Building bonds and healthy work relationships are strongly desired for employees, but professionalism must always be the priority. Here are some tips on how to keep different workplace relationships healthy when it comes to race, cultural bonding and fixing subconscious issues with minority managers.
Similar Race Does Not Automatically Equal Same Mindset
There's something comforting about seeing someone you can relate to from first sight. By now viewers have probably seen the photo of Jacob Philadelphia of Columbia, Md., asking President Barack H. Obama if he could touch his hair.
Similar Race Does Not Automatically Equal Same Mindset
There's something comforting about seeing someone you can relate to from first sight. By now viewers have probably seen the photo of Jacob Philadelphia of Columbia, Md., asking President Barack H. Obama if he could touch his hair.
President Barack Obama bends down to allow the son of a White House staff member to touch his head during a family visit to the Oval Office on May 8, 2009. The boy wanted to see if the President's haircut felt like his own. (Pete Souza/White House Flickr Account)
Comedians Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key even made fun of how black people greet each other regardless of whether we know each other or not.
Now before viewers get bent out of shape about that "Key & Peele" video, people like POTUS love to have a bonding experience even if it's just to tease First Lady Michelle Obama about consoling babies.
Now before viewers get bent out of shape about that "Key & Peele" video, people like POTUS love to have a bonding experience even if it's just to tease First Lady Michelle Obama about consoling babies.
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Both videos are a mix of truth and exaggeration. In the workplace though, personal bias has an undeniable effect on building relationships. Too often it is believed that people support each other based solely on physical appearance without bothering to admit that personality has to play a significant factor in keeping that relationship going. Regardless of how similar two people are, if their personalities clash, all of that brotherhood and sisterhood can go right out of the window.
No matter how many times news programs prove this, people still choose to turn a blind eye to the obvious. GOP advocate Crystal Wright is nothing like MSNBC political host Joy Reid. Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are clearly not on the same page as politicians like POTUS. Their personal values will always outrank their complexion. Sometimes they are similar. Other times they couldn't be more different. The same can be said for workers outside of the political industry.
No matter how many times news programs prove this, people still choose to turn a blind eye to the obvious. GOP advocate Crystal Wright is nothing like MSNBC political host Joy Reid. Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are clearly not on the same page as politicians like POTUS. Their personal values will always outrank their complexion. Sometimes they are similar. Other times they couldn't be more different. The same can be said for workers outside of the political industry.
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