Don't change people, change processes

In the 70's fewer than 10% of the players in major U.S. orchestras was female. Why was that? Not because women are worse musicians than men but because they were perceived that way by auditioners. So orchestras started having musicians audition behind a curtain, making gender invisable. Claudia Goldin, Harvard, and Cecilia Rouse, Princeton, showed that this simple change played an important role in increasing the fraction of women in orchestras to almost 40% today.

(source: Designing a Bias-Free Organization, Iris Bohnet, Harvard Business Review)

Changing processes is easier and more effective than changing people.

Last month I was guest speaker at the yearly convention of confidential counsellors. Bullying at work was the main topic and I was invited to share some insights on courage in general and the courage to address discrimination and bullying in particular. I found myself in this strange dilemma. As author and behavioral expert, I am quite aware of several behavioral aspects that really matter in these situations. But I am also increasingly convinced by growing evidence, that changing behavior is not only hard but also ineffective and not sustainable, when we rely heavily on awareness alone.

Iris Bohnet states that firms are wasting their money on diversity training. The problem is, most programs just don't work. Rather than run more workshops or try to eradicate the biases that cause discrimination, she says, companies need to redesign their processes to prevent biased choices in the first place.

Of course it helps to raise the level of awareness. Diversity and inclusion are ranked highly on the agenda of an increasing amount of organizations. But this awareness alone is not enough. Even worse: being aware without having effective tools is likely to provoke frustration.

That is why we are in the midst of designing (decision making) processes with and for companies. Behavioral design is mainstream according to McKinsey. That may be so, but in the day to day practice, a lot of ground is still to be gained. Looking forward to it and also very happy to join forces with the experts at Neurofied in doing so. Keep you posted.

In the meantime: enjoy your holidays. They are precious, especially this year.

About the author:

Marinka Lipsius is leadership- and behavioral expert. She is consultant and executive coach at TheLeadershipAdvisory She is also author, keynote speaker, trainer and lecturer at her own company Mindkey Academy.