Unlocking Intercultural Agility

How did a small team from Northern Ireland create a world-renowned service and build up an international clientele winning multiple national and global awards for their excellence?

Find out as Marco talks with Iain Wilson the CEO of IBC- Music and a Certified Inter-Cultural Intelligence Practitioner.

IBC-Music specializes in helping international musical instrument brands find manufacturing and distribution partners across the world. Just last month, IBC Music won The King’s Award for Enterprise, the most prestigious business award in the UK. It is one of only 148 organizations to be recognized.

On top of that, IBC helped one of its Canadian customers, Riversong Guitars, win the prestigious MMR Dealers' Choice Award for Acoustic Guitar of the year in 2022. IBC was the sourcing agent for the River Pacific P2P acoustic guitar, helping it beat leading international guitar brands.

You can reach out to Iain at  [email protected]

Learn more about what IBC Music does  at: http://ibc-music.com/

In this episode, you will learn:
  -- How to build and manage business relationships across the globe
  -- How the international music industry works and the significant role relationships play in it.
  -- The power of connecting people and the way IBC-Music has become so successful at it.

| Learn More about:
  --  Building Deep Relationships that Cross Cultures (kwx.fyi/deep-relationships-crossing-cultures)
  -- Whole Systems Thinking (kwx.fyi/multiplier-effect)
  -- High Performing Intercultural Teaming (kwx.fyi/team-development)

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

Whether it's leading staff living around the world, navigating different cultural and personal workstyles, or working on teams across borders — leading globally keeps becoming more complex. Global leaders must guide their teams through local and regional instabilities, drastic industry changes, political upheaval, protests and strikes, and many other turbulent surprises.
 
In this episode, Marco and Shelley walk through the things global leaders need to succeed in today's world. They explore the one thing that holds back global leaders that want to be culturally agile as well as practical tips for how you can start becoming a culturally agile leader.

 You can spot culturally agile leaders in three ways:
  1. They navigate complexity with agility.
  2. They build cultures of high trust, inclusivity, and belonging.
  3. They keep their employees by creating a team culture of collaboration, creativity, and innovation.

Start a conversation about becoming a culturally agile leader.

In this episode, you will learn:
  -- How to make your intercultural team come alive.
  -- The difference between global leadership and actually being culturally agile
  -- The pitfalls leaders fall into when leading in a global context and how to avoid them.

| Learn More about:
  -- Whole Systems Thinking (http://kwx.fyi/multiplier-effect)
  -- High Performing Intercultural Teaming (http://kwx.fyi/team-development)
  -- Three Colors of Worldview (http://kwx.fyi/3-colors-worldviews)
  --  12 Dimensions of Culture  (http://kwx.fyi/12-dimensions) 

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

Most psychometric tools are created by researchers in the West. These tools are shaped by cultural human beings with Western biases.  Are these tools viable in non-Western settings?

How do you avoid marginalizing non-western team members if you do use those tools?

Listen as Linda Berlot shares deep insights to help managers and facilitators alike use psychometric assessments to help their intercultural teams thrive. Learn how to bring cultural agility into the valuable tools you already use.

Linda Berlot is the CEO of Berlot Group and works with executive teams to address intangible hurdles that exist around trust, conflict, communication, and intercultural issues, to adopt a better, more collaborative, and united way of working together.

You can reach out to Linda Berlot at: berlotgroup.com

Sign up for a DiSC Certification through KnowledgeWorkx to understand how to bring cultural agility into the way you use DiSC at: knowledgeworkx.com/certifications-disc

Sign up for an Inter-Cultural Intelligence Certification at: knowledgeworkx.com/certifications-ici

In this episode, you will learn:

• - How to use western psychometric assessment tools on intercultural teams.
• - How to build the psychological safety in teams necessary to make psychometric assessments helpful.
• - The biggest mistakes to avoid when facilitating psychometric assessments interculturally

 | Articles and Resources
 -- Two Spotlights for Illuminating Human Behavior (http://kwx.fyi/two-spotlights-for-human-behavior)
--  DiSC Certification –The KnowledgeWorkx Way (http://kwx.fyi/disc-knowledgeworkx-way)
-- KnowledgeWorkx.com/framework 

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

How do you create a thriving intercultural marriage or relationship?
 
