Expert Forum

 How often have you heard someone voice the view that a diverse workforce is good for business? In fact, that statement is only partially true. Sure diversity can be profitable, but only if it is free of the biases that riddle so many of our workplaces. Let’s take a closer look at the potential benefits of a diverse workforce and at the toll that bias, if not properly confronted, inevitably takes on our organizations.  Read more

Bias=An inflexible conscious or unconscious, positive or negative belief about a particular category of people.

Gretchen listened as the new Cambodian supervisor explained his design idea. She then nodded respectfully, said she’d think about it, and returned to her desk having understood very little of what the man had said. “Saru’s accent was so heavy I just gave up. I’m sure, however, that his ideas were fine; I don’t want to discourage him so I’ll give him the go-ahead.” Read more

Do any of these situations seem familiar?

You   are a manager who just gave an important presentation regarding goals for      the next quarter. As you walk out of the meeting room,  one of your direct  reports says she is offended by your comment that the company’s new  product would give the customer a real “bang for the buck.” What do you  do? Read more

 Everybody has biases – even the nice people who pride themselves on treating others with respect. Having a bias – defined here as “an inflexible belief about a particular category of people” – does not make us bad people, but it does mean that we need to work hard to defeat these attitudes that interfere with our ability to see our fellow team members accurately.

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 Anytime we want to change an attitude – which is exactly what a bias is – it is a lot easier to do so if we know that attitude exists. In the case of bias, we know it exists by what we say or by the inflexible thoughts that pop into our brains about different groups.  All-too-often, however, attitudes – including biases – are unconscious and, therefore, fail to produce any obviously recognizable words or thoughts. Read more

 Layoffs may be rampant and diversity budgets cut to the bone, but, fortunately, there are cost-effective tools we can employ to overcome the biases that block our ability to create truly inclusive workplaces.
 

The particular tool described here – “Bias-Spotter Partnerships” – is based on these four premises. Read more

 

Have you ever had an attitude that, no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t seem to change? Maybe you wanted to become more receptive to new kinds of experiences or overcome a tendency to get irritated too quickly. We all have challenges similar to these – for me, it’s a pesky tendency to be just a little bit too judgmental. Try as I might, I have had a heck of a time changing what really amounts to a mental habit of thought – a way of thinking that, in turn, dictates my behavior and reactions. Read more

When I use the phrase “kinship group,” your mind probably jumps to blood relations or, at least, clusters of people who are bound together by some historical or cultural tie. If you thought the latter, you are not quite there, but you are on the right track. A kinship group, as I am using it here, is @any population that shares a self- or externally ascribed characteristic that sets it apart from others.” This characteristic might be a disability, race, hobby, gender, culture, ethnicity, age, or any other of dozens of human dimensions. Read more

One of our ongoing responsibilities in the workplace is to treat colleagues and team members with respect. This means, among other things, to resist making comments or doing things that are hurtful or demeaning. On the surface, this seems pretty easy. Few of us would dream of telling a sexist joke or making a racist comment. The problem comes, however, in the gray areas – those jokes and comments that may or may not be inappropriate or hurtful. The purpose of this article is to provide some guidance as to how to draw the distinction between the acceptable and the offensive. Read more

Ethnic and racial diversity in the long-term care setting is affecting us all. Physicians, nurses, support staff, residents, and families reflect a nation in which more than 25% of the population is minority or foreign-born, almost 15% speak a language other than English in the home, and, by the year 2010, one in three will be from an ethnically diverse group. Read  more

Theatrical coach Konstantin Stanislavsky may not have realized it when he developed an acting technique called the “Magic If,” but he was providing us with a strategy for identifying what otherwise disparate groups share – a key strategy for reducing bias and creating harmony in our diverse workplaces.  Read more

Henry didn’t want to hurt Linda’s feelings so, when faced with the necessity of critiquing her inadequate report, he pulled his punches and let some of her most glaring errors slide.  Susie thinks of herself as someone who genuinely values diversity. Recently she made a diversity decision of which she was particularly proud. When she learned that some of her Native American staff had a more casual view of time, she, in an effort to honor their culture, arranged for them to arrive at work 30 minutes later than the rest of the team. Read more