Cultural Intelligence: Measured by the Intercultural Development Inventory®

Does having diversity in your workplace feel more like drama than productivity? Research has found that diverse teams typically perform worse than homogeneous teams do. Why? Because it’s harder to get things done when people don’t see eye-to eye. What makes sense to you, might not make sense to me. Thankfully, this same body of research found there’s more to the story. Diverse teams with moderate to high levels of cultural intelligence outperform homogenous teams on productivity, collaboration and innovation (Maznevski & DiStefano, 2002). Cultural intelligence isn’t just something you have though, it’s something you grow. Watch this 4-min video about the stages of development. Discover your own and your team’s current level of cultural intelligence by taking the IDI® .

The Intercultural Development Continuum - Overview from IDI, LLC on Vimeo.

The Intercultural Development Inventory® is a 50-item online questionnaire that measures individual and organizational ability to successfully navigate conversations with people who have different perspectives and backgrounds. As a Certified Administrator, Dr. Amy Narishkin provides and interprets the IDI® results in a confidential 1:1 Debrief Session, which becomes an ongoing resource for guiding individual and corporate development.

Leaders will be able to:

Take the IDI online in 20-25 minutes to lay the groundwork for:

Developing common corporate vocabulary.
Creating cultural awareness of how a globalized world navigates cultural differences.
Individual reflection on the impact of actions on others.

Debrief individually with Dr. Amy [or her colleague] in a 60-minute 1:1 session to:

Learn their current level of Cultural Intelligence (ability level to navigate cross-cultural conversations) including strengths and areas needing improvement.
Review insights gained from IDI results and the way they’ve met cross-cultural challenges in the past compared to what they know now.
Create 1-2 individual SMART goals for working toward their next Stage of Cultural Intelligence.

Take the IDI®

Value – Learn better to do better!

The IDI results are used in two informative ways:

To help an individual and group understand what is contributing to their successes and challenges in areas of difference and
What action they can take to build capacity to more and more effectively navigate those differences.

Over 60% of us worldwide are stuck in and working from the middle stage of Minimization. Left unchecked that inadvertently allows for stifled conversations, inability to see the impact of words and actions on others, infighting between groups and departments and blocked team productivity. Cultural intelligence provides team members the motivation, understanding and skills not just for tolerating differences but seeing them as an asset so everyone feels valued, heard, seen and engaged.

Take the IDI®

Case Study

Issue: A senior CPA struggling with authenticity took the IDI. In the Debrief, she learned she was, like most other people around the world, in the mindset of minimization. She shared that, as a woman coming up in a male-dominated profession, she often diminished herself and her skill set. She was going-along-to-get-along with the men in her office. She told me that, when she went to lunch with them, they would talk about their families, but the tone of the conversation made it clear it was not ok for her to talk about her own personal life. In talking about this during her IDI Debrief and learning more about the stages of Cultural Intelligence, the CPA realized she was tired of being sidelined and silenced at work.

Resolution: With this new insight and the tools of the IDI, the CPA was able to work with Dr. Amy to set culturally intelligent growth goals. The CPA decided she wanted to feel seen and heard. Together they created specific, measurable and intriguing goals the CPA could immediately self-implement. The strategy encouraged the CPA to find her voice and ways to be authentically included and seen as a valuable asset to the organization.