MENTAL GYMNASTICS: Exercising Your Awareness of Cultural Biases

By Dr. David G. Beighley, Vice President & Chief Smoke-Jumper

There appears to be a growing cultural movement toward “mindfulness,” being “fully present in the moment,” and moving beyond our psychological and/or physical need for “certainty”…that desire to KNOW that things are going to be a certain way in our lives rather than our lives being potentially tossed about by the natural ebb and flow of life. John Lennon wrote a song in which one line reads, “Life is what happens when you have other plans.” How appropriate for this day and age we live in. This movement toward mindfulness is being seen in the evolution of spirituality, philosophy, ecology, medicine and health, and in corporate America. And the impact of this movement is creating radical shifts in the way we think, relate, and do business.

Years ago, during my military career, I was assigned to Reynolds Army Hospital at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma as an Army Psychologist. Now, keep in mind that I was born and raised in Michigan and the only time I had seen a buffalo was in the zoo, and the only time I had seen a cowboy, cowgirl, or Indian was in John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. When I reported for duty it was the middle of the night and the Officer of the Day was in his office, in uniform, wearing cowboy boots with his feet up on his desk and spitting chewing tobacco into a can next to his desk. I saluted, reported, and handed him my paperwork. He looked it over, put it on his desk, spit in his can and said, “Son, welcome to Ft. Sill. I have just two pieces of advice for you. One, don’t make fun of the cowboys. Two, don’t make fun of the Indians. Because either one of them would rather shoot your skinny, white ass than have to deal with you. Dismissed.” That was my warm welcome to the Southwest.

I didn’t give much thought to making fun of either the cowboys or Native Americans because that wasn’t my nature. I thought of myself as a pretty open person who was very accepting of differences of any type. My first rude awakening occurred when I was taking my two sons to a Daycare Center at the Methodist Church I was attending at the time. When I arrived at the church, there were only two other vehicles in the parking lot: a beat up, dirty, old pickup truck and a brand new Thunderbird convertible. When I went inside with my sons, there were two men dropping off their children. One was a businessman in a black pin-striped suit, white shirt, and tie, and black shoes with a high gloss shine. The other was a Native American wearing worn, dusty cowboy boots, jeans, a plaid shirt, and had a ponytail that went all the way down his back. We walked out together and I just stood there and stared as the businessman got into the truck and the Native American got into the Thunderbird and they both drove away. In that moment my cultural bias was exposed and my lack of mindfulness duly noted. There was nothing malicious about my assumptions…however, there was nothing thoughtful about them either. I just assumed.

I believe that there is nowhere a lack of mindfulness regarding our cultural biases comes into play than in corporate America. It is in the workplace where a myriad of differences confront us, moment by moment, and our unconscious biases lurk just below the conscious thought processes we experience. If we are to make the leap to a greater cultural awareness and the acceptance of the diversity issues we are continually faced with, we must be mindful of those “less-than-conscious” thoughts, assumptions, and biases we carry with us. Let’s think of just a few of the possibilities we are confronted with on a daily basis.

• Generational Bias: For the first time in history we routinely have three generations of workers in the workplace. The “Baby Boomers” are only now reaching the retirement stage, the “Gen X-ers” are rapidly moving up the corporate ladder, while the “Gen Y-ers” are either entering the workforce after high school or after obtaining a college degree. Now, let’s examine just one issue…dress. The Baby Boomer men tend to dress conservatively in khaki pants, semi-dress shirts, and leather loafers, or in suits and sport-jackets with or without a tie. The women tend to wear business suits or dresses. Gen X-ers wouldn’t be caught dead in a tie, wear jeans and casual shirts, and more casual footwear and this trend tends to follow for both men and women. Gen Y-ers often come to work in trendy jeans with pre-manufactured fraying and holes, t-shirts with a variety of slogans and pictures on them, and tennis shoes, sandals, or work boots if the work calls for it. Regardless of your place in the generational paradigm, think for a moment about what goes on in your mind when you encounter one of the other generational workers. What happens to your concepts of respect, work ethic, pride, or loyalty. You may not even know that you’re having these thoughts…but, you are and if you are not aware of them, they can have an impact on the way you interact with that individual.
• Weight Bias: There seems to be a growing disparity in the workplace between the “fit” and the “fat.” Being rather “well padded” myself, I know I have certain thoughts and feelings when I encounter someone who is either much fitter than I am or much larger than I am. Perhaps feelings of jealousy or shame when I encounter the fit individual…a sense that somehow they have it more together than I do or are better than I am. When I encounter a larger individual, it makes me feel better about myself because I compare and come to the conclusion that, “At least I’m not THAT big.” These are just a few examples of the thought patterns that, if not consciously acknowledged, will certainly have an impact on the way I relate to those individuals.
• Intelligence Bias: We all have a cultural tendency to compare ourselves to others in terms of intelligence. We’re either smarter (or believe we are) in some areas and, as a result, possess an egoic tendency to think and feel superior to others. Or, when in the presence of someone who exhibits a higher degree of intelligence, thoughtfulness, mindfulness, creativity, or problem-solving skills…it often triggers a sense of inadequacy within us and we either withdraw or become defensive. Instead of celebrating what we have to offer AND what others in the corporate culture have to offer, we make the situation about US and THEM, and defeat the potential for effective collaboration. When we are able to transcend the egoic “I” and “ME”, and move into the cooperative and collaborative “US”, we have now contributed to a corporate culture and structure where creativity and productivity can flourish.

These are only three examples of less than conscious bias that we all potentially carry into every situation in which we are involved. And there are many more if we only take the time to examine what is going on inside of ourselves every time we encounter a “difference” outside of ourselves. The key to overcoming these unacknowledged biases is mindfulness and being fully present in the moment…examining not only what makes up the content of each interaction, but also those thoughts and feelings that shape up our mental processes and the conclusions we draw based on those processes. Through “exercising” our mindfulness we can dramatically improve our interactions in each culture in which we are involved and become part of the cultural change process that will only improve the company’s real bottom line…its human resources.

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:22:34 EDT