How do you address bias in your planning team?

1 Recognize your own bias

The first step to addressing bias in your planning team is to acknowledge and understand your own bias. Bias can stem from your personal experiences, beliefs, values, emotions, or preferences. It can also be influenced by social and cultural norms, expectations, and stereotypes. To recognize your own bias, you need to be aware of your thoughts, feelings, and reactions in different situations. You can also use tools such as self-assessments, feedback, or reflection to identify and challenge your own bias.

2 Educate your team about bias

The second step to addressing bias in your planning team is to educate your team about bias. Bias can affect your team's communication, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and innovation. It can also create barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion in your team. To educate your team about bias, you need to provide them with information, resources, and training on how bias works, what types of bias exist, and how bias impacts your team's goals and values. You can also use examples, scenarios, or case studies to illustrate how bias can affect your planning process and outcomes.

4 Seek diverse and inclusive input

The fourth step to addressing bias in your planning team is to seek diverse and inclusive input. Input is the information, opinions, or suggestions that you gather from different sources to inform your planning decisions and actions. It can help your team to broaden your perspectives, explore alternatives, and identify opportunities and risks. It can also help your team to reduce bias, enhance fairness, and increase trust and engagement. To seek diverse and inclusive input, you need to involve a variety of stakeholders in your planning process. You can also use methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or brainstorming to collect input.

5 Review and evaluate your decisions and actions

The fifth step to addressing bias in your planning team is to review and evaluate your decisions and actions. Review and evaluation are the processes of analyzing and assessing the quality, effectiveness, and impact of your planning decisions and actions. They can help your team to learn from your successes and failures, improve your performance, and achieve your outcomes. They can also help your team to monitor and mitigate bias, ensure accountability, and promote transparency. To review and evaluate your decisions and actions, you need to use criteria, indicators, or metrics to measure your results. You can also use tools such as feedback, audits, or reports to document and communicate your findings.

6 Celebrate and reward diversity and inclusion

The sixth and final step to addressing bias in your planning team is to celebrate and reward diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion are the values and practices that recognize, respect, and leverage the differences and similarities among your team members and stakeholders. They can help your team to create a positive and productive culture, foster innovation and creativity, and enhance your reputation and relationships. They can also help your team to prevent and reduce bias, discrimination, and conflict. To celebrate and reward diversity and inclusion, you need to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions and achievements of your team members and stakeholders. You can also use incentives, recognition, or events to motivate and inspire your team.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?