will strongly benefit efforts to win global or nondomestic proposals.

This article focuses on four surefire ways to improve your CQ as a proposal professional, regardless of your in-practice experience on the global front: (1) learn to conduct a baseline assessment of your cultural competency, (2) stay close to your client’s cultural needs, (3) leverage any cultural understandings in proposals and within your company, and (4) engage in the global village.

What Is Cultural Intelligence Really?

Simply put, cultural intelligence, or CQ, is a person’s aptitude to work, interact, and manage in a cross-cultural and diverse environment.⁴ Proposal professionals with a higher CQ are able to better understand global clients and their needs, recognize any cultural aspects to a bid, understand how to interact with the client, and better position their proposal to win. The model of CQ most pervasive in business divides a person’s cultural competency into four individual cultural factors: cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, and motivational dimensions.^5–7 This model was further refined by David Livermore, president and partner of the Cultural Intelligence Center, who reclassified those four factors into more lucid terminology: knowledge, strategy, action, and drive.⁸

Cognitive cultural intelligence (CQ knowledge) is an individual’s knowledge of the traditions, practices, values, and societal norms related to a geographic area. This factor is knowledge-based and involves understanding cultural differences, needs, and expectations. CQ knowledge serves as a proposal professional’s core approach to a global client.

Metacognitive cultural intelligence (CQ strategy) is an individual’s awareness of other cultures, particularly during interactions with people of different cultural backgrounds. This factor characterizes an individual’s higher-level thinking process in cross-cultural engagements. Livermore called this factor CQ strategy because he contends that business leaders who have high metacognitive cultural intelligence are strategists who have the ability for robust cultural awareness, sound planning, and effective monitoring of cultural interactions.⁶

As a proposal professional, quantifying and understanding your CQ arms you with the knowledge and tools to pursue global opportunities more effectively.

Behavioral cultural intelligence (CQ action) is an individual’s ability to act appropriately in cross-cultural situations, particularly through verbal and nonverbal actions and through methodologies employed in the conduct of business.6 Proposal professionals with high CQ action scores will know how to interact appropriately with people from differing cultural backgrounds, including knowing what to say to clients, how to say it, and how to communicate in proposals with cultural sensitivity.

Motivational cultural intelligence (CQ drive) is an individual’s ability to pursue learning about cultural differences and provide focus on cross-cultural situations.^4,9 Livermore called this factor CQ drive because it encompasses the individual’s motivation and determination to adapt cross-culturally and apply energy to overcoming cultural challenges.⁶ This factor is perhaps the most telling for proposal professionals geared to improving their cultural skill sets, because without motivation, change and growth are futile.

Start with a Personal CQ Self-Assessment

Proposal professionals looking to expand their cross-cultural skills and win more work in the global marketplace should first develop a baseline understanding of their cultural aptitude. An effective way to determine your personal cultural aptitude and identify areas of existing cultural strength and weakness is to conduct a CQ self-analysis. A useful tool for self-analysis is the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS), a 20-item scale used for the assessment of CQ levels, both on a cumulative and an individual factor level. The CQS has strong psychometric properties, comprising six items for cognitive measurement, four for metacognitive measurement, five for motivational measurement, and five for behavioral measurement.^4,10 The tool offers a quantitative measure of CQ, highlights areas of proficiency, and exposes areas of deficiency.

As a proposal professional, quantifying and understanding your CQ arms you with the knowledge and tools to pursue global opportunities more effectively. Performing this baseline assessment helps you identify areas for further individual education and refinement. The CQS can also help match proposal team members with appropriate roles. For example, individuals scoring high with the metacognitive factor would be better global proposal strategists, whereas those scoring high with the behavioral factor would be better at developing work plans or project approaches. CQ assessments can be performed prior to a proposal kick-off meeting, offering the proposal manager information about the team, guiding assignments, and the project approach. The Cultural Intelligence Center offers a CQ self-assessment tool and a CQ multirater assessment tool, which allows further input from peers.

Incorporate Your Client’s Culture Into the Proposal

Maintaining a cultural “eye” and awareness of your own capacity allows for openness to the client’s perspective. All too often, proposals are written with the project or consultant in mind rather than from the client’s viewpoint. Global proposals require extra client-focused awareness, particularly for the client’s cultural requirements and business customs. Remaining open to and communicating the cultural aspects of the procurement can add competitiveness to your submission and form the basis of continued personal growth with regard to culturally diverse clients.

Proposal professionals must incorporate understanding of the market environment and client practices into the proposal. Proposal managers should remain sensitive to local norms, such as specific meanings for imagery, symbols, colors, and nonverbal gestures during presentations. Some cultures even allow for paying off local authorities to facilitate paperwork and approvals. It is important to remember that the customs and ideologies of one culture do not always translate to other cultures. For example, in China, the color red suggests good luck and celebration, but in South Africa, red represents mourning. Face-to-face meetings are no different. In Japan, a bottle of American liquor is viewed as a respectful gift; however, that same bottle would be considered a major offense in Dubai. Knowing these differences will enrich your cultural competence.

The key to cultural success is for proposal professionals to do their homework and research their target client’s customs, terminologies, power phrases, insults, and other societal practices. Enhancing CQ involves learning to recognize the cultural subtleties of the target market and understanding the abilities needed to pursue work in that target market. The proposal must convey this heightened cultural understanding. Color and imagery usage is easy—there are many resources dedicated to this form of communication. The true testament to cultural understanding comes in the work plan or project approach. Sensitivities in the proposed approach to the local business practices and economies take research, strategy, and careful communication. Some great ways to enrich the cultural sensitivity of your proposals are to use small, local subcontractors on the project team, use materials made in that country or area, or incorporate area business practices into the work approach, such as allowances for prayer time, sundown restrictions, and gender roles.

