Experts estimate that it takes only seven seconds to make an impression on another person. It also takes just seven seconds for the person you're meeting to call up a range of stereotypes and apply them to you.
From personal experience, Cherry Collier knows the numbers work. She often finds herself having to dispel stereotypes people have of her before she can get down to work.
"I look extremely young, so when I walk into a board room, I sometimes can see on their faces the question: `Did you even graduate?' Initially, all they see is a young, black female."
What they soon realize is that Collier, a professional trainer and coach, has a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Georgia and has done performance consulting for a number of Fortune 500 companies. She's also head of The Fruits of Labor Inc., a company she started in 2001 to offer diversity training and awareness.
"It's not just about race and gender," Collier said. "Believe it or not, it happens for everybody, in all walks of life. We see a person, and immediately stereotypes pop up. The difference is, when that happens to a nonprejudiced person, they correct for it."
Breaking employees and managers of the habit of pigeonholing everyone is a key element of Collier's work. Through exercises and roleplaying, it's easy for her to point out how quickly many people rush to judgment about someone. Allowing those stereotypes to continue can have a negative effect on the workplace and on the bottom line, Collier said.
"It's very important for people in the workplace to have personal accountability and to realize that there is diversity and a way to treat every person in a way that helps the team be more successful," she said.
Management consultant Gillian
Royes likes to get people at work
to sit down and tell their stories
to one another. The sharing of
personal experiences, obstacles and
achievements forms a bond that
makes it easier to empathize with a
co-worker.
"When you hear another's story of their struggles to keep their head above water in the workplace, people tend to be a lot more accepting, " Royes said. "It's great when people from other countries can open up, because they tend to be more closed about their experiences.
"But their co-workers need to know where they're coming from,why they've come to the U.S. and what they're facing. Once that happens, they find a lot of commonalities, and boundaries break down¨ which is the goal of diversity training."
The issues of diversity have changed significantly over the years, Royes said.
"We used to see more gender issues, but now the work seems to be more conflict-oriented," she said. "It may be conflict between Hispanic and African-American populations or between white male managers and black female employees.
"Some gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues are also starting to come up more, and most people prefer to ignore them. They're still very uncomfortable with those issues, and they really have to reach the stage of conflict for training to take place."
Narsi Narasimhan, cofounder and CEO of Norcross- based software company Palaam Inc., said it's taken some time to embrace the ethnic differences of his employees and clients. But doing so has had a positive effect on the business.
"We used to entertain
at the Buckhead Club and
didn't embrace our ethnicity,
" said Narasimhan, whose
staff includes three Indian-
Americans and several non-
Indians. "But we realized, at
the end of the day, our clients
really only care whether
we can do the job or not.
And since most of our work
is done in India, Malaysia,
Jamaica and Canada, being
Indian-American really
helps. Culturally, it's easy to
work with teams abroad."
Narasimhan's clients have responded positively to the company's ability to relate to the market. Many are comfortable enough with him to suggest meetings over plates of Indian food.
"When many of our prospective clients realize I'm the guy they're meeting, they often say, 'Let's go eat Indian!' " Narasimhan said with a laugh. "It didn't used to be like that in the beginning. "
One obstacle to embracing ethnicity in the workplace comes from another longtime stereotype.
"There used to be the expectation
that you left your
cultural differences behind
and showed up willing to assimilate,
" said Melanie Harrington,
executive director
of the Midtown-based American
Institute for Managing
Diversity. "But now we're
living in a time when people
are less inclined to do so.
"We're also seeing increases
in populations we
haven't seen before that
have added a high level of
pluralism in our nation.
Those populations bring
with them all their differences,
and that creates a level
of complexity we're not yet
skilled at managing."
Harrington advocates a
better understanding of cultural
differences as a way to
foster a team spirit at work.
"If I can get you to understand my differences, and I understand your differences, it creates a harmony and a healthier workplace, where we can make gains together," she said.
That's most easily accomplished in workplaces where management can translate teamwork into a dollar figure, Royes said.
"For instance, breaking into a new market often means you have to open the minds of the employees to dealing with people of other ethnic origins," she said.
"Where it involves money, there's much less resistance to training."