Managing Bias

I had coffee with a friend a few weeks ago. She is a senior leader at one of the world’s top banks. As we discussed her growth at the bank, she mentioned that she had been passed over for an impactful position because her manager assumed that she would not be interested in the role because she had a young baby and the position required frequent travel. She questioned her manager’s decision. The manager apologised but said that someone else had already been selected for the role and nothing could be done now. I was shocked by my friend's experience. She's a respected executive with a track record of success in her industry. Despite that, her manager's bias around motherhood still prevented her from advancing in her career.?

As a leader who impacts people’s careers, I asked myself, “Do I have any biases that I might not be aware of?”, “Do my teams have biases?” and “What do I do about them?” To help me examine my perspective, I decided to take a course on Managing Bias.

The first thing I realised about bias is that everyone has biases whether we like it or not. They manifest themselves in simple things like who we choose to sit next to on public transport to which cashier we go to at a supermarket. These biases are unconscious and therefore we might not even realise that we have them. This concerned me quite a bit and it reiterated the need to keep continued vigilance to ensure that these don’t affect work and to call out biases when others show them. In addition, as a manager, it is important to create an environment where calling out and preventing biases is appreciated and encouraged.?

I also learnt about the different kinds of biases many people have. Here are some that caught my attention:

1. For women, there seems to be a tradeoff between likeability and competence. Women talk to me about how being successful at work has made people like them less. It’s sad because it is so unfair and it seems to be the opposite for men.?
2. People with heavy accents are assumed to be bad at communication.
3. Affinity bias makes us assume that people we like are more competent. And people who are dissimilar to a large group often don’t feel good enough and face imposter syndrome.?
4. Women are asked to take notes more often! I went back to my banker friend and asked her if she is asked to take notes more often at work. She replied: “I literally do it all the time and I am so frustrated!” She thought I had done some magic to identify this but sadly, this is how biases play out. There is no magic here.

There are dozens more biases like these that make the workplace difficult for our teammates. So what can we do about it? Here are six steps for counteracting bias that I’ll use going forward:

1. Understand biases and how they work
2. Understand the impact biases have on others
3. Do something to intervene when we see biases
4. Start difficult conversations
5. Counteract biases through action
6. Create a culture where biases don’t affect teammates

This was the second time I took this course and despite that, I got a refresher on all the unconscious biases I might have and understood what I could do about them.?I encourage everyone to get more knowledgeable about this topic. Take a course on this if possible. There are several courses available within companies, on LinkedIn and externally.