Age and Cultural Bias - Starts and Stops with You

Rob is 20 years old and attends junior college and is in the lobby waiting for an interview for the new position posted. He wears his hair different than yours, wears a nose ring and he has a tattoo on his neck. Do you think he is going to fit in at your company?

Mary is 55 years old, a little overweight and is recently divorced and returning to the work force as a human resource assistant. Do you think she has what it takes to contribute to her department?

Tyrone is 31 years old and in telephone sales. He is a very fast talker and a computer geek. What is your professional opinion of him?

Suresh is 42 years old and in accounting. He doesn’t seem to say much in company meetings and keeps to himself much of the time. In your opinion do you think he is someone you would trust?

Preconceived Notions
No matter what your response was to the above four scenarios, it is safe to say you had your own preconceived notions. Everyone is potentially biased when it comes to looking at another person’s age and culture. Whether you are a “twenty-something” job applicant or a “fifty something” president, manager or anything in between, you are probably biased.

Organizational Success
In his excellent report, Small Acts of Inclusion-Creating Cultural Transformation, William A. Guillory, Ph.D., defines cultural inclusion as “an environment where equity of opportunity exists for all employees to achieve personal success and contribute to the organization’s success.”

Bias Limits Potential
Being biased is a natural inclination towards new input that comes from your eyes, ears and mind.The danger of being biased towards another, is that in your mind, it limits that person’s human potential, and blinds you to how they can help your organization or department reach its goals.

Start Being Open Minded
At the present moment, you may not be able to totally eliminate your age and cultural bias of others, but you can broaden your expectations of what you believe is possible. One thing you can do right now to begin changing your bias toward others, is to alter the way you interact with people who are different than you. Jan Carlzon, former CEO of Scandinavian Airlines Systems coined the term “one moment of truth at a time”, to describe small acts of inclusion, a process where you start being more open minded when interacting with others within your social networks who are part of your organization.

So the next time you come into contact with someone who is different than you, initiate a conversation and look for opportunities to get to know them better. When you take a real interest in them, you will be on your way to breaking cultural and age bias with others.

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Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. He helps companies and organization become more profitable by helping them get and keep clients and customers.