How can you avoid unconscious bias in mentoring?

Unconscious bias can dent mentoring relationship and lead to misunderstandings. It's an evident fact that everyone has biases which can be seen/observed by audience but not by self. What works for me is avoid making assumptions, providing equal opportunities and the best one is to ask, "How am I doing?" This will give clarity on what went in and can help in further building on self efficacy for betterment of mentees.

Lean into your biases - if you are truly serious about understanding the biases that you have (and we all have them) then call yourself out and show that vulnerability to share them with others. Dare I say it, even with your mentees! The sooner we can accept we are flawed and we get things wrong and even as a mentor we don't have all (or even many) of the answers the better. Mentoring done well is a balanced 2 way learning journey not something "i do" to someone else...

This is about personal practices. Meaning, don’t try to overcome bias for a single conversation or series interactions. Your job is to notice your own ability to pause and reflect on your thoughts. Explore and then strengthen your own muscle memory when it comes to not assuming you know other people’s experiences, personalities, or perspectives based on your assumptions.

In your personal practices, focus on continuously improving rather than trying to overcome bias in just one conversation or interaction. Notice your ability to pause and reflect on your thoughts. Strengthen your ability to avoid assuming you know others' experiences or perspectives based on your assumptions. Keep practicing to build better habits over time.

As a mentor, this can be tough, especially with the risk of unconscious bias creeping into interactions. Maintaining impartiality and fairness requires self-discipline and introspection. In the privileged role of a mentor, people are placing their trust in our hands. It is therefore our responsibility to foster inclusivity and diversity, creating a supportive environment where everyone is respected regardless of their background. Setting clear expectations, giving consistent feedback, and addressing our biases regularly are key strategies to combat unconscious bias. By nurturing an environment of openness and inclusivity, mentors can cultivate a supportive setting for mentees to thrive and realise their full potential.

The variety of audience you mentor, the more impartial you become when demonstrating your art. You might hold bias in the early days of practice, but your social perceptiveness is groomed over time. Eventually, one leans on self-analysis to dictate their approach in meeting the diverse needs of mentees. You'd take an independent stance and start to offer genuine mentorship while acting composed and professional at all times.

Seeking diverse mentees is like going to a music festival with a wide variety of genres. You might love rock music, but at the festival, you're exposed to everything from jazz to electronica. Mentoring diverse mentees opens your ears (and mind!) to new perspectives and ways of thinking. Bonus Tip: Don't wait for a formal program! Reach out to colleagues or professional organisations to find potential mentees. You can also search online communities or hashtags related to your field and interests. By being proactive, you can connect with a wider range of talented individuals.

With the experience we gain, we evolve our "selective hearing". We sub-consciously accept hearing from the selective personals which create a biased nature towards others. This can be removed by being attentive and acknowledging opinions of other. This also can change if you start looking at their growth as your own. Your behavior towards others guides your subconscious mindset to create a drift between "to be biased" and "to be not biased" if you pacify that then you will be automatically non-biased towards selective personals. It's kind a trick your mind which works amazingly for me.

This is really important for a healthy mentorship relationship. Many a times it might seem like it’s the exact same thing you (mentor) have experienced so the brain quickly assumes a few things . This could lead to a poor mentee experience and the factors/situation could be different from the mentor. It’s important to listen carefully , clarify the assumptions, be empathetic and then share guidance.

I would suggest implementing peer mentoring circles where mentees can share experiences and perspectives in a supportive environment. Encourage mentees to provide feedback on the mentoring process, including any instances where they feel their perspectives aren't being listened to or respected. Incorporate mindfulness practices into your mentoring sessions to help mentors and mentees become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, actions and impact. Rotate mentors periodically to expose mentees to diverse perspectives and approaches. Utilize storytelling, sharing experiences and lessons learned, "give everyone a voice". Establish guidelines for mentoring interactions, emphasize the importance of listening, empathy, and respect.

Let's approach this from a slightly different angle. As mentors, it's imperative to recognize that unconscious bias can inadvertently seep into our feedback mechanisms. To mitigate this, a proactive approach is necessary: Self-awareness and Reflection: Start by introspecting your own biases. Cultivate Empathy and Understanding: Take time to understand the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and challenges faced by your mentees. Promote a Culture of Feedback: Establish a safe, non-judgmental environment where feedback is welcomed. Utilize Structured Feedback: Describing the situation, highlighting behaviors, and impact of those behaviors. Creating a culture of self-awareness, empathy, and open communication, will ultimately benefit everyone.

