Perception and word order

Continuing professional development (CPD) is a key aspect of all professional institutions. It not only allows us to keep up to date with the latest technical developments, but also prevents us from becoming stale and complacent with the status quo, which can equally happen in our own personal development. Even today, I am continuing to build my self-awareness so as to be more open to considering different ideas. One area where I am struggling to be less partisan is when supporting various sports teams. No matter how much I decide to remain fair and balanced, my intentions do not survive past kick-off.

While watching a match in which my team was winning quite comfortably, I found that I was getting annoyed at what I considered to be biased commentating. My view was in part vindicated when the commentator jumped to an incorrect conclusion about an attempt to score just before the break. The error was subsequently corrected and a sort of apology given. It did highlight how easy it is to arrive at the wrong judgement through personal influences.

At around the same time I read about another example. In this case, an observer had sent a written complaint about an event, reinforcing what they believed to be a growing downward trend in quality and attitude. This complaint was subsequently retracted when the true reasons behind what had been observed had been discovered. In this case, the apology was sincere and I am sure that the lesson of making judgements without knowledge of the full facts was learned. I certainly took heed of it.

All of us are conditioned by our personalities, by our upbringing and by social influences. It is only natural for these to influence our views, but this can raise barriers to diversity and inclusion. I have written previously about the benefits that can accrue from diversity. Eddie Jones, the England Rugby Union coach, highlighted in an interview how society is recognising the importance of diversity and the power that can accrue from putting together different views with different ideas. The importance of some diversity is highlighted in various aspects of life. Anyone who is involved in team sports understands the need for goalkeeping, defensive and attacking skills; for speed and fine motor control skills, as well strength and endurance. More recently, the pandemic highlighted the importance of diverse professions.

Another potential barrier to diversity and inclusion can be the words that we use. I have always been aware of the importance of good and effective communication, but only recently did the importance of the order of the words hit home. In the UK, business generally talks about ‘diversity and inclusion’. Within Jacobs, the order is reversed to be ‘inclusion and diversity’. The reason being that you cannot have diversity if you do not first have an inclusive environment. It makes a lot of sense if you stop and think about it. BINDT has carried out some good work on this topic: have a read of the blogs at www.bindt.org/forums/diversity-and-inclusion.

One thing that you will notice from these blogs, other than the fact that they appear to have stimulated as many comments as this column, is that although they are headlined ‘Diversity and inclusion’, there is a big emphasis on inclusion. Last May, I wrote about listening and stories and referred to Amy Schofield’s piece in NDT News, titled: ‘Developing inclusive workplace cultures’ (www.bindt.org/forums/diversity-and-inclusion/developing-inclusive-workplace-cultures). If you have not read this, I would recommend you do.

Diversity is often viewed in terms of race or gender. While these are very important, there are also other aspects of diversity to be considered. I would recommend the two-part blog on ‘Conversations about Neurodiversity’. A colleague at work separately pointed me in the direction of the document by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) given as Reference 1 in the Part 1 blog (www.cipd.co.uk/Images/neurodiversity-at-work_2018_tcm18-37852.pdf). This is a very informative document and, while it is aimed at businesses, I suspect it could be of interest to individuals who have neurodiversity within their families.

The challenge to us all is to do what we can to be more inclusive. And I will continue to try to be less obsessively partisan when watching sport!

Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author’s own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within NDT News. They do not represent the views of Jacobs or BINDT.

Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Midsummer House, Riverside Way, Bedford Road, Northampton NN1 5NX, UK. Email: ndtnews@bindt.org or email Bernard McGrath direct at bernard.mcgrath1@jacobs.com

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