The challenges of the last few years have taught us that quality relationships are crucial for success in work and life. Listen to these stories of relational success to learn how to build better relationships at home and work.

Bart and Julie Heiligenberg and Bryce and Thelma Dzirbik share their stories walking through life bringing together cultures from the USA, Netherlands, and Nigeria in the UAE.

If you are interested in being part of a thriving intercultural marriage workshop you can email [email protected] . 

In this episode, you will learn

• How culture influences some of our deepest relationships
• How to build resilient long-lasting intercultural relationships
• How to practically build trust across cultures in relationships

 | Articles
 -- Building Deep Relationships that Cross Cultures (http://kwx.fyi/deep-relationships-crossing-cultues)
--  Four Keys for Building Trust on Teams (http://kwx.fyi/building-trust-teams) 

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

What is trust? What causes it to erode? How can a team build a resilient culture of trust?

In 2022, Gallup ran a poll and released statistics revealing that up to 70% of employees would leave their job if they could. Much of that dissatisfaction is rooted in distrust. A lack of trust creates misunderstanding and a breakdown in collaboration. Work culture turns toxic, resulting in a traumatized workforce. 

In this episode, Shelley Reinhart, KnowledgeWorkx’s Global Liaison, and Marco Blankenburgh, International Director of KnowledgeWorkx, dive deep into what it means to trust, and they identify practical ways to begin building trust in your workplace and on your teams.

You can start your team on a high-performing intercultural team journey to help your team build trust here.

In this episode, you will learn

• The fastest way to destroy trust on teams.
• How to build relational capital on your team so the culture of trust will be resilient.
• How to connect performance to purpose on your team.

 | Articles
 -- The Four Pillars of Successful Intercultural Teams (http://kwx.fyi/four-pillars-teams)
--  Four Keys for Building Trust on Teams (http://kwx.fyi/building-trust-teams) 

 -- Creating the “Multiplier Effect” on Your Team - Part 1 (http://kwx.fyi/multiplier-effect) 

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

We'll be back with more episodes of the Cultural Agility Podcast in November. In the meantime, I got to sit down with my good friend and host of the "Cup of Tea" podcast Chris O'Shaughnessy.

We explored all sorts of helpful topics to help you develop your own cultural agility. You can listen to this episode and more here.

The Cup of Tea Podcast is organized within the InterCultural Approach program of the Directorate General International Partnership of the European Commission.

Listen to the whole Cup of Tea podcast "Bringing you a moment of intercultural empowerment" on Soundcloud at:  Capacity4dev's INCA Podcast Series "Cup of Tea"!

The InterCultural Approach program is leading some exciting initiatives especially the Intercultural Cities Programme. It supports cities and regions in reviewing and adapting their policies through an intercultural lens, and developing comprehensive intercultural strategies to manage diversity as an advantage for the whole society. Intercultural Cities is also a platform to connect cities and leaders globally into a community where initiatives and practice from one city are analysed and shared to inspire the other

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

Join George Kesselaar and Marco as they explore the complexities of intercultural consulting and how to successfully facilitate positive behavior change in people in this global world.

George Kesselaar is a seasoned corporate transformation specialist with 25 years of executive level experience in Big 4 consulting firms and deep experience in managing strategic change, human resources transformation, high-performance learning journeys, and executive compensation in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southern Africa.

Currently, he is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town, investigating antecedents to change supportive behavior during large-scale organizational change interventions through worldviews.

You can get in touch with George Kesselaar at: [email protected].

In this episode you will learn -- 

• How to build a community where people 'can find one another'
• How to use culturally agile consulting to frame solutions in a way that allows those solutions to succeed in different environments
• How deep worldview structures impact change management processes and how an inter-cultural intelligence framework gives a neutral language to deepen conversations about cultural landscapes

 | Articles: 

-- Culture Made Practical: Self-Cultural Analysis (http://kwx.fyi/self-cultural-analysis)
-- Creating Messaging that Resonates Across Cultures (http://kwx.fyi/messaging-across-cultures)
-- Better Conversations, Smarter Questions, and More Listening (http://kwx.fyi/better-conversations)

Psst... Listen all the way to the end for a special easter egg.

