For the most part, everyone has their unconscious biases. These are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional and are deeply engrained within our beliefs, and have the ability to affect our behaviour. For instance, if you are stuck in a car park with a flat tyre, chances are you would be most likely to approach a man, rather than a woman, if you needed assistance in changing it. However, according to author Natalie Clarkson, while this unconscious bias may seem innocent, problems can arise when unconscious biases make their way into workplaces. Clarkson echoed similar sentiments shared in a report ‘McKinsey’s Delivering Through Diversity report’ which cited that “gender, ethnic and cultural diversity, particularly within executive teams, continue to be correlated to financial performance across multiple countries worldwide.” However, when unconscious biases are allowed into the workplace, diversity suffers, the report noted. Needless to say, in an era where different thinking and innovation power is key to secure bottom-line results, our unconscious preferences for people who are like us severely challenge our intentions to create diversified and inclusive work places. “Therefore, understanding our own unintended preferences, enables us to take full control of business decisions, harness the potential of diversity and create innovative teams.” The report reads in part. Here are 5 essential ways to overcome the vice at your workplace Start with yourself Start to think about the unconscious biases you may have. What decisions have you made regarding people without really giving it a second thought? Question why you made the decision that you made. For example, Clarkson says, maybe you believe that men and women are equally capable of leading, but you think that men lack the ability to show empathy the way that women do so you chose a woman for a role that you knew would require empathy. While this might not sound negative, decisions should be based on who is the right person for the role, not what gender you perceive to be most capable. Call it out According to businesschicks.com, the thing about unconscious bias is that it is unconscious –people may not even be aware that they are thinking in prejudiced or discriminating ways based on social and stereotyped gender norms. Whether it’s in the boardroom or when screening potential employees, question why you or your colleague may have a preference for one candidate over another, and more importantly have a conversation about it. “Things fester in silence. When you see something around you happening and you think maybe there’s something here that is slightly biased, call it out,” Yassmin Abdel Magied writes. “It doesn’t necessarily need to be something that’s done in a really overt way, I’ve tried it before, and it doesn’t work. But pulling that person aside in any situation and just going, ‘hey, did you notice that this happened?’ So being generous in having that conversation is something that’s important.” She adds. Focus on people Rather than thinking about the characteristics of someone’s ethnicity, gender or class background, focus on them as an individual, Clarkson asserts. Give them merit on the evidence you see in front of you, rather than what you’re expecting based on your own biases. Increase exposure to biases Once you’ve identified what your biases are try exposing yourself to them more regularly. This might sound like confirmation bias, but if you seek to prove your biases wrong it can have a positive impact on your behaviour. “Using the example of women being better at showing empathy than men, if you seek out stories of men who have shown great empathy and been highly successful as a result, it will start to challenge your bias.” Clarkson reiterates. Change the process For more women and ethnically marginalised people to have equal opportunities in the workplace, Yassmin believes a ‘change in process’ needs to occur to shift views and impact real social change. “I am a big fan of changing the process in order to fix things as an engineer,” says Yassmin. “Sometimes you can design the process differently. For example, when they came to do petrol and diesel valves, they made them different sizes so you can’t actually put the diesel in the petrol – instead of telling people not to put the diesel in the petrol, they changed the system so you couldn’t actually do it. “So for hiring for example, if a CEO mandated that for every promotion there couldn’t be more than three people going for the promotion and no more than two who shared the same demographic, there couldn’t be more than two girls or two guys, there couldn’t be more than two of one descent. And that just forced people to broaden the pool – how do you design the system to enable that diversity?”
