Bias awareness – the gateway drug for diversity and inclusion?

Research studies are by their very nature dry. They're not really page-turners unless, these happen to be your favourite types of pages, holding insights that you have been waiting for your whole academic life.

I have taken to reading research studies over the past couple of years as a way of breaking through some of my own cognitive biases around things that I think I know and understand.

My latest gem is titled "Development of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory" and it’s a page-turner of note. My best bit is the pre-amble which I have copied here for your edification, because I love these definitions, nice, concise, clear, unambiguous, not leaving room for misunderstanding. You get the picture.

"Social norms are rules and standards that guide and constrain one’s behavior (Cialdini & Trost, 1999). As a result of social norms, people learn what is expected of them in their social interactions, or put another way, they learn the “customs, traditions, standards, rules, values, fashions” that constitute social norms (Sherif, 1936, p. 3). Gender role norms, or those rules and standards that guide and constrain masculine and feminine behavior, are believed to have the same properties as social norms (Mahalik, 2000b). In a way that is similar to how social norms influence people to engage in specific social behavior, gender role norms also operate when people observe what most men or women do in social situations, are told what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior for men or women, and observe how popular men or women act. As a result, males and females come to learn what is expected of them when living their gendered lives".*

What stands out for me is "…. gender role norms also operate when people observe what most men or women do in social situations, are told what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior for men or women, and observe how popular men or women act."

 It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. People look at other people to decide if what they are doing is right or wrong or, as the definition states, "people learn what is expected from and of them".

This seems relatively obvious. It’s what we are all told about how we bring up our children, how we manage our teams, how we engage with learners, mentees and so on. The thing is, unconscious bias means that many people have absolutely no idea whatsoever that the behaviour that they are exhibiting, playing out each day, is in fact behaviour that is not constructive at best and destructive at worst.

It’s this unconscious bias thing, our in-built biases that by their own definition, we are unaware exist. 

Oh, how to get around this? Well most people don't necessarily want to find out what their unconscious biases are because that's not only very uncomfortable but its bloody hard work. Once you know you are biased in some way, be it sexist, racist, age-ist and so on, the work has only begun. Work is needed. Continual lifelong learning has begun.

That's tough stuff and not only do many people not want to do this work, they don’t even want to find out what work they need to do. That's why finding out where your biases are is like a gateway drug to diversity and inclusion work. It’s like biting at that annoying torn nail that you really don’t want to bite at because you know it’s going to cause you lots of discomfort and probably some not insignificant discomfort.

And, you should tackle that torn nail head-on. Find out what biases you have. Without that knowledge, you really can’t take any further steps.

We've developed a couple of workshops that help corporates to bring unconscious biases to the surface. It’s done in a controlled manner. We're not trying to re-traumatise people and the work is still definitely done at that intersection between learning and discomfort. In a company that’s the first step. After that comes, what do I do with this? What tools can I use to work with this knowledge? How do I use these tools to keep me aware and compassionate so that I can cultivate connection with fellow team members for the best end results of the company?

We learn by watching what others do. If those that are leading us are leading from their biases, we can’t help but feel that if our way of doing things does not fit in with those biases, that we will be in some way ostracised by them and others.

We learn by seeing how others show up so I guess the question is, how are you showing up? Are your biases lighting your path for all to see? Reinforcing the negative and diminishing the positive?

Or are you at the very least aware that you are a racist, or a sexist, or an age-ist and you're doing something every day to be tolerant and compassionate, and change.

Empathy is your middle name? Good job. You're leading by example. An example I'd like more people to learn from.

*https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230800994_Development_of_the_Conformity_to_Masculine_Norms_Inventory

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