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

Hasan Rafiq has worked as a senior Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) leader at some of the world's largest companies, including EY (Ernst and Young) and Facebook.

Join Hasan and Marco as they explore how to create a culture of belonging in organizations both large and small.

Currently, Hasan Rafiq is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging of Newsela, where he drives the company's strategies for the integration of diverse perspectives and experiences into the building of an inclusive culture, and development of equitable policies.

In this episode you will learn:
- How to build a listening organization where people feel seen, heard, and valued.
- How to be a culturally agile leader and build a global DEIB strategy for your organization.
- How belonging and the language around it look different around the world.

If you would like to start a conversation with Hasan about the incredible work that he does reach out at: [email protected]

Articles:
- Defining values and value behaviors that resonate across cultures (http://kwx.fyi/values)
- The 10 Most Common Organizational Values, An Intercultural Examination (http://kwx.fyi/10-most-common-values)
- Four Keys for Building Trust on Teams (http://kwx.fyi/building-trust-teams)

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

Our 10th episode features an authentic conversation with KnowledgeWorkx’s founder and International Director, Marco Blankenburgh.

Shelley Reinhart, KWx's Global Network Liaison, conducts this engaging interview. She asks Marco about his childhood in the Netherlands, his service in the Dutch Special Forces, his love of plants, and the story of the creation of KnowledgeWorkx.

Listen to Marco's journey and how his interactions with culture gave birth to a desire to create cultural tools to help everyone navigate the cultural complexities in our global world.

Marco and Shelley go on to discuss the impact that the Inter-Cultural Intelligence Framework has in their own lives and in the world around them. Don't miss this fascinating conversation!

Learn how you can become a Certified Inter-Cultural Intelligence Practitioner here: https://www.knowledgeworkx.com/certifications-ici  

| In this episode, you will learn -- 

• The story of the birth of KnowledgeWorkx;
• The beauty of each of the three colors of worldview;
• The impact understanding intercultural intelligence has on how we engage our worlds;

| Articles:
- Three Colors of Worldview (http://kwx.fyi/3-colors-worldviews)
- Discovering the Power-Fear Cultural Paradigm (http://kwx.fyi/discovering-power-fear)
- How We Created an Inter-Culturally Intelligent Office Space (http://kwx.fyi/intercultural-office)

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx

Join Ming-Jinn Tong, Andy Gray, and Marco as they unpack how cultural agility is building exciting new bridges in racial equity and diversity and inclusion work in Minneapolis.

Ming-Jinn Tong is a Certified Intercultural Intelligence Practitioner and owner of Cultivate, specialty consultation firm helping companies connect better across cultures. As an amateur chef, Ming-Jinn likes to equate culture with a good meal. He loves everything about culture. The flavors, the textures, the colors, the sights, the smells. He sees culture everywhere and is eager to engage with it. Find out more about his work at meetcultivate.com

Andy Gray is the Executive Director of Catalyst for Harmony. Teaming empathy, truth, understanding, candor, and compassion together, his disarming approach to navigating difficult matters has served as a catalyst to build bridges of hope and oneness.

In this episode you will learn -- 

•  What culture has to do with racial equity and DEI work;
• How to build safe communities where challenging racial and cultural topics are discussed; 
• How to use cultural agility to build bridges in diversity, equity, and inclusion; 

| Articles: 

-- Unity in Diversity in Your Organization (knowledgeworkx.com/post/unity-in-diversity-in-your-organization)

-- The Key to Unlock Success in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives (knowledgeworkx.com/post/the-key-to-unlock-success-in-diversity-inclusion-and-belonging-initiatives)

-- Better Conversations, Smarter Questions, and More Listening (knowledgeworkx.com/post/better-conversations-smarter-questions-more-listening)

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Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step? Check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx