Cultural IQ

When Getting Along Is the Profitable Thing To Do

Photo Credit: FreeFoto.com

About eight years ago in Philadelphia,  a global shipbuilder took over the port space that sat empty after the U.S. Navy ceased its shipbuilding operations in South Philly.

A consortium of local colleges was organized to help the global firm as it addressed a bevy of rules and regulations as well as cultural fault lines. These jobs were a precious prize for a proud blue-collar city whose middle-class workers were stuck in a revolving door of unemployment after manufacturing jobs began to disappear.

 One of the workforce development specialists assigned to the task force told me that many cultural issues arose. The global executives, for example, were puzzled that local companies spent money to train workers to get along and treat each other with respect.

“They simply expected workers to get along and support each other,” the official confided, when I asked about group's challenges. "They didn't understand why there might be problems."

Cultural competency, which is the ability to work well with diverse groups and peoples, often is viewed through a social lens. If American workers are going to compete in global markets, this nation has to look closely at the monetary costs associated with racial, ethnic, religious and community divisions. As the economy sinks and credit tightens, those expenses are going to be magnified. How do we explain to the multinational corporations that we stand ready to sacrifice their profits in order to safeguard our right to offend each other and protect self-interest?

All of us are traveling these rough financial seas together in the same leaky boat. As the gushing waters enter our craft, we have a decision to make: Will we cling to familiar language and comfortable ways or break free and emerge from it as a highly skilled team of collaborators?

Welcoming cities which are open to new cultures and fresh ideas may very well find they have a competitive advantage in the global arenas. That’s a theory that’s been advanced by many business officials for more than a decade. But does this emotional connection drive economic growth? Or is it the other way around?

The “Soul of the Community” study funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation seeks to collect the data to answer that question over the next two years (the first year of the study is already finished.) The study is focusing on the 26 cities where Knight Foundation’s founders previously owned newspapers. The ultimate question: can investment in civic engagement lead to more jobs and greater economic stability?

 “This is a new way of looking at how engaged residents create successful communities,” said Paula Ellis, vice president for strategic initiatives at Knight Foundation. “The data provide new insights to leaders focused on improving the long-term economic well-being of their communities beyond the immediate challenges of the financial crisis.”

The communities vary in population size, economic levels and how urban or rural they are. Gallup randomly surveyed a representative sample of nearly 14,000 adults from Feb.1 through April 27, 2008, by phone. The following communities were included in the survey: Aberdeen, S.D., Akron, Ohio, Biloxi, Miss., Boulder, Colo., Bradenton, Fla., Charlotte, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Columbus, Ga., Detroit, Mich., Duluth, Minn., Fort Wayne, Ind., Gary, Ind., Grand Forks, N.D., Lexington, Ky., Long Beach, Calif., Macon, Ga., Miami, Fla., Milledgeville, Ga., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Palm Beach, Fla., Philadelphia, Pa., San Jose, Calif., St. Paul, Minn., State College, Pa., Tallahassee, Fla., Wichita, Kan.

The study finds that it generally takes at least three to six years for residents to feel highly engaged in their community. The challenge is to identify strategies for engaging residents early after they have moved in. By helping residents connect to others, cities might be able to entice them to stay and help to promote the community within their networks.

The study found that in some of the larger communities such as Miami-Dade, Philadelphia and Detroit, the key emotional connector was openness (the sense of welcoming to diverse people). “This is important to know in a large city that has struggled to achieve its full potential in attracting diverse newcomers,” said Matt Bergheiser, Knight Foundation program director for Philadelphia.  (Philadelphia and Detroit have had a declining population  while other major cities, which are more attractive to immigrants and creative workers, have experienced booms.)

The Knight Foundation community program directors plan to share the study’s findings with community leaders and citizens. They hope to use the data to help create transformational change in their communities.

Gallup and Knight Foundation will conduct the second wave of the survey in spring 2009. The additional data will help show the impact of the economic crisis on emotional community-citizen engagement.

Naval Officer Eliminates Diversity Program to Bring Ship Together

Every now and then, somebody offers a bold new idea that seems a bit risky.

If we open our minds and listen, we might just learn something.

In his book “It’s Your Ship: Management Tips from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy” Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, former commanding officer of the USS Benfold, offers lessons learned as he built morale and a top-performing ship. 

In these stormy economic seas, who among us doesn’t have a vessel or at least a leaky boat that is in need of repair?

Some of his tips we’ve heard before: understand yourself first, praise your people, remember little things like birthdays, care about human issues and programs, build up people and recognize their achievements. The section of the book involving diversity is anything but standard operating procedure, however. His strategy there is likely to raise some eyebrows.  

Abrashoff felt diversity programs were dividing his team – rather than bringing them together. So he did a little reengineering. Rather than focus his message on differences, he focused on building unity.

This enabled him to discuss human similarities rather than racial and gender differences, and create an organization that seeks to remove barriers for all. The objective was simple: Create a high-performing team  and an organization so good EVERYONE wants to belong. This is a change of pace from standard diversity programs, which tend to be supported by folks who feel they will gain something and opposed by folks who feel they stand to lose. The perception that diversity creates winners and losers has resulted in resentment, friction, and diversity fatigue. 

So here’s the Abrashoff alternative: He focused on building unity rather than diversity. (Keep in mind, representational diversity was not an issue on the ship.)

The Captain assumed full command of unity training, which sent a signal to all that this matter was of vital importance. He stressed why his team’s members should value each other instead of focusing on the costs of devaluing them. He made it clear: the ship had a zero tolerance policy for prejudice and sexual harassment. When incidents occurred, he responded quickly and dispensed justice fairly, keeping in mind the background of individuals. 

Did things get better? Abrashoff says yes. Surveys filled out by employees indicated some had a change of heart, he writes in his book. He discovered everyone wanted to be part of a team that truly cared about its members. And that they were willing to pay the price to get in. He learned it is better to create opportunities for interactions and learning rather than simply highlight cultural shortcomings and deficits.

I would argue the diversity backlash building in America is voicing strong disapproval of classic diversity strategies and messages. New thinking can and should be embraced. As Abrashoff found, skeptics might just embrace diversity if we show them they can end up as winners too.

Jews-Palestinians: There's A Meeting in the Living Room

Everyone sat in a circle so you could see their faces as they spoke. The crowd at Houston's Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church assembled Tuesday night with an ambitious goal: listen, in silence, to one another’s stories.

It was a tough assignment for so many people in the room, including me, and I was reared Catholic.

Participants were asked to spend 15 minutes listening to the story of someone from a different religion or ethnic background. (During my first exercise, my partner told me his father was in the KKK.) No jumping in. No interruptions. No commentaries, or worse, neighborly advice. We were asked to listen to a stranger’s story without saying a word. Then, during the last 5 minutes, we had the chance to ask questions, demonstrate empathy and gain clarity.

 

The stories of the Palestinians and Jews are very different though they have traveled over so many of the same paths in history. The Jews carry with them the horror of the Holocaust and the fear that stems from centuries of persecution. Many Palestinians are grappling with the loss of a family home and a feeling of displacement.

How does one convince people to stop talking and start listening? Libby and Len Traubman found a way. The couple is the force behind the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue, which began in their living room in San Mateo,CA, and has spread across the nation, including Houston. (The Houston group normally meets in living rooms. This session was held in a church because of the large crowd attracted by Libby and Len.)

Palestinians and Jews meet on a regular basis, in someone’s living room, to listen and try to build connections between their communities.  This is not a conversation, Libby Traubman says, or a discussion where you trade views, or a debate where you end up with a winner and loser.

“It’s total openness.  A new quality of listening,” she says. “We are so quick to want to talk about my life, my goal, my experiences.”

Adds her husband, Len: “The story is the shortest distance between 2 people. A lot of people want peace but they don’t want relationships.”

 In other words, we want to eat the cake but nobody wants to spend the time to collect the ingredients and make it.

On this night, the circle offers a rich diversity of experience and thought on the Middle East

conflict and various other issues. Each person is asked to choose a partner who is different. In most cases, the Jewish and Palestinians in the room pare up together.

