Unconscious Bias In The Workplace- How To Avoid It
Unconscious bias is actually a rather forbidding concept, but it is nonetheless something that almost everyone is subject to. Simply put, unconscious bias refers to the prejudices that we have towards others that are not in our conscious control.
Unconscious Bias in the Workplace – How to Avoid It
In the workplace, unconscious bias can have detrimental and sometimes devastating consequences. ?Unconscious bias can mean that we occasionally treat a specific group or an individual based on a set of assumptions that we perhaps are totally unaware that we hold. But this is not behaviour which could be described as rational, and it is only by recognising these biases within ourselves that we can start to tackle and ultimately remove them.
However, removing them is vital. If we don’t show each and every member of a team an equal amount of warmth and acceptance, over time, this failure to interact with everybody on an equal basis can impact an organisation quite negatively: colleagues can begin to feel alienated, and a major amount of problems can begin to unfold.
It’s consequently very important that you begin to put in place some initiatives to start the process of overcoming your own unconscious bias throughout, and with the proper training this can be done fairly easily.
Unconscious bias are not a sign of a bad person, most people have them. Once we accept that, it allows us to talk about these issues in a nonjudgmental way. What’s bad is not trying to understand what your unconscious biases are.
Skin colour, gender and age are generally what people think of when they consider biases, but we can harbour unconscious prejudice about numerous characteristics, including:
Unconscious bias is different from employment discrimination, which is against the law. Unconscious biases happen without us being aware of it, and so our actions are sometimes not ill-intended. On the other hand, employment discrimination happens in our conscious state. This means that we are aware of our decision-making.
Our unconscious biases can have a negative effect on a team. For example, if leadership is affected by an unchecked unconscious bias, then they can create unfair advantages or disadvantages for employees affected by that bias. The downside to this is that certain employees will receive this unfair treatment despite not having any of their work performance taken into consideration. This can hurt team morale and push employees away from the business.
So how do we overcome these biases and in the process create a fairer workplace for all? You should begin by exploring your own levels of unconscious bias. What are they? Where do they come from? How do they affect your behaviour towards others? Once these issues have been identified, you can then move on to breaking the habit of bias, which always begins with initial recognition of the habit in the first instance. Gaining insight into the subconscious helps us to realise the issues that need to be addressed and tackled.
Try writing down what you think your biases might be, why you think you have them, and even try to recall an occasion where your biases have been proved wrong.
It’s important to note that that consciously realising an unconscious belief or association is going to be completely sufficient to lessen it. It may do so in some cases. Some unconscious biases can be extremely deep-seated because they are genetically inherited. But even by simply recognising the fact that unconscious is a thing, and that you may yourself be acting upon it can is a huge step forward in tackling it.
Ultimately, the issue is, we often use fast thinking when we should be using slow thinking - in other words, be deliberate, rational and logical. Much has been made of organisations making great strides in their diversity and, more importantly, inclusion strategy and work with their leadership teams to address unconscious bias. The real key is Diversity and Inclusion:
You probably cannot completely eliminate bias. However, you can acknowledge that bias exists both within yourself and your colleagues, and that various types of bias clearly have an impact on decision-making. People and organisations that honestly try to understand their attitudes and behaviours will be able to cultivate a working environment in which individuals can bring their best and most authentic selves to the table.