Managing Diversity: A Learning Process
In summary, we know that developing competency to effectively manage diversity is a continuous learning process. It requires self-awareness, knowledge, understanding, and behavior changes that value others for who they are, not what we want them to be. To do this effectively, here are a few ideas to get you started:
Know your own culture (values, beliefs, assumptions):
Reflect on your early life experiences, and those significant emotional events that have shaped your value system and your beliefs and attitudes about those who are different from you. Answer relevant questions such as What formative influences have shaped your points of view? Place of origin? Family structure? Socioeconomic status? Religion? Education?
Keep a journal. Carefully note your reactions to current world events and news reports, and describe and analyze your interactions with others.
Enroll in courses that examine and discuss cultures, values, and beliefs.
Know your own limitations (strengths and weaknesses):
Request—and really listen to—feedback from multiple sources about your strengths and weaknesses. And be sure to get such feedback only from people you are sure will “tell it like it is,” not from those who will merely tell you what you want to hear. In particular, try to get feedback from people who are from a different race or gender.
Seek out those experiences that will enable you to practice your strengths and shore up your weaknesses.
Change whatever you can about yourself, and accept whatever you can’t, or won’t. But above all, be very aware of the consequences, for better or worse, of changing or not changing.
Practice empathy with each other:
Develop friendships and relationships with as many people from as many diverse backgrounds as you can, not only at work but outside of work as well.
Listen closely to the views of those friends and acquaintances and work hard to understand them, especially if these world views differ widely from your own.
Join organizations that expressly seek to advance the interests of different race and gender groups.
Respect other cultures:
Cultivate friendships with people from as many cultures as possible.
Don’t rush to judgment when it comes to areas of cultural difference. Values are not necessarily better or worse than one another, but can simply reflect a cherishing of our differences.
When judging others’ cultural values and norms, refrain from using only your “yardstick.”
Continually ask yourself whether you are making a value judgment about others, rather than recognizing that others might simply have different ways of reaching their goals.
Learn by interacting:
Join associations that deal specifically with the concerns of a particular race or gender.
Pay close attention to the way others react to your behavior.
When uncertain as to just what those reactions of others might mean, simply ask them and fully absorb their responses without second guessing them.
Strive to be nonjudgmental:
Try to understand the hidden dynamics of your interactions with others, rather than merely pretend that frictions don’t exist.
Remember that evolution has programmed our brains to make snap judgments; learn to work with that tendency in order to rise above it.
Remember that your own culture is only one standard when it comes to assessing cultural norms and values.
Acknowledge frankly that whenever we make snap judgments about an event or a person, it invariably does affect our next encounter with them.
Be aware of your stereotypes:
Recognize that while stereotyping is normal, it is dangerous. And understand that while the brain and mind stereotype, we have the opportunity to frankly acknowledge that fact and prevent it from showing up in our behavior.
Develop relationships with people of other racial or ethnic groups, and with people of the opposite gender.
Enter freely and without inhibition into learning situations where stereotypes are openly identified and confronted.
Ask people you trust to gently challenge you if they believe you have used a stereotype in making a judgment.
Learn how to communicate effectively and compassionately:
Practice speaking directly, candidly, and clearly, but also tactfully and compassionately.
Listen actively; paraphrase what the other person has said and then ask him or her whether your paraphrase is an accurate version of what he or she was trying to convey.
Continually check and recheck your perceptions, asking yourself whether your interpretations of behavior and nonverbal signals have been valid.
Listen closely, and observe carefully:
Ask probing questions to help you distinguish between what someone actually has said or done and your own reactions to or judgments about it.
Ask those you trust to gently challenge you on those occasions when you seemed to be listening, but really were not.
Consider talking less and thinking and listening more.
Develop your powers of observation by taking part in workshops where trained facilitators will give you immediate feedback as to your awareness or lack of it.
Enter into a no-holds-barred discussion about work situations with people you trust of both genders and of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Strive to relate meaningfully to those you perceive as “different”:
Recognize that the entire organization must continually strive to understand, value, respect, and appreciate differences if the organization is to be more competitive.
Understand that complementary skills and strengths promote a higher level of quality in terms of tasks, products, and relationships.
Be flexible; learn how to adapt:
Spend some time with people from diverse cultures, both at work and outside of work.
Consciously seek out knowledge and experience relating to different cultures and people to expand your own range of options and choices.
Read publications that express viewpoints that differ from your own.
Travel to experience other peoples’ cultures in their surroundings rather than your own.
Adjust yourself according to people’s reactions:
Solicit feedback from as many different sources as possible.
Practice adjusting your behavior in response to that feedback, then request more feedback on your adjustments.
Learn how to live with ambiguity:
Seek out situations, both at work and outside of work, that induce discomfort; then find ways of raising your comfort level.
Solicit guidance as to the appropriate behavior when you find yourself in ambiguous circumstances.
Be as consistent as you can be, without becoming inflexible:
Solicit feedback from a variety of people at work and outside of work who have had a chance to observe you with opportunities to deal with unfamiliar situations (Fernandez, 1999).
This chapter has presented you with some tools and techniques to help you develop competencies for effectively managing diversity. If you and your organization strive to be effective in the global marketplace, it is imperative that you maintain personal and system-wide accountability for your awareness, knowledge, and actions. Your individual success and the organization’s success depend on it!
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