So much of our work as communicators is about getting people to think differently – whether that’s about a product, a brand or even their lifestyle choices. Think about recent work to encourage people to get vaccinated, quit vaping or eat more fibre.
For those of us interested in how we can help people shift their thinking about different cultures, identities, perspectives and experiences, understanding how and when those shifts happen is even more critical.
And perhaps we need to reflect a bit less on how other people’s thinking shifts and a bit more about how and when our own thinking shifts!
One of the four capabilities that combine to build our cultural intelligence (CQ) is Strategy or metacognition – in plain language, thinking about our thinking.
This is the area that my colleague Trisha Carter is focused on. In her podcast, The Shift, she’s talking to people from a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences and backgrounds about the shifts in their thinking and where they are working to help others make shifts.
It was an honour and a pleasure to be interviewed by Trisha for The Shift. We talked about why I think cultural intelligence is the superpower every communication professional needs and the importance of communicating messages in ways that everyone can hear, see and engage with.
