There’s a lot of things going on right now around the space of Diversity which include sensitive areas such as Age, Gender, Sexuality and Disability. Organisations are spending time and money educating people on how to communicate and respond with more compassion, awareness and responsibility to their staff and stakeholders.
And while there is a long way to go, the results to date are confirming.
Yet, while most people won’t readily admit they feel or respond any differently to those of different cultures, ages, genders or perhaps people with disabilities, the cold hard truth is at some point, most people do respond differently based on their “unconscious bias” – or what we may call ‘the stuff that lies below the surface of our consciousness”.
In other words, at some level for some reason that we may not even be aware of, we react, behave, do, or reject people and their ideas or contributions based on we think about their background or pre-disposition. That’s unconscious bias.
So here’s my recent story – one that I didn’t know I had till I found myself boarding a bus with 11 “much older” people than myself on what was promising to be a 13 Day rigorous and robust trip through the Kimberley Region.
Having not experienced this type of trip before, my husband and I thought it would be a great way to experience as much as we could distance wise. However, upon boarding the “bus” I found myself looking at a number of people who had very clearly lived on this planet a lot longer than I had… and before I knew it BINGO! I felt the first pang of unconscious bias! How on earth were these “oldies” going to clamour over rocks, and manage the climbing and long hard walks! Maybe this trip wasn’t going to be as much fun or easy as I had thought. Was it too late to get off the bus! WRONG!
You see, by Day 2, I realised that age was no barrier to fun or ability. The barrier was my unconscious bias. In fact, the older the person was, the more fun we had: the older the person, the more determined they were to cross the bridges and boundaries. Great learning for me. Humbling, in fact – so much so, I can’t wait to get old! And, more to the point, I was often left huffing and puffy on the rocks while others had gone ahead. Shame on me - especially for someone who didn’t even know they had any unconscious bias.
Look at your workplaces. Look at your community groups. Look at your social circles.
Do you have an unconscious bias that would take an otherwise bumpy road on the Kimberley’s to shake up a little, like it did for me?
www.rickynowak.com
And while there is a long way to go, the results to date are confirming.
Yet, while most people won’t readily admit they feel or respond any differently to those of different cultures, ages, genders or perhaps people with disabilities, the cold hard truth is at some point, most people do respond differently based on their “unconscious bias” – or what we may call ‘the stuff that lies below the surface of our consciousness”.
In other words, at some level for some reason that we may not even be aware of, we react, behave, do, or reject people and their ideas or contributions based on we think about their background or pre-disposition. That’s unconscious bias.
So here’s my recent story – one that I didn’t know I had till I found myself boarding a bus with 11 “much older” people than myself on what was promising to be a 13 Day rigorous and robust trip through the Kimberley Region.
Having not experienced this type of trip before, my husband and I thought it would be a great way to experience as much as we could distance wise. However, upon boarding the “bus” I found myself looking at a number of people who had very clearly lived on this planet a lot longer than I had… and before I knew it BINGO! I felt the first pang of unconscious bias! How on earth were these “oldies” going to clamour over rocks, and manage the climbing and long hard walks! Maybe this trip wasn’t going to be as much fun or easy as I had thought. Was it too late to get off the bus! WRONG!
You see, by Day 2, I realised that age was no barrier to fun or ability. The barrier was my unconscious bias. In fact, the older the person was, the more fun we had: the older the person, the more determined they were to cross the bridges and boundaries. Great learning for me. Humbling, in fact – so much so, I can’t wait to get old! And, more to the point, I was often left huffing and puffy on the rocks while others had gone ahead. Shame on me - especially for someone who didn’t even know they had any unconscious bias.
Look at your workplaces. Look at your community groups. Look at your social circles.
Do you have an unconscious bias that would take an otherwise bumpy road on the Kimberley’s to shake up a little, like it did for me?
www.rickynowak.com
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