The partners meet for a half hour, with each one getting 15 minutes to tell his or her story. Each takes a turn playing the compassionate listener. Afterward, people come back to the circle to share what they will take away from this experience.

The Traubmans, who have been doing this for 16 years, believe that relationships are the start of real change. They argue that connections lead to communication, which leads to cooperation, which allows enemies to create new ideas and new patterns of thoughts.

“The quality of listening is terrible,” Libby says.

Mingling in the room this evening is Elias Gotto, a Palestinian whose family fled Jerusalem

during the fighting right before the creation of Israel. Tears come to his eyes even today as he recalls it and the impact on his father.

Gotto is the Traubman’s neighbor and their “Palestinian partner” in this dialogue.

Gotto said he attended the first meeting because he was anxious to tell his story, and let everyone know about the wrongs and injustices his family faced. “I guess I was a little selfish,” he said this week.

Now he attends to practice listening and build a path to peace.  He and the Traubmans are such good friends that when Gotto and his wife have family visiting and run out of the space in their home, Libby and Len open up their doors. The Gottos do the same for the Traubman family.

It’s a small gesture that means a lot. When I ask him why he practices listening so intently, he says, “I choose the harder path, trying to make peace and to understand my enemy.”

For information about the Houston dialogue, contact jackiepeacenow@hotmail.com

To learn more about compassionate listening, visit http://traubman.igc.org/global.htm

Hate Hurts

 

Diversity can make easy tasks far more complicated. There, I’ve finally said it. Diversity has benefits and costs, but I’m not telling you something you don’t already know.  

This is a lesson that St. Tammany Sheriff Jack Strain recently discovered in a tragic way. Strain had the unfortunate duty of reporting that a Tulsa (OK) woman had been shot and killed after she asked to leave an initiation into a white supremacist group in Louisiana.

 The sheriff told the local media that the members linked to the shooting were not dangerous. "The IQ level of this group is not impressive, to be kind," Strain said, adding, "I can't imagine anyone feeling endangered or at risk by any one of these kooks."

Ah, one man’s terrorist is to another person, a kook. Cultural filters – belief systems, values, and experiences – automatically prompt us to view issues and situations through our own cultural lenses, not through a variety of perspectives.

 Culture shapes our behavior and beliefs and the behavior and beliefs of others. So at work it’s important to understand how specific values and sensibilities might affect the way OTHERS think or behave. The better we understand our peers, the more we can accomplish. This is true even if we live in Slidell and Sun, LA, where this particular drama unfolded. (Later in the week, Strain said that Raymond Clark Foster, one of the locals arrested and charged in the case, has a rap record dating back to the 1980s that includes a conviction for manslaughter, among other crimes.)

If Sheriff Strain were to ask African Americans living in the region what they thought of these white supremacists, chances are pretty darn good they would not use the word "kooks" to describe them. Chances are better than even that their encounters with these fine citizens have been less pleasant than those of white residents.

Until recently, the sheriff said, the group spread racist graffiti around town, but nothing more serious. His belief that they were kooks, rather than terrorists, was based on his personal interactions with them. Had he collected independent evidence and facts to test his theory, he might have drawn an entirely different conclusion.

 Cultural filters create blind spots. Our cultural background does not always allow us to fully understand how or why another’s life or experiences differs from our own. That is why facts, evidence and research are our friends. They keep our biases from leading us in the wrong direction.

 

There are two ways we can protect ourselves and avoid costly or deadly cultural collisions and mishaps. First, we can develop cultural competencies so that we have a wider view as we travel life’s roadways. Secondly, we can assemble diverse workforces and then develop processes for tapping the well of talent and unique insights. 

 

Before you complain that I’m picking on white Americans, let me say that a black sheriff and a white sheriff in a small town are both vulnerable to diversity’s challenges. Their skill, competencies and staffing – not their skin color – ultimately will determine how well they are able to protect constituents.

While diversity carries some cost, it also provides great benefits. You have to recognize the benefits to gain advantage. Far too many of us don't.

 

Diversity of thought raises organizational IQ and allows groups to make better decisions. It’s just that simple. The things we don’t know or can’t imagine are the very ones that are likely to haunt us. Just ask Sheriff Strain.

