Diversity & Inclusion stimulating Innovation

1. Diversity & Inclusionstimulating Innovation Presented by Vernā Myers, Esq. Baltimore, MD February 25, 2014 .

2. Follow me on Twitter @vernamyers

3. Moving Diversity and Innovation Forward • From Diversity To Inclusion • Inclusion to Communication 3. Communication to Innovation CULTURALLY EFFECTIVE HABITS

4. Discussion Guidelines • Try On • Okay to Disagree • No Blame, Shame, or Attack- yourself or others • “Ouch” • Keep a Self-focus • Practice “Both/And” Thinking • Maintain Confidentiality

5. What I’ve Heard about STScI • 30 countries or more • Not rocket scientists • Not astrologists • Passionate • Dedicated • Family • A few introverts among you

6. What’s diversity? Ups and downs

7. AGE What we may see GENDER RACE Physical Ability Socio-Economic Class Nationality What we may not see Geography Sexual Orientation Religion Education Functional Experience Family Size Hobbies Birth Order Military Experience Thinking Style

8. What’s inclusion?

9. Harvard Law School Innovates in 1953

10. “Inclusion” is about… Promoting a workplace where people from different cultural backgrounds: • Are welcomed and treated with respect • Feel included and integrated • Are given equal access to opportunities • Are given opportunities to contribute their ideas and concerns

11. Inclusion – A Qualitative Analysis • Think about how you felt when you came to STScI- Did you feel welcome? • If so, why? If not, why not? • Were you conscious of any identity when you arrived (ex. Your age, gender, religion, field of expertise, education, language)

12. “Diversity is Being Invitedto the Party. Inclusion is Being Askedto Dance.” Vernā Myers

13. Why Didn’t The Brilliant Men at Harvard Remember the Bathrooms?

14. Fish in Water Problem- Blind Spots

15. Inclusion Leads to InnovationThe Power of Difference Scott Page demonstrates, using a formal, mathematical framework, that a group of people who have different skills and perspectives find better solutions to problems and make more accurate predictions than a group with homogeneous skills and perspectives -- even if the members of the second group score higher on individual ability tests. 15

16. Why is Communicating Across Differences So Hard? A TWO WAY STREET 16 16

17. Encoding and Decoding DECODE MESSAGE VIA CONSTRUCT RESPONSE ENCODE VIA CONSTRUCT MESSAGE SEND RECEIVE RESPONSE EMOTIONS Nouman Ashraf, Anti-racism & Cultural Diversity Officer, University of Toronto

18. Many Ways to Communicate Behavior + Words = Interpretation 55% - facial expression, gestures, posture 38% - tone of voice, inflection 7% - words - Source: Dr. Albert Mehrabian, Silent Messages (1971) 18 18

20. CULTURALLY EFFECTIVE HABITS If we want to collaborate and innovate with difference we need to: • BE AWARE OF OUR OWN CULTURE AND HOW IT SHAPES OUR INTERACTIONS • GET FAMILIAR WITH OUR BIASES 3. EXPAND OUR DANCE CARDS

21. BE AWARE OF YOUR OWN CULTURE AND HOW IT SHAPES YOUR INTERACTIONS I’M FARM!!

22. Cultural Lens Working Style Thinking Style Organizational Culture Education/Degree Parental Status Marital Status Appearance Title Sexual Orientation Own/Rent Socio-Economic Status Occupation Work Experience Family Size Age Race Military Experience Legal Specialty Hobbies Ethnicity Gender Geographical Location Personality Physical Abilities/ Qualities Friends Values Background Accent Birth Order Suburban/Urban Neighborhood Citizenship Vocabulary Political Views Religious Beliefs Full/Part Time Adopted from: Marilyn Loden & Judy B. Rosener, 1991

23. GET FAMILIAR WITH YOUR BIASES Bias Impairs Performance, Productivity and Retention

24. Unconscious Bias • “That person is like me” – a member of our in-group– “us” • “That person is different from me” – a member of the out-group – “them” Barbara Reskin, “Unconsciousness Raising: The Pernicious Effects of Unconscious Bias,” Regional Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Quarter 1 2005): 33.

25. “An Innovation in Classical Music” • After auditions for orchestras became “blind,” the number of women in the top U.S. orchestras increased five fold. Malcolm Gladwell. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, 2005.

26. From: Implicit Association Test (IAT) One-down Groups One-up Groups

27. Avoid Micro-Inequities • Quick, small acts; slights or indignities – subtle and often unintentional • Reveal an assumption or stereotype • Repeated slights, accumulate & develop a weight of their own • Impact teams/offices/clients - frustration, exclusion, low productivity, litigation, attrition, squandered opportunity • “There’s no way to be good at this job and be a good mother too.” • “If you never do another thing, you’ve done a lot for a black girl.” • “You don’t seem gay to me.” • “Are you sure your parents are going to let you come to NY?” (To a South Asian professional woman) • “Your English is so good!” [to U.S. born Asian person] • Mistaken Identity; being surprised when someone does a good job • Using the word “qualified” only when describing candidates of color

28. In-group Favoritism • In-group favoritism is a bias toward your own group • Try not to look for yourself • Apply standards consistently • Rotate opportunity (don’t keep the best opportunities for those who you know well) • Consider the entire list of people who could take on the opportunity- don’t use your mental list- It’s corrupted with your biases

29. CULTURALLY EFFECTIVE HABIT:Expand Your Comfort Zone and Professional and Social Circles!!

30. Examine Your Social and Professional Circles? • Consider who you have mentored/sponsored in your organization? Do you see any patterns? (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation schools, region, appearance) • With whom and where do you socialize? What messages do you think you send about how open to diversity and inclusion you are?

31. Choose to Expand and Collaborate • Put yourself in places when you are in the minority; develop relationships • Go to affinity groups, conversations and events that increase your awareness and comfort • Choose a person of an underrepresented group to co-lead a project or committee • Seek to learn more about groups different from your own (exhibits, movies, books, dialogues) • Build relationships across difference

32. EXPANDING!! It’s not about PERFECTION It’s about CONNECTION You have to go beyond comfort to experience it

33. Small Moves Matter • Say hello • Say thank you • Make connections with those on the margin • Spend time in places where your dominant identity is the minority • Get people’s names right- watch out for nicknames- www.Mivoko.com • Learn unthreatening ways to solicit different views • Share information about how to access resources • Rotate opportunity- don’t chose the same people • Speak out about the success of those in underrepresented groups – watch for out “even though”

34. Things You Can Do • Look out for your implicit biases and stereotypes- especially your unconscious sense of your group as superior • Develop cultural competence-- get information about the experiences, contributions and histories of one-down group members • Build relationships across difference • Decide to invest in the success of someone from a “one-down group - mentor, sponsor, support their development

35. Things You Can Do, cont’d • Interrupt bias when you see it • Publish the accomplishments of one-down group individuals to offset bias • Examine and change systems in the organization where unearned advantage is embedded • Expect to make mistakes, get disoriented, feel destabilized with this information – don’t succumb to or be paralyzed by guilt and shame

36. Spectrum of Responses to Bias Actively Biased Passively Biased Actively Anti-Biased

37. Q U E S T I O N S!

38. Vernā Myers Consulting Group, LLC 100 Harborview Drive Suite 1402 Baltimore, MD 21230 443-438-7060 vmyers@vernamyersconsulting.com www.vernamyersconsulting.com