Checking My Bias?

I don't have bias; I'm a man of the 21st century. I'm open-minded, don't hate any race, and I hate discrimination... HA!?

I was so naive about this back then, around 2005.

The company was recruiting for a safety advisor position. The stack of resumes in the discard pile were names like Abdul, Abramish, and Abby. The potential interview pile was more like Conner, Clint or Chris. I wasn't even aware I was doing it.

Naive? Maybe, maybe not, but a full-on lack of awareness - for sure.

One last resume left. I started to read it and thought to myself. "This person warrants the short list and probably an interview. Who is this?"

Another piece of paper on my desk covered the name at the top while I read it. I lifted the paper and saw the name, Fahleed.

Then I had a look another look at the discard pile without looking at the names.

Talk about unconscious bias taking a flying leap to the conscious — a game-changing moment for me. I did not consider myself racist or misogynistic in my heart and mind, and I hated any discrimination.

But clearly, I had a bias of some kind influencing my resume screening.

Even after working overseas, where sometimes I was the visible minority, I still had a bias. I was surprised with myself.

Looking at their experiences and credentials, I thought, "I should be working for some of them, not interviewing them." I needed an objective run at this, so I scooped up all the resumes and went back to our personnel manager (That's what we called HR in the industry back then. Yes, this was a long time ago. I may officially be part of the old boys club)

I asked her to have the names covered up somehow so that I could reduce the bias and do a blind review.

Unfortunately, I did not get to take the exercise further because the company began a merger, all hiring stopped, and all job postings were cancelled.

But it was a lesson I carry with me to this day, and when the biased thoughts creep in - they always do - I have found that the best way to reduce the bias is to lean in, face it head-on, and investigate what is going on there.

Lean in and get surprised or impressed by the broader perspective.

Now I pay attention when bias creeps in. Like on a recent construction site, I pushed myself to lean in.

Gravel was being delivered multiple times daily for a couple of weeks as the area was getting prepared for some concrete tank pads.

There had been a couple of near-miss events and truck breakdowns. Incidents where we were lucky no one was hurt. Trucks turning too tight, getting stuck or backing into something, even if the driver had a spotter.

Also, looking into the events, there were often language challenges. The lion's share of the drivers seemed to be new immigrant workers.

Stop here and check your bias. What do you think the skin tones and genders were, or what were the languages in those challenges?

The job site is in Northern Alberta, Canada.

The drivers were a mosaic of Russian, Polish, Sudanes or Indian. Some were new truck drivers some were not. All were new to Canada and the driving conditions of northern Alberta.

One day we needed gravel dumped near the future location of a concrete tank base. The truck and trailer had to back along a curve. The pipefitting crew placed a skid-mounted welding machine for their work, but it made backing up on a curve very challenging to dump gravel, which increased the risk of an accident.?

A truck and trailer pulled in, primed for a language barrier and an assumed novice driver skill. I climbed onto the cab step of the truck as the driver lowered his window, and I was met by a cheery fellow wearing a forest green turban greeting me with a big grin and a British accent. The British accent threw me for a second. I heard the big-belly redneck supervisor behind me, who must have seen the driver, say with a hint of sarcasm, "Ohh, here we go."

I told the driver to wait a moment for us to move the welding skid. Although I wanted to reduce the risk of an event, I was pre-evaluating his skill set as a driver, assuming he couldn't make the turn.

The driver said, "Let's take a look."?

He opened the door and reached behind his seat to grab his steel-toed boots. It was then that I noticed that the inside of the cab was pristine.?

I have never seen a cab so clean, shiny and polished, Particularly for the dusty conditions of a gravel truck. Truly impressive, and I told him so. He replied, "This is my office, man. It must be clean. I'm a professional."

Then he smiled, pulled out a yellow hard hat, and perched it on top of his turbin. I told him there was no overhead hazard and that the hard hat wasn't necessary.

He pointed to my hard hat and said, "There's a sign at the gate, and when in Rome," shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, it looks pretty stupid, but I don't want you to get in any trouble for letting me out of the truck without it," and we had a bit of a chuckle together because it did look pretty funny. With the hard hat perched on top of his turban,?he walked to where we needed the gravel dumped. I told him again that we would move the welding skid.

He confidently replied, "No, it's okay. I got this". It wasn't arrogant or cocky, just a quiet hold my beer I got this kind of confidence. He drove the truck forward a little, then backed up while turning the trailer around a slight curve with only 12 - 18" of space on either side of the truck. He dumped the trailer, then pulled forward a bit to reposition the trailer and backed up, jack-knifing the trailer to unload the truck.

I know people that can't back up a holiday trailer, never mind a gravel truck with two pivot points on the trailer.

I told him that was an impressive piece of driving. I got that big bright smile again. Replying, "Thanks, I like what I do." and with a wave, he was gone.

"Clearly a pro," I thought.

"Huh," I heard from the big belly redneck behind me.

The point of this story is that when you realize a biased thought or judgment is creeping up, lean in and give the benefit of the doubt to the person. This goes for any trade or position.

It is a fantastic way to challenge and shift our biases and broaden our perspectives.

What and how do you acknowledge them, your bias, or do you think about them?

Share your?ideas and experiences in the comments.