10 Ways to Increase Your Multicultural Intelligence

by: Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach

1. Learn to pronounce people’s names correctly.

A name is a very personal thing. Pay attention, listen, have them repeat and do whatever it takes to get it right.

2. Learn a second language.

We are shaped by the language we speak and it’s the vessel of our culture. Only when you learn another language and culture will you understand your own. The cornerstone of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. The cornerstone of global EQ is culture-awareness.

3. Stretch enough to explore your own prejudices and biases.

One way to work with your own “judgments” is to do The Work. Go HERE for an online worksheet. As Byron says, “let your judging mind have its life on paper” and see what you discover about yourself.

4. Test your prejudices in the light of reality.

Before you relate to a person from another culture, make a list of the things you’re expecting. Then open up your mind and process what you experience.

5. Travel, if even just to the next county.

When you travel, ask people what they think about people where you come from. You’ll hear all sorts of ridiculous and preposterous things, which should open you up to the possibility that stereotypes are rarely true of the individual sitting in front of you.

6. Be willing to grow and change.

If you don’t keep learning and changing at the same rate as the world around you (which is currently very fast), you’ll become a dinosaur in the age of mammals. Failing to adapt, you’ll lose the context of the people around you. And I mean adapt, not adjust. You adjust to a change in the temperature. You adapt when you’re a tadpole and, in order to survive, you give up gills and a tail and grow lungs and limbs. Big difference!

7. Take teleclasses.

As all coaches know, the telephone is the great equalizer. You have nothing visual to go by. You’ll find teleclasses at www.teleclass.com, google it, or email me for suggestions. Many are free, and some are multicultural. (Many of my EQ teleclasses are multicultural.) This will help you discipline yourself to ‘see’ each person as a unique individual regardless of their gender, sexual preference, the color of their skin, their beauty or perceived lack of it, or any other physical characteristic or external attribute. On teleclasses there are no indications of wealth or academic degrees, and you can’t tell if someone is fat or old, two of the greatest prejudices in the US.

8. Learn emotional intelligence. It’s the universal language.

We all have feelings, and we all speak the same language in our dreams. Training EQ coaches all over the world, I’ve learned when we enter the realm of feelings, there is great commonality, and there’s interest in EQ everywhere BTW. People have the same problems and concerns the world over. We have far more in common than not, but you won’t learn this until you get out there and experience it.

9. Take personal responsibility before looking for fault elsewhere.

Assume you’re part of any problem, if there is one, simply because you’re there, and investigate what you can do differently.

10. Own your role as a social activist.

Whatever your job or position in your society, you have power and responsibility. The more lives you touch, the more opportunity you have to be an ambassador, a diplomat, an educator, and a peacemaker.

Here are two resources you will enjoy. Multicultural Workshop and A href=http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/94_docs/BLIZEK.HTM>“The Gaze of Multiculturalism,” by Blizek.

Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach. Offering coaching, Internet courses and ebooks around emotional intelligence for your personal and professional success. Susan is the author of Multiculturalism and EQ and the founder of EQ Alive! coach certification program available worldwide. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for information on this fast, affordable, no-residency program.