I've had the same employer for about five years now. (Just got my 5-year certificate last week. No award--just a fancy-looking template-generated certificate in a cheapo plastic case.) During those five years, I've been forced to attend a training session of some kind on "Diversity" or "Cultural Competency" or "Intercultural Effectiveness" at least once a year. Might even be twice a year.
Anyway, I'm sick of it. I was sick of it ten minutes into the first one.
Cue ranting.
Every single one of these training sessions has boiled down to one very simple concept: People are different.
I get it! I understood that when I was five! Diversity doesn't matter to me because I don't care what another person's background is. I didn't care when I was a kid, and I don't care now.
It's not that I'm trying to discredit their personal situation. It's just that I don't think it should matter to me. Here's my thing: I work with people. I don't work with Christians and Buddhists and Atheists. I don't work with Europeans and Mexicans and Asians and Africans. I don't work with sexual orientations. I don't work with socioeconomic classes. I don't work with political preferences. I work with people! I try to treat them (co-workers, managers, customers, whatever) the way that I would like them to treat me, and I hope they do the same.
This attitude has always worked for me.
But upper management seems to want to change me. So they send me to these diversity trainings so I can learn to be more diverse (still don't know how that works). We watch some stupid video and have a discussion about how people are different but that's okay, and I go home fuming about wasted time.
Lately, it's been a bit different though. First, we had to take a survey to determine whether we were "culturally competent" or not. Apparently, the fact that I don't travel to foreign countries to experience other cultures means I'm not culturally competent. (I can't afford to travel out of my home state very often, let alone a foreign country.) And the fact that I'm not trying to learn a different language means that I'm not culturally competent. (I have two kids, a full-time job, and a house that is trying to torture me with constant upkeep; I don't have time to learn another language.) If I don't actively seek out new people to meet at parties, I'm not culturally competent. And so on. It really felt more like an introversion vs. extroversion scale than anything else. And I guess that my introverted nature will keep me from ever being "culturally competent."
And then there were the trainings with exercises that were little more than get-to-know-your-coworkers activities. And still the same conclusion: People are different.
But then they explained the expectation. I'm supposed to be aware of someone's cultural (or religious or racial or whatever else) background and adjust my behavior to take that into consideration. To do that, I'm supposed to predict a person's behavior based on what I can see of his or her physical or social traits and treat them according to my expectations based on my experience with other people of those traits. Isn't that stereotyping? Doesn't stereotyping lead to prejudice and discrimination?
Is anybody else having to put up with this crap?
Anyway, I'm sick of it. I was sick of it ten minutes into the first one.
Cue ranting.
Every single one of these training sessions has boiled down to one very simple concept: People are different.
I get it! I understood that when I was five! Diversity doesn't matter to me because I don't care what another person's background is. I didn't care when I was a kid, and I don't care now.
It's not that I'm trying to discredit their personal situation. It's just that I don't think it should matter to me. Here's my thing: I work with people. I don't work with Christians and Buddhists and Atheists. I don't work with Europeans and Mexicans and Asians and Africans. I don't work with sexual orientations. I don't work with socioeconomic classes. I don't work with political preferences. I work with people! I try to treat them (co-workers, managers, customers, whatever) the way that I would like them to treat me, and I hope they do the same.
This attitude has always worked for me.
But upper management seems to want to change me. So they send me to these diversity trainings so I can learn to be more diverse (still don't know how that works). We watch some stupid video and have a discussion about how people are different but that's okay, and I go home fuming about wasted time.
Lately, it's been a bit different though. First, we had to take a survey to determine whether we were "culturally competent" or not. Apparently, the fact that I don't travel to foreign countries to experience other cultures means I'm not culturally competent. (I can't afford to travel out of my home state very often, let alone a foreign country.) And the fact that I'm not trying to learn a different language means that I'm not culturally competent. (I have two kids, a full-time job, and a house that is trying to torture me with constant upkeep; I don't have time to learn another language.) If I don't actively seek out new people to meet at parties, I'm not culturally competent. And so on. It really felt more like an introversion vs. extroversion scale than anything else. And I guess that my introverted nature will keep me from ever being "culturally competent."
And then there were the trainings with exercises that were little more than get-to-know-your-coworkers activities. And still the same conclusion: People are different.
But then they explained the expectation. I'm supposed to be aware of someone's cultural (or religious or racial or whatever else) background and adjust my behavior to take that into consideration. To do that, I'm supposed to predict a person's behavior based on what I can see of his or her physical or social traits and treat them according to my expectations based on my experience with other people of those traits. Isn't that stereotyping? Doesn't stereotyping lead to prejudice and discrimination?
Is anybody else having to put up with this crap?
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