Hello #qc_community, how are you doing? Trust fine. It’s yet another exciting time here. I welcome you to my blog. I am happy to participate in this week's prompt and look forward to your feedback in the comment section.
Prejudices - Have you ever realized that you unconsciously hold a prejudice? Have you ever tried to change your prejudices? How have you done so?
A popular proverb says, “You can’t judge a book by its cover”. This also happens to be the watchword of my eldest sister. I have reached out to her with some challenges, and each time she advises that I should give it time before making a decision. This statement has saved me so many times from making wrong decisions.
So, I understand prejudice as making a preconceived decision about a person or issue without proper knowledge of the person or the situation. It is allowing our emotions to deceive us during decision-making. This may be a good or a bad decision. For example, saying that somebody is bad at face value without further interaction, to confirm that the person is good, or that someone is good when in reality the person is bad.
I have once found myself in this situation. It happened that one of the bailers in our recycling department is from the Northern part of my country. I always see him lying down each time I go for the morning head count. That sight made me adjudge him to be a lazy staff. Again, his inability to speak English worsened the matter.
I arrived very early at work one day, and something took me to the control room. Looking at the CCTV, I saw this same guy heavily baling recyclables all alone. I asked the control personnel to play back, and for one hour before resumption, this guy was baling recycles for production supply. I opened my mouth and could not utter a word. I felt goosebumps all over me. Could you imagine that this same guy comes before everyone and bales all the recyclables before production starts, and after the supply will be resting on baled materials. This is the same guy that I have been nursing a resentment against.
That revelation changed my entire narrative about people, and for him, in our factory. He became my go-to guy in that department. I also ensured that he receives an hour of overtime compensation.
I went home that day, looked myself in the mirror, and spoke to myself seriously, repeating my sister's common phrase, “you do not judge a book by its cover.” From there, I began to adjust and learn how to study and engage people properly before deciding on their personalities. That also involves giving a fair hearing to any employee's case, especially where one is seen as a stubborn person. That does not mean that he will always be wrong. It was a struggle, but I chose to keep on speaking to myself each time I am tempted to draw such preconceived conclusions. I started learning to tolerate people. I also enrolled in some DEI training (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
Today, I am better off with a good sense of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Letting fairness be the order of the day. Allowing time and empathy to guide my decisions. Being flexible and open to accepting people the way they are, rather than making a predetermined decision, except further studies of such people and or situation prove otherwise.
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