Are You in Need of Developing Cross-Cultural
Abilities for Your Executives?
ADVISORY ARTICLE
By Angelica Larios, MBA, PMP
Mexico City, Mexico
‘My dream would be a multicultural society, one that is diverse and where every man, woman, and child are treated equally. I dream of a world where all people of all races work together in harmony.” — Nelson Mandela
In a world that is becoming more and more global, where businesses and corporations are located across the globe, global thinking and the cross-cultural background becomes not only a prerequisite for executives, but in some cases, a must if you want to succeed in a global business world or advance in your career.
Nowadays, relationships with foreign partners, vendors, clients, contractors, subordinates, and peers often take place a distance away from our current office and location. The thing that will either build a bridge or a barrier in those business relationships is the understanding of our differences in culture, mind-sets, languages, and other areas. Global professionals that hold and develop cultural awareness and agility will be the ones in charge of leading a competitive advantage for the organization they work for to help them to succeed in a global economy.
Global leaders and executives are dealing with a variety of responsibilities such as market expansion, product innovation, successful project delivery, post-acquisition integrations, and many others that demand a range of their technical and functional knowledge and expertise. But when we are talking about multicultural and global backgrounds, they might need to gain some cultural agility to perform and excel in a global environment.
You might be thinking at this point about what cultural agility means and how a person can either acquire or develop it. In this article, I will refer to ways to train in cross-cultural agility so that, with a valid program, any leader can develop a plan to overcome any cross-cultural challenges. We will discuss other ways to acquire a multicultural awareness background as a continuum point to improve those skills.
Cultural Agility
Agility or agile are concepts becoming quite common in our day; it is easy to hear about engineering agile methodology or becoming an agile analyst or agile project manager. Ideas are re-used to give the sense of clarity when one is working in another place. By agility, we are referring to the ability to change the position of one’s body rapidly and accurately without losing balance. In this fitness example, we can give an idea of what we are discussing here. The ability to change the state of mind without losing balance…
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How to cite this article: Larios, A. (2021). Cultural Agility: Are You in Need of Developing Cross-Cultural Abilities for Your Executives? PM World Journal, Vol. X, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/pmwj102-Feb2021-Larios-cultural-agility.pdf
About the Author
Angelica Larios
Mexico City, Mexico
Angelica Larios, MBA, PMP, is a project manager with more than 20 years of experience in implementing software projects related to business intelligence, planning and budgeting, and financial consolidation solutions based on software applications to support the business decision process. She is the owner of ALACONTEC, an I.T. consulting company founded in Latin America. She has held several professional positions in private and public organizations, such as the Health Ministry in Mexico as I.T. director, and as a business manager for several firms in Mexico.
She holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from National University of Mexico (UNAM) in addition to her studies in project management and her Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, which have helped her to consolidate her career and have a better understanding of what businesses and projects need nowadays. She is a doctoral student in strategic leadership at Regent University, VA, USA; she is a PMI volunteer since 2007, starting in the local Mexico chapter, being Past President. At a global level, she has been part of the Chapter Membership Advisory Group (CMAG), the Board Volunteer Advisory Committee (BVAC), and the Ethical Membership Advisory Group (EMAG).
Angelica can be contacted at angelica.larios@gmail.com