Let My People Grow

 

In a nation gripped by fear, words like “attack”, “defend”, “fight” and “terror” are part of the regular vocabulary.

 

Such words offer a constant reminder that a world of trouble awaits as soon as we step outside the door. Evil is lurking around the next corner, so it’s best to be wary of those who knock on our door or seek help from passersby.

 

Funny thing, though. As fear consumes more of your life, more bad stuff seems to happen. In my 15 years in Center City Philadelphia, trouble only managed to catch up with me on one or two occasions. (That’s because I am a fairly fast walker.)  Each time, a young African American man stepped up to offer help. After ending up in a dangerous deserted subway station one night, a teenager walked me to my front door and, in the process, scared away a gang looking for mischief.   A perfect stranger jumped out of a car to chase off a homeless man with a weapon who was following me and a girlfriend.

If I had been the fearful type, it would have been very easy to mistake my rescuer for the attacker. By giving him the benefit of the doubt, opportunity knocked and a hero sprinted in.

 

As President-elect Obama prepares to take office, I propose we host a national conversation on developing a new culture of hope.  Language, to a great extent, writes the scripts for our dramas.  Negative talk generates negative results and losses. If you say you can’t find a job, you won’t. If you tell others you can’t grow up to be President, your chances of getting to the White House decline. If you talk constantly about terror and evil, fear will take control of your life. When opportunity knocks, you may be in hiding or too afraid to move.

 

Language is a currency that can make life richer. The greater the appreciation we have for its power, the harder it works to ensure success. A platform for change must begin with a new vocabulary: hope, faith, unity, purpose, service, better days, spirit, and inclusion.

Let’s begin this transformation by reducing the level of hate and fear in public places, especially those visited by our children. Hateful language pollutes our community and leaves behind a toxic residue that is costly and difficult to clean up. Most mornings, I blush as I scan the nasty comments posted under articles and blogs on my local newspaper’s website.  When we threaten each other in public, we give comfort to the enemies a world away who seek to divide us. If we are willing to tear the fabric of community apart at the seams, then they need only tug at the threads to make  democracy unravel.

Then, we need to build an incubator for hope. We need to replace racial and political divisions with unity of purpose; greed with responsibility and accountability for Wall Street and Main Street; anger with understanding; hate with love and acceptance (not tolerance); public entitlements with calls to public service; self-interest with collective good; conformity with diversity of thought and violence with peace.

If we do, we might hear opportunity knock more often, and discover that heroes often appear from nowhere just when you need them. You have to have faith.

Houston's Center for the Healing of Racism will host an event Thursday  to help us get started. The details are below. Hope to see you there – win or lose. 

=========================================================

Now that the election is over we need to get over our ethnic barriers

 And come together to become One America. We have a lot of work to do

 Date: Thursday, Nov. 6th

Place: Cullen Oaks  Community Center, 4600 Cullen Road, Houston

Time: 7 to 9 p.m.

 

Monumental Change Comes From Within US

As a cultural competency proponent, Americans routinely write me or tell me that I, and the rest of the consultants, am the problem. “If you people would stop talking about racism, everyone would get along better,” they say.

This thinking intrigues me. In this world, the racists are not the problem; the people talking about them are the ones driving communities apart.

It seems significant numbers of Americans are operating under the assumption that minorities and women invent stories about racism, sexism and cultural bias just so they can continue to make a case for continuing affirmative action and fair hiring laws. If one has not ever stood face to face with racial discrimination, it is much harder to believe that others have been persecuted. You have to trust them or accept the story on faith.

“I am colorblind. I don’t see color, just people,” these gentle folks will say. My question is always the same: “Are you truly colorblind, or are you simply unaware of your biases?”

The 2008 presidential election came with many breakthrough moments. For instance, we have now at our disposal huge piles of research that have used science to demonstrate the extent to which racism and racial and gender bias still exists in our “let’s all get along together world.”

If that is not enough, three of Pennsylvania's’s most influential white politicians said at different times in that battleground state that some white residents were racist. After they said it, there was no rush to uncover the evidence – the weapons of mass destruction if you will. Instead the diversity police (who are found on all sides of the political spectrum) pulled them over and gave them a good talking to about hurting other people’s feelings.

