Ignorance Isn’t Going To Solve Itself

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Organizational Culture  

No one likes to think of themselves as intolerant. And with a small number of exceptions, I don’t think many people are consciously intolerant. But many people are unconsciously ignorant—they don’t realize that their words or actions are inappropriate, inconsiderate or just downright offensive.

Well, ignorance is no excuse…but how do we stop being ignorant? How do we educate ourselves on how to interact with everyone in the most appropriate manner? Let’s acknowledge that it’s not an easy conversation to have with people, that even acknowledging that we might need help understanding how to be more inclusive or tolerant is an admission that might cause pain and disappointment among our colleagues.

But above all else, let’s admit that the absolute worst thing we can do is pretend the problem doesn’t exist. None of us can solve the problem of intolerance ourselves, but all of us have roles where we work with people in teams. All of us have colleagues who influence our behaviors and whose own behaviors are influenced by us. So, let’s also acknowledge that there are a few things we can do to try and improve things in our immediate areas of influence.

In fact, let me rephrase that: Let’s acknowledge that there are a few things we have to try and do.

The only things that matter
First off, whenever we come …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.