HOW TO DO A QUICK-CHECK OF DIVERSITY KNOWLEDGE

When working in international markets if you are trying to make a sale, organize a project or save a contract, you may need to do some research first. Some nations have strong emotional responses to even small errors in etiquette and severe reactions to behaviors that shatter sacred laws or cultural taboos. Answer and discuss the following diversity questions:

• Does every culture nod their heads to acknowledge yes?

• Are gifts from your company automatically seen as valuable internationally?

• Is it always appropriate to use a first name in an introduction?

• Do all individuals shake hands in formal greetings ?

• Do you know if red is a safe color or does it mean something?

• Will being late for a meeting have different consequences in different cultures?

• Are there foods that are cross-cultural?

• Is it appropriate to eat during a business meeting in all cultures?

• Are there activities that are offensive to some cultures and celebrated by others?

• Do all cultures have the same financial philosophy?

• Do all cultures share your work ethic ?

• Which cultures would avoid working with female employees ?

• Does your company recognize the emotional impact of religious practice?

• Does music, art, dance or theater hold the same meaning in all cultures?

• When are shoes required in a meeting? Hats and head coverings ?

• Is it always appropriate to wear jewelry or religious symbols?

• What international markets would be damaged by loss of face?

• Do you know the consequences of inappropriate behavior with each of your global partners or competitors ?

• Do all nations carry the same credentialing processes? Academic standards?

• Do you know international laws? Should you?

Personal Diversity Inventory

• Where were you born?

• When were you born?

• Did this influence who you are today?

• Where are your parents from? Grandparents? Spouse/Partner?

• How many siblings in your family and what birth order are you? (oldest, youngest, middle, third of seven)

• What adults had a major influence in your life and why?

• What were your traditions and holiday celebrations?

• What makes you unique or comes from your unique upbringing?

• What has been your most positive memorable encounter with someone from another culture/race?

• What has been your most negative memorable encounter with someone from another culture/race?

• Describe a time you have experienced prejudice, discrimination, or a feeling like you didn't "belong."

• What are your hobbies, activities, or personal interests?

• What is there about you that no one could tell by looking at you?

• Have you ever traveled or lived outside your own nation?

• How does that experience influence your thinking?

• If you have never traveled outside your own nation, how do you think that would influence your thinking?

• Do you think diversity is a significant issue in the workplace?

• How do you think diversity issues directly or indirectly influence you in the workplace?

The Hawkins-Mitchell "Potato Theory" for Brief Diversity Trainings

• Step One

  • Give everyone a blank 3 x 5 card

  • Have the word POTATO on a piece of paper or 3x5 card

  • Show the word POTATO to the participants

  • Instruct them to look at the word silently

• Step Two

  • Instruct participants to write down the first thought, single word or image that they had when they saw the word

  • Collect the cards

• Step Three

  • Congratulate participants for completing all the basics necessary for an introductory training on diversity.

  • Display the cards. Did everyone have the same image?

• Step Four

  • Now for the advanced course. Contemplate the following question:

    • After seeing the simple, uncomplicated, 6 letter word, POTATO, and considering what image entered into your perceptual field first. what is your "Core Truth" about POTATO?

  • Some people imagine a baker with sour cream and chives

  • Some people visualize fries with ketchup

  • Some people see chips with clam dip

  • Some see mashed with gravy

  • Some see dirty brown lumps out of the garden or farm

  • Some see tater tots

  • Some see zebras

  • Other see scalloped

  • Still others see rice

  • Some will see Idaho

  • Others think yams or sweet potato pie

  • Someone might not even know what a potato is

  • Others are concerned with the correct spelling of the word

  • Someone is analyzing potato futures on wall street

  • Some see death, because of an allergy to potatoes

  • Another sees poverty because that's what they lived on as children

  • Some see the potatoes flying across the room when their marriage broke up and there was that violent night when their spouse was drunk and he/she threw the dinner against the wall and there were mashed potatoes all over the wall when the police came

  • Some see lunch

  • Others see dinner

  • Others see breakfast home fries

  • Others see chicken food because chickens eat anything

  • And others refuse to participate in this exercise

• Step Five

  • Now, try to convince the person sitting next to you that YOUR Reality Picture is the absolute, sacred, 100% right-on true CORRECT MENTAL PICTURE OF the universal truth for the word POTATO.

  • Now convince them that their truth is in error

• Step Six

  • Be grateful that there is NO MANDATING THE HUMAN MIND or the entire world might be filled up with millions and millions and millions of You. And that could mean no French fries. Unless that's what you thought about and then there would be nothing else. Nothing. And only an Emotional Terrorist demands that the world reflect their reality alone.

Short of brainwashing, there is very little control over the mental translation of even a simple word like POTATO. How much more complex are other ideas, words, concepts, and dynamic considerations in our vast human experience? We all want people to hear and understand us. This is human nature. But there is a significant difference in hoping for understanding and trying to control or manipulate other people away from their own thinking. Everyone's personal thoughts are sacred.

Therefore, if you care to work successfully with any other human being, you must understand that they hold sacred truths. If you wish to know what is sacred to them, to honor them, first know what is sacred to you. Everyone has the right to their own sacred truths unless they cause harm to others. If your sacred truth kills mine, then we have a war. You don't have to agree with others to honor their sense of what is sacred to them. It's okay that you find it quite odd, weird, bad or wrong that a coworker thought about zebras when you were thinking of mashed potatoes. But so what? This is not tricky. It is simple. We honor diversity because the universe is diverse. And why would someone make it tricky unless they had another agenda?

Note that Emotional Terrorism is not a diversity issue. Diversity is about honor, and Emotional Terrorists do not honor the sacred of others. Some Emotional Terrorists will use diversity as a disguise to hide behind. They will claim "entitlement" because they are different or misunderstood. They will become activists in order to further their agenda of controlling yet another group . After some rather simple scrutiny you may find that Emotional Terrorists are not seeking honor for all but exclusivity and control of their agenda. With further scrutiny it will become clear that they in fact want to persuade you to eliminate someone or something that does not match their preferences. Managers must not let the importance of diversity become exploited by an Emotional Terrorist.