![]() Attempting to get people to modify their behavior without making them safe first is a model destined for failure, and it only exacerbates the pain felt by marginalized groups as their differences are made to feel like causes for reprimand instead of diversity to be honored.Īccording to the Othering and Belonging multimedia journal run by UC Berkeley: “Othering” is a term that not only encompasses the many expressions of prejudice on the basis of group identities, but it provides a clarifying frame that reveals a set of common processes and conditions that propagate group-based inequality and marginality. The lack of psychological safety in this kind of exercise is profoundly problematic. Cue the almighty consultant-facilitator to say “Gotcha!” before going on to explain some convoluted moral-of-the-story that equates your learning experience with day-to-day work in your organization. You spend two hours trying to solve a problem only to discover that either your team never had enough context to solve it, or the problem was intentionally unsolvable. One feature of this kind of learning experience is often the “gotcha” moment. Related: Why Inclusive Collaboration Is the Answer to a Company’s Most Existential Threats How othering destroys safety In the case of this particular simulation, to remain quiet, observe, and assume a supporting role – which are surely characteristics we also need in the workplace – were surefire ways to get labeled as “untrustworthy.” But for marginalized people, creating situations like this can often lead to further marginalization and an alarming lack of safety. If you are not regularly “othered” in the workplace, perhaps these kinds of activities are easy to participate in, maybe even fun. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth, but it wasn’t until I sat down and actually drew up a list of the ways people are encouraged to gain trust and appear “fun to work with” that I was hit with how incredibly exclusionary the entire experience was.Ī lot of gamification-style learning experiences are designed to encourage extroverted and neurotypical behaviors. The most “trustworthy” people at the end were the “winners.” ![]() The underlying goal was to do so in a way that made people trust you and want to work with you. The ostensible goal of one of the sessions was to solve a problem as a team in a high-stakes simulation. Many years before I fully understood extrovert and neurotypical privileges, I took part in a variety of experiential learning sessions.
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