Value differences

As Canadians and Manitobans, we often don’t enough pay attention to our vo­cabulary or to the assumptions we make about work tasks, assignments and/or  people for that matter.

Yet, it's widely understood that the most dangerous word in our vocabulary is the word assumption. That's because the word assume often results in making an "ass out of you and me".

For instance, when was the last time you made an assumption about a work task that your boss gave you, only to find out that you did not meet expectations? I imagine it was a shock to learn that all your hard work had gone to waste.

What about a time where you really misjudged a person? Perhaps you saw the way a person was dressed and during a conversation you discounted what the person said. Not only that, when you spoke to the individual, you did so in a condescending manner. Then, as the conversation progresses, you find the person actually had a graduate degree, is a published author and a professor. Wow, what an embarrassment! It's hard to recover from that interpersonal goof for sure.

And finally, do you recall the assumption you made about an individual prior to meeting them? Simply based on their name, you assumed certain attributes about the individual, only to find something totally different when you met them in person. It happens all the time.

Unfortunately, this attitude and behaviour, sometimes experienced as a combination of assumption, racism and prejudice, is a common and challenging barrier, especially for "non-mainstream" candidates looking for work or seeking promotion.

While ethnicity shouldn't enter into the hiring decision, we can't deny that it sometimes slips into the decision-making process. In many cases, interviewers and managers aren't really aware of what they are doing. In other cases, there is a definite overreliance on inaccurate assumptions about people.

Without awareness and education, these inaccurate assumptions, this convoluted mixture of racism and prejudice, is eventually institutionalized in an organization and becomes systemic to how things operate. The result is that highly qualified candidates are frozen out of jobs and kept out of organizations. Without realizing it, many managers and hiring officials are prohibiting a growing sector of our society from making a contribution to our organizations and our society.

However, managers, supervisors and hiring officials aren't the only ones who allow their assumptions to lead them to engage in racist, prejudicial behaviour. I have also seen and dealt with situations where one, two or even a group of employees absolutely made life miserable for an employee who was from another culture. I have also seen representatives of professions challenge and question the qualifications and experience of their own immigrant and/or aboriginal members. Their belief is that only mainstream professionals with mainstream-only experience can possibly be as qualified as one of them.

Yet with the fast-changing demographics of our workforce, we can no longer afford to allow false assumptions, stereotyping, prejudice and racism to enter our work world. However, we also know that the skills needed to work effectively with people from different cultures, different values, different races, genders or sexual orientations do not come easily. We have to develop the new values of diversity, inclusion and cultural competency and help people and organizations become more self-aware. Our goal should be to create a working environment where all differences are valued and all our employees are active participants in high-performing teams.

How can this be achieved? While there are many strategies, the following tips will help you take the initial step toward creating a high-functioning diverse and culturally competent workforce:

Create a vision for organizational diversity -- Organizations will not change unless change is made at the top and cascaded throughout. Therefore, it is important that the president/CEO/executive director of your organization develops with the senior management team a vision for organizational diversity and cultural competency. Ensure the vision embraces all of the dimensions of diversity and cultural competency.

Conduct an organizational self-assessment -- Conduct an assessment of who your employees are, who your clients, customers and suppliers are and what stereotypes or assumptions you make about these individuals. Write these stereotypes down and then analyze them for accuracy. For instance, if you say, "they think the world owes them a living," who are you referring to? Is this an accurate statement? Take a moment to ask yourself what impact this assumption makes on your employees, clients, customers or suppliers. Continue to identify the issues and concerns and take steps to confront your stereotypes.

Create a diversity council -- This group of employee champions can be called upon for advice and guidance. They can act as leaders who help the organization integrate the diversity vision throughout. They can set an example and be involved in recruitment, retention and/or training programs.

Assess your human resource policies ---- Review your HR policies to ensure a linkage between your recruitment, development and retention strategies with diversity. Root out any policies that might unintentionally discriminate against some of your employees. Often these policies have an adverse impact on immigrants, aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and women.

Develop a diversity/cultural competency training program -- Ensure every employee participates in a training program and engages in continual learning so that cultural competency is soon a natural part of their daily life. Ensure the program includes definitions of culture, ethnicity, ethnocentrism, prejudice, stereotype, discrimination, racism, inclusion and diversity. Include role plays and case studies that help individuals confront their assumptions and prejudices and develop strategies for overcoming them. Help participants to take ownership for their own behaviour so that they can become more effective at work.

Celebrate your diversity -- There are plenty of opportunities throughout the year to celebrate your organizational diversity. This can be achieved through lunch-and-learn sessions where individuals can share aspects of their culture. In some cases, I have seen employees each bringing a favourite traditional food to share in a company-wide potluck lunch.

In today's multicultural world, diversity and cultural competency is not simply a luxury, it is a necessity. At the same time, it presents a tremendous business opportunity and competitive advantage.

Barbara J. Bowes, is president of Legacy Bowes Group a leading HR and executive search firm. She is also author of three books and host of the weekly BowesKnows radio show. She can be reached at barb@legacybowes.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 12, 2009 G1