An 

AP-Yahoo News poll, conducted by Stanford University, found a third of white Democrats have negative views about African Americans, many using words such as ‘lazy’ or ‘violent’ to describe them.

“There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn’t mean there’s only a few bigots,”  Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman, who helped analyze the exhaustive survey, told the Associated Press.

Yet another study of California college students found that – at least on a unconscious level – they perceived Barack Obama to be less American than former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This experiment used the Implicit Association tests – which were developed to detect hidden biases or preferences. Researchers found that on some level, even supporters of Obama found it easier to associate a white person with the word American than a black man.

Thierry Devos, a professor at San Diego State University , and Debbie Ma of the University of

Chicago, reached two important conclusions from their body of research.

First, an African-American candidate is implicitly perceived of as being less American than a white candidate when voters focus on ethnicity (Studies 1 & 2).

Second, the more candidates are viewed as embodying the American identity, the more they are likely to be actively supported.

In plain talk, this tells us something most of us already knew: it is harder for black politicians to get elected in integrated communities. But there is a larger truth. American ideals need to be supported by actions, not words. You can’t become free simply by thinking about it or wanting it.

Secondly, as we faced our greatest economic challenge in the last century, we can no longer  afford to suppress talent or deny jobs to people who want to work. It goes against our self-interest.

Now that our biases are out in the open, it might be time to figure out next steps.  How do these hidden biases or preferences affect decisions made by juries and an individual’s right to fair trials? How do these unconscious preferences influence the way corporate executives view job candidates or promotions? Do non-diverse newsrooms tell us the truth, or give us the truth that they see?

So far, the media has focused on how collective biases have impacted the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. He is not the only person of colors who has high aspirations and goals. Talent is an economic driver, and we must find ways to help all people work.

           

        If this election has a legacy, it might be that the assumptions we make about neighbors and nations are often faulty - whether race is a factor or not.  We didn’t think Americans would be willing to elect an African American as president. We didn’t think that the genius of a million young people could help create a grass roots campaign that would forever change the political landscape. We didn’t think that people would walk up to reporters to confess they are racist, and then spell their names.  We didn't think that we could promote democracy abroad simply by restoring its luster at home. We didn't think a candidate could become the heavyweight fundraiser by seeking donations from ordinary Jesse & Joes.

Until now, our perceptions, assumptions and biases locked us together in a virtual prison, where our American ideals too often were suppressed by our collective fears and beliefs. 

Enter Barack Obama, a U.S. Senator from Chicago who walked over to the prison gate one day, and walked out.

Now that he has, who will follow him?

Let My Feelings Go

I’ve been through many elections before but not until this year did I want o jump out of bed at 6 a.m.

And to think, I voted a week ago. This is a day to savor every minute because history is likely to be made.  We’ll have either the first female vice president or the first bi-racial president.

 

So what happens tomorrow? As members of one party jump for joy, others will be left to wonder,” How did this happen? What went wrong?”

 

In a Republic, each generation is called upon to make regular deposits in Freedom’s bank. The largest deposits come every four years after some deserving candidates lose the presidential election. To keep a democracy, voters have to be willing to mourn, yet able to cling tightly to their resolve to make this nation better.

 This year the presidential campaign was particularly emotional, so there is going to be an even greater need grieve, and to discharge emotions.  No single party can change America. It will take us a unified people to tackle the super-sized tasks ahead.

Though we don’t have to agree on issues, our community needs faith, unity of purpose and diversity of thought to move forward in our global village.

How do we talk to each other, so that we may learn from each other, and move forward with the right agenda? How can we use cultural and political lenses of so many shapes and sizes and yet still find common ground?

  

Houston's Center for Healing Racism will host an event Thursday  to help us get started. The details are below. Hope to see you there – win or lose. 

=========================================================

Now that the election is over we need to get over our ethnic barriers

 And come together to become One America. We have a lot of work to do

 Date: Thursday, Nov. 6th

Place: Cullen Oaks  Community Center,4600 Cullen Road, Houston

Time: 7 to 9 p.m.

 

For information, call 713-520-8226