I have been working recently with an international organisation that is seeing incredible growth in the APAC region. As the organisation is from a western country there has been significant learning for their employees to learn more about different aspects of cultural values and norms in Asia.



An employee of this organisation was describing her understanding of Chinese New Year to me. She mentioned that she was aware of it being a time of celebration in Asian communities however she had no idea it went beyond a single day and was in fact over a week of celebrations in many countries. This was highlighted when she was scheduling some team meetings just after the Chinese New Year and although the majority accepted, a couple in the team push backed. She explored this further and thus discovered the length of the celebrations.



When knowledge and application are in play, a safe space where conversation and push back can be pursued is enabled. This safe space allows for people to try new things, perhaps make some mistakes and in doing so, make progress and gain insight into the best ways and methods to apply their learning.



How are you creating safe spaces to apply your knowledge of cultural intelligence?