recognition stereotyping: good, bad, and with just one sock

I was an observant kid. I remember being picked up by my mother from a birthday party and asking, ?Mom, why is there always one sweaty kid at every party who loses a sock?? She laughed. Then asked me to explain. And although I?didn?t?realize it then, I had started what we all now consider a terrible practice: stereotyping.

Managers stereotype during the interview process. They stereotype again during delegation. But we all stereotype in some way. And it?s a bad thing, right?

When we were kids, stereotyping might have been labeling the kid with one sock at birthday parties. In high school, it might have been the nerds, the jocks, and preps. And as adults, it might be the slackers, the yes-men, the naysayers, and the overachievers.

Here?s the ugly truth: Stereotyping is the practice of recognizing people for their perceived negative traits.

But what if we could change all that? What if we could pick apart our stereotypes and focus on the positive aspects of being lumped into a group of people?

What can we learn from ?slackers?? Well, that?s easy?slackers are masters at work/life balance.

What can we learn from the ?yes-men?? Commitment to a cause. These are the people who take on tasks, even if they don?t want to, because they realize the organization needs them.

Naysayers teach us about boundaries and can often show us ?good enough? is never enough. The naysayers force us back to the drawing board.

Overachievers can teach us all about tenacity. To an overachiever, meeting an expectation is not good enough. These are the people who dream to the next level and pull the rest of the organization up with them.

Stereotyping is typically an ugly practice?until we all stop long enough to realize what we can learn from the process of labeling. This is something I?didn?t?understand as child. I judged the sweaty kid with only one sock negatively?never considering he found the quickest way to cool down.

Source: http://www.octanner.com/blog/2013/03/recognition-stereotyping-good-bad-and-with-just-one-sock/

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