Peace Corps Volunteer Success Plan

1. Are you aware of the informal social norms and rules that guide your interactions? 
2. Are you in tune with and able to read the behaviors of others? 
3. How are your 'impression management' skills? 
4. Is the impression you make on others true to your values? 
5. Are you able to communicate effectively and carrying on discussions with individuals you just met and/or from backgrounds different than your own? 
6. Are you an effective listener? 

Social intelligence is the ability to effectively navigate social relationships and a diverse social environment.  As with the other forms of intelligence, social intelligence does take hard work and effort. Developing self-awareness and attending to the world around you is a good way to start. Social intelligence strengthens our communication with others by helping to develop deeper connections. It enhances our ability to listen and to maintain conversations in a way that makes others feel heard 

There are three elements of social intelligence:   

1. Behavioral Style 

2. Emotional Intelligence

3. Adaptive Mindset

1. Why do you think cultural intelligence drives up innovation and creativity?
2. How do you demonstrate cultural intelligence when interacting with coworkers?
3. When have you put the interests, feelings, and emotions of other people into context?
4. What is your confidence level in effectivley functioning in a diverse work environment?
5. How have you benefited from your cultural inelligence?

Diversity within the workplace is growing; with that growth comes new opportunities to learn. Cultural intelligence is more than awareness and sensitivity. It is both, combined with an understanding of how to lead across different cultural contexts. A global economy requires that most of us consistently work and/or interact with individuals and organizations from around the world who represent a variety of cultural backgrounds. As leaders and emerging leaders, are you culturally competent and able to adapt? Knowing it is impossible to know every detail of every culture, what strategies can you develop to ensure that you are communicating and working effectively with and within diverse cultural environments? 

Four components to cultural intelligence:

1. Knowledge
2. Strategic Thinking
3. Motivation
4. Behaviors