Leveraging Cultural Knowledge

Although CQ is generally an individual skill set, positive implications exist with the continued application of cultural knowledge in proposals and within the company. CQ has become a significant factor in effective performance on both the individual and organizational levels.¹¹ Research indicates that culturally intelligent individuals prompt positive organizational performance when conducting business or other activities across country borders.¹² Likewise, organizations that make CQ a priority in their business strategy experience benefits such as enhanced performance, better decision making, flexibility, and international expansion.⁶ Consequently, CQ influences an organization’s performance on many levels and will undoubtedly emerge throughout the proposal and in the work approach.

CQ has become an important business consideration within organizations. Richard Bucher suggested that CQ serves as an organizational bottom-line issue, influencing organizational success, productivity, client relationships, and operational existence in the marketplace. In fact, CQ stems from individual leaders and spreads throughout the organization.¹³ Culturally intelligent leaders who have satisfactory leadership and interpersonal skills enhance the organization’s ability to succeed in the global marketplace.¹⁴ Organizations that incorporate cultural intelligence as part of their business processes are more likely to fulfill their organizational mission and achieve desired organizational performance goals.⁶ Ultimately, CQ can be infectious within an organization. Leveraging CQ knowledge will not only enhance your CQ action but can also augment further action by other open-minded professionals within your company.

Communicate as a Resident of the Global Village

One of the most treasured attractions in Disney theme parks is the “It’s a Small World” ride. Riders take a boat through different countries and are exposed to the customs, songs, and traditions in each part of the world. The overarching theme of the ride is that although people look and do things differently, people from all over the world are connected, have similar outlooks, and share residency on Earth. This is a striking ideology for proposal professionals and has implications for enhancing CQ. Globally focused proposal professionals need to become residents of the “global village,” a term popularized by author Marshall McLuhan to illustrate our collective association on the planet. Principally, culturally intelligent proposal professionals acknowledge the similarities and respect the differences in the world.

Part of residency in the global village is learning to communicate this collective association in the world and minimize references to differentiation. Global proposal writers should not focus only on geographic or cultural differences but rather communicate a sisterhood concept and ideology to the client. Enhancing CQ involves embracing the global village premise through an openness to cultural variation. There can be distinct kinship through the proposed work only if the proposal writer is open to such a relationship. Ultimately, proposal professionals should embrace global diversity, show cultural affinity toward others, and, if absolutely necessary, hum “It’s a Small World.”

Stephen R. Galati, CGW, CP APMP, is manager of national proposals for TRC Companies, Inc. with more than 20 years of proposal management, technical and grant writing, and electrical engineering experience. He has many publications concerning proposal writing, grant management, environmental consulting, and public and private funding. He can be reached at sgalati@trcsolutions.com.

Endnotes

1. Wren, Daniel. The History of Management Thought, Fifth Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005. Print.
2. Alimien, Monika and Kuvykait, Rita. “Standardization/Adaptation of Marketing Solutions in Companies Operating in Foreign Markets: An Integrated Approach.” Engineering Economics (2008, Vol. 56, No. 1). Web.
3. Valenti, Michael. “Engineering Across the Seas.” Mechanical Engineering (June 1995, Vol. 117, No. 6). Web.
4. Ang, Soon; Van Dyne, Linn; Koh, Christine; Ng, K. Yee; Templer, Klaus; Tay, Cheryl; and Chandrasekar, N. Anand. “Cultural Intelligence: Its Measurement and Effects on Cultural Judgment and Decision Making, Cultural Adaptation and Task Performance.” Management and Organization Review (2007, Vol. 3, No. 3). Web.
5. Earley, P. Christopher and Ang, Soon. Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. Print.
6. Livermore, David. Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success. New York, NY: AMACOM, 2010. Print.
7. Van Dyne, Linn; Ang, Soon; and Koh, Christine. “Cultural Intelligence: Measurement and Scale Development.” In M.A. Moodian (Ed.), Contemporary Leadership and Intercultural Competence: Exploring the Cross-Cultural Dynamics Within Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2009. Print.
8. Livermore, David. The Cultural Intelligence Difference: Master the One Skill You Can’t Do Without in Today’s Global Economy. New York, NY: AMACOM, 2011. Print.
9. Ang, Soon and Van Dyne, Linn. “Conceptualization of Cultural Intelligence: Definition, Distinctiveness, and Nomological Network.” In S. Ang & L. Van Dyne (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, and Applications. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008. Print.
10. Van Dyne, Linn; Ang, Soon; and Koh, Christine. “Development and Validation of the CQS: The Cultural Intelligence Scale.” In S. Ang & L. Van Dyne (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, and Applications. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008. Print.
11. Amiri, Ali; Moghimi, Seyed; and Kazemi, Masoumeh. “Studying the Relationship Between Cultural Intelligence and Employees’ Performance.” European Journal of Scientific Research (June 2010, Vol. 42, No. 3). Web.
12. Earley, P. Christopher and Peterson, Randall. “The Elusive Cultural Chameleon: Cultural Intelligence as a New Approach to Intercultural Training for the Global Manager.” Academy of Management Learning & Education (2004, Vol. 3, No. 1). Web.
13. Bucher, Richard. Building Cultural Intelligence (CQ): Nine Megaskills. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
14. Creque, Carole and Gooden, Doreen. “Cultural Intelligence and Global Business Competencies: A Framework for Organizational Effectiveness in the Global Marketplace.” International Journal of Management and Information Systems (2011, Vol. 15, No. 4). Web.