As a manager, Tiffany is responsible for interviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company. During one interview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. She was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individual otherwise. He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said "untrustworthy," so she decided to offer the job to her second choice. "It wasn't until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person." Tiffany admits. What she hadn't known at the time of the interview was that the candidate's "different" behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding. He was an Asian-American raised in a family where respect for those in authority was shown by turning away your eyes. "I was just thrown off by the lack of eye contact, not realizing it was cultural," Tiffany says. "I missed out, but will not miss that opportunity again." Many of us have had similar experiences with behaviors we describe as different. As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our understanding of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions   . Hire Advantage At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult, employers who can have no personal biases   from the process have an obvious advantage. My company, Mindsets LLC, helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots. A real estate   agent we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training can make . "During my Mindsets coaching period, I was taught how to own a diversified workforce. I employed people from different cultures and skill sets. The agents were able to make use of their full potential and experiences to build up the company. When the real estate market began to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were able to stay in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession." Blinded by Gender Dale is an account executive who attended one of my workshops in charge of a diverse workforce. "Through some of the lessons, I discovered my personal bias." he recalls. "I learned I had not been looking at a person as a whole person, and being open to differences." In his case, the blindness was not about culture but rather gender. "I had a management position open in my department; and the two finalists were a man and a woman. Had I not attended this workshop, I would have automatically assumed the man was the best candidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel. My assumption would have been that even though both candidates were great and could have been successful in the position, I assumed the woman would have wanted to be home with her children and not travel." Dale's assumptions are another example of the well-intentioned but incorrect thinking that limits an organization's ability to promote the full potential of a diverse workforce. "I learned from the class that instead of forcing my gender biases into the situation, I needed to present the full range of duties, responsibilities and expectations to all candidates and allow them to make an informed decision." Dale sings high praise for the workshop, "because it helped me make decisions based on fairness." A better Bottom Line An open mind about diversity not only improves organizations from inside, it is profitable as well. These comments from a customer service representative show how an inclusive attitude can improve sales." Most of my customers speak English as a second language. One of the best things my company has done is to contract with a language service that offers translations over the phone. It wasn't until my boss received Mindsets' training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service. As a result, our customer base has increased." Once we start to see people as individuals, we can move positively toward inclusiveness for everyone. Diversity is about coming together and taking advantage of our differences and similarities and about building better communities and organizations. When we begin to question our assumptions and challenge what we think we have learned from our past , from the media, peers, family, friends, etc, we begin to realize that some of our conclusions are imperfect or contrary to our fundamental values. We need to train ourselves to think differently, shift our mindsets and realize that diversity opens doors for all of us, creating opportunities in organizations and communities that benefit everyone. In Tiffany's view, the first candidate was passed over because he   _  .
was an Asian-American didn't perform as perfectly as the second one was untrustworthy showed no respect for authority