We are usually unaware of our unconscious bias to people of some races or to the opposite gender which may be deemed discriminatory.
This unconscious behaviour is triggered by our brain which makes quick judgments and assessments of people and situations. It is influenced by our past experiences and cultural environment, and even our personality make-up.
While taking a closer look at this unconscious bias may be an option in our personal lives, it becomes a problem when this bias creeps into our workplace.
Why is the importance of having diversity in terms of gender, color, race, and geographical regions, in the workplace stressed upon?
The answer in one sentence is innovation for competitive advantage.
The need of the hour is for different ideas to come together to build and do things differently.
Whether we accept it or not, we are all more comfortable working with people who hold similar world views as ours and, as a result, we end up with inevitable blind spots.
What is the solution then? Simply, the answer lies in hiring people with different frames of reference from our own, or at least, in finding a way to bring their point of view to the table.
We operate out of a reality that exists in our heads, formed by our own values, beliefs, experiences, memories, events, amongst other things. It is easier to accept people that may have realities as close to our own.
This means, we may relate more to people similar to us, and having some resistance or hesitations to belief systems of people different from us.
Unconscious bias is then a perception ingrained so deeply through conditioning that it acts up and prompts us to behave in a certain ways with some people, without quite realising it.
This unconscious bias can pass off as self preservation in some situations but when it manages to creep up at the workplace with colleagues, subordinates, or even seniors it can pose as a problem.
Bringing about awareness about this topic is clearly strategically timed given that many companies have come under fire recently for the lack of diversity in their ranks.
Challenging unconscious biases is one attempt at making hiring managers aware of the hidden preferences they bring to decision making when picking someone for the job; ones that stand in the way to hiring the best people for the job.
Most of us believe that we are fair and unbiased. We believe we are good decision makers, able to objectively decide on job candidates and reach a rational and ethical conclusion that is in our and the organisation’s best interests.
However, contrary to this, more than two decades of research confirms that in reality, majority of us fall short of this perception.
A closer examination of your interactions with colleagues from diverse backgrounds or those who hold different viewpoints, and using that to examine your own beliefs is a good starting point at understanding your own unconscious bias.
Courtesy: www.forbesindia.com
