Before we address the question of “unconscious bias” in the workplace, it’s important to take a step back and define the term. Unconscious bias refers to the hidden beliefs that impact our perceptions of others. “Unconscious bias” is also a hot topic, appearing on the human capital agendas of many organizations today. Google’s Making the Unconscious Conscious video, for example, makes the case that understanding unconscious bias is critical to creating an inclusive workplace.
At Aperian Global, we partner with organizations to improve their global diversity and inclusion efforts – and one of the best ways to do this is by creating awareness of unconscious bias in the workplace and its impact on workplace decisions and behavior. When we do this, we all reap the benefits of greater productivity, creativity, and innovation [as evidenced in this landmark McKinsey piece, “Why Diversity Matters.”
So, wondering how to address unconscious bias in the workplace? Below, we’ll point a few helpful steps to help organizations do just that.
Understand that unconscious bias is normal
Unconscious biases are the implicit positive or negative preferences for things, individuals, or groups shaped through our individual experiences. These snap judgments can have huge implications for the way we work. Unconscious bias makes us believe we are making decisions about an individual’s capabilities, professionalism, or ability to contribute based on rational details when, in reality, these are based on our personal preferences.
Until recently, there was a tendency to think that having biases made us bad people. However, neuroscience research has demonstrated that human beings are hardwired to prefer those who resemble us or show similar features. Therefore, companies need to start understanding unconscious bias in the workplace is normal. What makes biases “bad” is a lack of awareness regarding how they influence our decisions and impact others.
Identify your biases and their potential impact in the workplace
It is important for you to become aware of the biases you may have and understand the impact of unconscious bias in the workplace. Think about your own potential biases and decision-making patterns; after you identify your own implicit biases, consider how these may play out in the workplace. How does unconscious bias affect who you invite to meetings, who you speak with more easily, and whose opinions influence your decisions?
Broaden your viewpoint and educate others
Another key to address unconscious biases? Broadening your viewpoint and educating others. Think about these four critical steps:
- When identifying a negative bias that you may have, make a conscious effort to learn more about that idea, individual, or group to understand how and why it makes you uncomfortable.
- When making critical decisions, ensure you invite others who can broaden your viewpoint and balance any hidden biases. Ask peers representing other viewpoints for feedback on potential preference patterns you may have and actively listen to their feedback.
- If you identify a colleague who may be making a decision with potential bias, engage them in a constructive conversation to identify any possible biases in their decision.
- When working with global colleagues, understand that your perceptions of bias may simply result from a lack of understanding of cultural differences. Increase your awareness and understanding of the cultures you may be working with to better understand any potential biases you may have.
By improving one’s awareness and understanding of unconscious bias, individuals can begin to change how they think about and engage with diversity issues. Be sure to step back and ask:
- “What biases might I have?”
- “What impact does this have in the workplace?”
- “What will I do about this?”
Increasing one’s awareness and engaging in productive dialogue is the first step in the journey of creating a globally inclusive workplace.
Note: Updated September 2020.
Looking for more ways to identify and mitigate unconscious bias in the workplace?
Here is implicit bias by the numbers: 11,000,000, 40 and 150.
According to University of Virginia psychology professor Timothy Wilson, 11,000,000 is how many pieces of information we are confronted with at any given moment. Forty is how many pieces of information he says our brains can actually process at one time.
If we tried to process it all equally, well, the tiger will eat us long before our brains absorb that there’s a threat. To compensate for this discrepancy, our brains compress the process. Rather than solely rely on the data in front of us, our brains depend on our experiences, history and perceptions to make decisions. In other words, our brains rely on similar data, assuming that it’s as valid as the actual data.
Only, of course, it isn’t.
We make snap decisions based on imperfect information and, the result, over time, is implicit bias, or the tendency to unknowingly rely on information that reinforces stereotypes. Here’s where the 150 comes in: that’s how many forms of implicit bias experts have identified. These different forms of bias range from perception bias [stereotyping people based on a group they belong to] to bandwagon bias [believing something because others believe it].
While implicit bias is a hard-wired, necessary survival trait, it’s also hard-wired into our interactions with other people, where it can quickly lead to discrimination, lack of diversity, and singly-minded thinking– even unintentionally. It is especially important, then, when working in a multicultural group or environment, to attempt to unlearn our inherent unconscious biases by rationally assessing the decisions our brains make in everyday situations.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to unlearn implicit biases. But be patient because, as with most behavioral changes, it’s going to take time. Here are some tips to help you start breaking implicit bias patterns:
- Increase contact with people who are different from you. We form unconscious biases based on race, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, marital status, education, and many other social categories. We also tend to socialize the most with people like us. Break that pattern by interacting with people outside your in-group. That interaction will have a much greater effect if you work to form organic and genuine friendships with those people, rather than rely on casual or infrequent contact.
- Notice positive examples. Research shows that implicit bias responds to current input. In other words, new experiences can replace older data. One way to take advantage of this is to focus your attention on the positive characteristics and actions of people who are outside your in-group. The idea is to create new and organic patterns and generalizations that are positive.
- Be specific in your intent. It’s one thing to say, “I will lose weight.” It’s another to say, “I will cut dessert out of my diet until I’ve lost 10 pounds.” The latter statement is more likely to help you succeed. Regardless of whether you are aware of holding specific stereotypes yourself, you can defeat negative bias by countering it intentionally. For example, there is a pervasive [and inaccurate] stereotype that Black folks are more likely to commit crimes than people of other races. Even if we consciously disbelieve this stereotype, we are aware of it. A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study found that people who intentionally said the word “safe” to themselves each time they encountered a Black person effectively undid implicit bias by creating a new and more positive stereotype.
- Change the way you do things. Often, we’re stuck in negative patterns without realizing it. In hiring, for example, we often perpetuate single-minded thinking by hiring people much like ourselves. A contributing factor can be implicit bias in the way we read resumes, making assumptions based on people’s names, age or education. So, ditch the resumes! Some companies have already done so, and are, instead, asking candidates to submit work samples or presentations. This way people are hired based on the quality of their work, not on who or what they are. [The Clayman Institute of Gender Studies at Stanford found that the number of women musicians in orchestras rose from 5% to 25% after auditioning players performed behind a screen so that their gender was unknown; the playing spoke for itself.]
- Heighten your awareness. Once you become aware of something, you can’t be unaware ever again. Make an effort to notice all the ways in which your perceptions are subliminally shaped. For example, you may consciously believe that women are equally as capable as men of being effective leaders. But every time you uncritically read or hear phrases like “glass ceiling” or “gender pay gap” they undermine your belief.
- Take care of yourself. Implicit bias is more likely to surface when we are mentally or physically exhausted or highly stressed. That’s because when we’re tired or stressed, we’re less effective at processing new information and rely more on unconscious patterns.
None of these approaches alone will help us overcome our implicit bias. And even collectively they will only work if we accept that we have implicit biases and commit to diligent self-awareness. We must see ourselves clearly before we can begin to see others clearly. A crucial tool for cultivating this self-awareness is to seek ongoing training on managing implicit bias. RW3’s Global Inclusion Suite is designed to offers the tools you need to start your inclusion journey, and our “Overcoming Implicit Bias” course is specifically curated to support learners as they identify their specific biases and harness the tools to act more inclusively.