Three Ways to Prevent Discrimination in Your Business Whether discrimination is unintentional or intentional, the impact is the same, and no amount of rationalization makes it acceptable. Here are three ways you can prevent discrimination in your business. 1- Be conscious of your personal biases and learns to filter them out. Bias and wrong assumptions won’t go away without intervention….
When Howard Schultz announced the “Race Together Campaign,” he was met with criticism by those in denial that there are any issues regarding race in the US, and by social activists who said he “did it wrong.” Schultz may not have “done his research,” or created a working foundation for baristas and customers to have constructive discussions on race, but…
A key component of any diversity and inclusion/ culture change process is the ability to understand one’s own biases and assumptions. Learning to recognize personal unconscious biases and assumptions, enables leaders to see the world through other peoples’ eyes, and practice “inclusionist leadership” behaviors. This results in employees having opportunity and motivation to use their skills and experience to be…
If you’ve been following the news, you know there is a lack of women, and people of color in the technology industry. However, consumers of technology are from every diversity dimension. Lack of diversity in these organizations, means lack of different kinds of ideas, and can eventually be obstacles to new ideas and problem solving. Any company that wants to…
A senior leader at a high tech company called and said, “Simma, I just spent an enormous amount of money for a training program about unconscious bias. It was very well received and people are still talking about how much they liked it,” he said. “However, nothing changed.” The demographics stayed the same, people of color, women, and LGBT people…
The CEO’s Uber Diversity Dilemma Uber executive, Emil Michael suggested at a dinner party attended by people like Arianna Huffington and Kara Swisher that Uber would pay a million dollars to hire researchers to dig up dirt on journalists who wrote negative stories about Uber. “They’d look into your personal lives, your families,’ and give the media a taste of…
6- Let other people share their expertise, talent and experience, even when their ideas differ from yours. You may find their idea is better. It’s easy to talk about being open to other ideas, but it’s not that easy to do it in practice. Smart leaders know what their strengths are and they know how to find people who are…
5-Learn and recognize the different ways in which people are intelligent and contribute to the organization. Stop being stuck in recognizing and respecting only one type of intelligence (yours.) So often in my diversity and inclusion programs, people will make comments like,”I have no problem with people who are different. I respect everyone.” First of all, if you think that…
Here is the 4th Way to Foster Breakthrough Innovation Through Diversity Leadership. 4- Be introspective and get real about your biases and assumptions. Your behavior that results from those biases and assumptions can impede participation and innovation. Ask yourself, “Whom am I not seeing? Do I greet all of my employees or just the ones who are like me? Do…
2-Be informed about your employees but don’t micromanage. Acknowledge the progress no matter how small, made by people on your team. Research by Theresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer shows that employees are motivated when their managers are aware of and acknowledge even their small wins. Be specific! Don’t just say “Good job.” That means nothing and is…
Recent Comments