Giving constructive and balanced feedback is like cooking a delicious meal. You wouldn't just dump in random ingredients! You need the right balance of flavors (positive and negative feedback) to create something truly yummy.

To give constructive feedback and avoid bias it is essential that a mentor avoids projections coming from his or her own experiences. His approach should move away from his/her PERCEPTION, embracing instead an objective PERSPECTIVE. Keeping in mind that people are different and there is no black or white, right or wrong, helps a mentor adjust to each individual mentee.

Multiple tactics help you avoid unconscious bias in mentoring: - What characteristics and attributes do people in your company recognize as "potential" or "talent"? Can you recall, from your own experience, that talent can look very different, too? - Review your past mentees. What's their profile? Are they maybe all women who've experienced a lot of hardships and you feel now they deserve a chance? - Remember that the strongest teams and organizations are made up of people whose strengths are complementary. Consider mentoring someone who brings strengths that are very different from your own. - Think about your own development: You'll grow the most by mentoring someone with very different experiences and perspectives than your own.

If mentorship is a key part of your role or business, then it’s great to have peers who also provide mentorship to run de-identified scenarios by. Think of it as sharing case studies. You explain to peer a challenging mentee situation & what your approach is & get their input. It has to be somebody that you trust & whose opinion you respect so that if they give you a different perspective or, worst case scenario, find bias, you’re open to hearing it & changing your approach. This would require the peer to be from different identity background(s) than you, e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. if the peer is exactly the same as you and all social identities, then unlikely that they will pick up on the bias.

Consider regularly reviewing and adapting your mentoring approach as a key strategy to mitigate unconscious bias. Utilize self-reflection, feedback mechanisms, and evaluation tools to gauge the efficacy and influence of your mentoring dynamic. Identify areas for enhancement and biases through this process. Through ongoing reviews and adjustments, you can optimize the support and guidance you offer to your mentees, creating a conducive environment for mutual learning and development.

It's important to become aware of our unconscious biases and work towards change. Paying attention to our thoughts and examining our beliefs can help us identify the assumptions we currently hold, eventually it helps us find patterns of thinking and make us aware of other biases that we may have. It's simply by listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating emphatically we can create trusting relationships with our mentees.

In mentoring, sharing one's perspectives or even giving advice is par for the course. However, this does create the risk of 'corrupting young minds'! Mentoring is an deep human connection. It is indeed possible that during Mentoring one's (unconscious) biases also gets passed on. Since the mentees tend to put the mentors on a pedal, they might imbibe some of these without adequate critical scrutiny. Of course, there is always the risk that the mentors might attempt to mold the mentees in their own image!

Do research and reading from relevant external sources that have been peer reviewed and are up to date. Spend time in personal awareness to notice stories or beliefs that have been created or attached that do not serve the edification of the collective community.

Assuming the bias is unconscious, all one can do is regular self-reflection which leads to awareness. Education on different types of biases and also general education is a very important part of developing awareness. Also put in place feedback mechanisms and hold yourself accountable for addressing your own biases once they are brought to your attention.

I have been a corporate trainer for twenty years. I had a bias issue. I would expect trainees and mentees to be hard and smart working, have less fun until they pick up on the solutions, be quiet attentive. I found that they have different approaches to bring about change to self/ to team/ in problem solving. I also, as a mentor, understood I needed more patience, to be a mentor to different personalities. 1. Understand the group/individual and have different approaches while mentoring. 2. Wear different hats of communication 3. Very important - remove the hallo effect. Maintain a report sheet and encourage mentees to have one too. Measures. This motivates and establishes time bound goals. 4. Be patient and push them gently.

Très instructif pour travailler sur moi et modifier notre perception des autres. Cet article invite à une prise de conscience et à s'inscrire dans une démarche déconstruction psychologique. Toutefois cette approche n'est pas suffisamment pris en compte ou développée dans l'article en mettant en lumière les mécanismes psychologiques qui conditionnent un individu à demeurer dans les carcans des préjugés.