Diversity is very much synonymous with South Africa. The diversity of populations in our country creates a melting pot of race, culture, tribe, immigration, etc. This filters through to our workplaces.
Diversity has many good things about it. There is never a dull moment. The variety of people and experiences can be very stimulating. There is no need to travel far from where you live, in order to get rich and varied experiences. From people and encounters, to food and dress. I imagine that for companies, too, this variety is a good thing. Companies likely have a diversity of skills and talents to pool resources from. It makes for vibrant and interesting workplaces too.
Related links
Workplace relationships: https://wowza.blog/?p=220&preview=true
Why Corporate Diversity Programs Fail & How Small Tweaks Can Make An Impact: https://www.ted.com/talks/joan_c_williams_why_corporate_diversity_programs_fail_and_how_small_tweaks_can_have_big_impact?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Different types of diversity
Besides population diversity – there is further diversity in the workplace, as follows:
- Different personalities (e.g. extroverts vs introverts)
- Different genders (male / female)
- Different age groups (generational gap)
- Corporate culture (corporate culture has different nuances from one organization to the other)
- Class differences (rich and poor)
- Differences of sexual orientation (e.g. LGBTQ)
People go about doing things differently. It is good to keep putting ourselves in other people’s shoes, and suspend judgment. It is worth it considering many different interpretations of your colleagues’ actions.
Aligning
In an environment of hyper-productivity and competition, diversity can be a stressful addition to the mix. Diversity becomes an additional overhead on your psyche. You try to see things from many different points of view. This, while simultaneously performing at your peak.
The most important is to align with your immediate manager’s way of doing things. You’ll also need to align with the way things are done at your particular organization / department.
Prejudice
When diverse groups of people meet, there will certainly be a level of prejudice. There will also be a fair amount of projection. Projection is taking unwanted traits that you don’t like about yourself, and attributing them to someone else. Prejudice and projection are normal human behavior, even in homogenous groups of people. Diversity just makes prejudice/projection more pronounced. It exaggerates them a little bit.
In psychology, there are two phenomena – called the halo effect, and the horns effect. Google’s description of the halo effect is as follows: “The Halo effect is when our first impression of somebody leads us to have a biased positive opinion of them”. The description of the Horns effect is the opposite, i.e.: The Horns effect is a bias that happens when our first impression of somebody, leads to us having a quick negative judgment of them.
Depending on the impression you make, and where you are on the diversity spectrum – many people will see you either through the halo effect or the horns effect.
Patterns of bias
A TED talk that I watched recently (see Related Links), identified 5 patterns of bias in a typical business work environment:
(i) Prove-It-Again
Some groups of people have to prove themselves over and over again. If a person from a disadvantaged group (sex, age, gender, LGBTQ, class, race, etc.) performs very well the first time, it is not taken seriously. For this group, it takes continuous effort to be taken seriously. Whereas, more privileged groups will perform well once, and be recognized for that performance. They may even be identified for promotion. Immediately.
(ii) Tight-rope
When an employee from a dominant group is ambitious and exercises authority, that is perceived as a sign of leadership. If another employee, from a disadvantaged group, does the same – they are perceived as angry and abrasive. This is a career-limiting perception of them. Worse, f they do not exercise authority, they will be deemed as meek and not leadership material. It is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. This is why it is called the tightrope.
(iii) Maternal wall
This bias is generally against women who are mothers. Often, the assumption is that a mother would not be as committed to the work. The mother is deemed to have a family, that takes priority over work.
Sometimes incompetence is projected onto a mother, along the lines of ‘pregnancy brain’ syndrome. Even if a particular mom is highly competent, others may take a while to recognize this. The perception is that she must have a pregnancy brain. This thus delays her progress.
(iv) Racial stereotypes
From the research quoted on the TED talk, racial prejudice results in high levels of isolation and high levels of disrespect towards employees of color. This is a problem because relationships formed at work can leverage one’s career. Being isolated therefore cuts one of from this career lifeblood. It also becomes that much harder for people of color to move towards any sort of leadership position, without the respect that is crucial, to accompany a leadership position.
(v) Tug-of-war
The tug of war is a phenomenon that was identified as a spin-off of bias. Where fewer of a certain type of employee can be found at the top (e.g. women, or people of color), there will be hyper-competition between members of that group. This results in higher conflict within the group, as only one (or two) of them is likely to advance. Hence it is called the tug of war.
Coping / Thriving
So what do you do when people project negative expectations onto you? Even when you know for sure that “you’ve got this”? My advice is to resist living down to low expectations. It can happen without you noticing. When everyone around you has low expectations of you, it is easy to succumb to a feeling of ‘what’s the use?’. When others around you are in denial about your capability to produce a certain caliber of work – even as you are producing that caliber. It is easy to feel despondent, and think less of yourself. As you think less of yourself, you might give less of yourself. Censor yourself. It then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The quality of your character and/or the level of your ability decreases, to the level of your belief.
Continue to do your best anyway. Prove yourself over and over again. Continue to highlight your achievements to your superiors and colleagues (without being obnoxious about it). Keep your mind focused on learning and growing. Affirmations also help, to keep your mindset positive in the face of stress. You need to create and say affirmations that confirm a positive outcome for what you wish to happen, outside of your negative situation.
Keep the Faith
If you are on the wrong end of the diversity spectrum. If you are feeling marginalized and unappreciated. Here is a paragraph of hope, written long ago. I hope it keeps your spirit and your resolve high:
“First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
And then you win” – Mahatma Gandhi