Most of you are probably too young to remember the days when radio stations had “Guess this Sound” contests. This is how it worked. The station would play a sound and listeners won prizes if they were able to guess where the sound came from. There’d be things like the noise made by a zipper if recorded under water or the amplified sound of peanut butter being spread on bread – you get the idea. Well, there’s one sound that is always unmistakable at our house, that of the wheels of our big blue recycle bin being rolled down the drive way.
It is an unmistakable mix of rattle and bump with just a little bit of squeak mixed in. It’s not an unpleasant sound, but every time I hear it I am reminded that our neighborhood is about to renew its every-two week e-mail debate about whether those bins are such a good thing after all. The issue on the table is not recycling or sustainability or going green – all that is fine in my middle class largely white San Diego world. The issue is more human than that. Namely, how do we feel about the people whom that line of bins we affectionately call “Big Blues” attract into “our” neighborhood.
The Intruders
Every other Thursday morning as I take my walk, I see human beings of various degrees of poverty systematically exploring our Big Blues for recyclables that they can then redeem for money. Every time, I can’t help but slip into what I’ll admit is a biased attitude and think to myself, “Isn’t that great? It’s the American dream — people using their ingenuity and work ethic to make a living for their families. That’s what American is all about.”
And therein lies the aforementioned e-mail debate. Not everyone in my neighborhood feels the way I do. To some, this violation of our Big Blues is the first step toward a deeper intrusion. It’s hard to tell what they are afraid of – there are mutterings of the interlopers loosing their sense of boundaries and wandering down driveways to peer into backyards or something scary like that.
I don’t mean to be flippant about that fear and I do sympathize. After all, these are scary times and there are people from every group who are unscrupulous and dangerous and had best be avoided. The problem here is that so many of my neighbors – nice people all – have let their fear of intrusion cause them to see an entire population of people as all alike. In this case, as all dangerous.
Workplace Application
So what do recycle bins and neighborhood debates and community fear have to do with your workplace? I don’t know about the recycle bins and debates, but fear lies at the heart of our diversity challenges. Just as fear of intrusion seduces my neighbors into a biased attitude, fear of change and competition and cultural identity can result in bias in your workplace.
The message here is simple: Keep the possible presence of fear foremost in your mind when seeking to resolve diversity challenges in your workplace. That fear does not need to be of the “terror” variety to cause a problem. It might, in fact, be little more than a mild concern that it will become more difficult to achieve company goals if people with disabilities are given special accommodation or that the social structure of the workplace will break down if a variety of languages are spoken. Whatever the degree, fear is dangerous. Your job is to identify it, address it, and work to diffuse it. All that effort will make your environment a better place to work.
Sondra Thiederman is a speaker and author on bias-reduction, diversity, and cross-cultural issues. Her latest book, Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace (New York: Kaplan Publishing, Revised second edition, 2008), provides practical tools for defeating bias and bias-related conflicts in the workplace. She can be contacted for Webinars and in-person presentations at: www.Thiederman.com, STPhD@Thiederman.com, 800-858-4478.
