After a great lunch and learn session on Unconscious Bias, Digital Bricks Trainer, Sharon Smith, made some notes about how it can play out in the workplace, and what we can do about it.

In today’s diverse and rapidly changing world, recognising and addressing unconscious bias is vital for creating fair and inclusive environments. Despite our best intentions, unconscious biases can influence our decisions and interactions without us realizing it. These biases affect various aspects of life, from the workplace to personal relationships, and understanding them is key to fostering equity.

What is Bias?

Bias is a tendency or inclination that affects how we judge or behave towards people, ideas, or situations, often unfairly. Bias can distort objective thinking, leading to favouritism or discrimination. Both explicit and unconscious biases shape our actions, influenced by personal experiences, cultural conditioning, and media exposure. They impact decisions in business, personal relationships, and broader societal contexts.

Explicit bias involves conscious attitudes or beliefs that individuals are aware of and may openly express, such as believing one gender is superior to another.

Unconscious bias consists of attitudes or stereotypes that influence our decisions and actions without our conscious awareness. These biases are mental shortcuts shaped by upbringing, culture, and experiences. They are subtle and can lead to unfair treatment, making them challenging to address.

Common Types

Affinity Bias: Favoring people who are similar to us.

Confirmation Bias: Seeking information that supports our existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.

Conformity Bias: Adopting the opinions or behaviours of a group to fit in.

Authority Bias: Giving undue weight to the opinions of those in authority.

Halo/Horn Effect: Assuming that if someone excels in one area, they are competent in others (Halo Effect), or the opposite if they fail in one area (Horn Effect).

Gender Bias: Making assumptions about roles or abilities based on gender.

Perception Bias: Initial judgments based on appearances or stereotypes.

Beauty Bias: Assuming attractive people are more trustworthy or capable.

Impact of Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias can significantly affect the workplace, influencing recruitment, hiring, promotions, and team dynamics, often leading to unequal opportunities. For example, recruiters might favour candidates who resemble themselves, regardless of qualifications. This can reinforce inequality and impact everyday interactions, perpetuating stereotypes. Microaggressions, subtle discriminatory remarks or behaviours, also arise from unconscious bias and can negatively affect marginalized groups.

How to Mitigate the Impact of Unconscious Bias

Increase your self-awareness by reflecting on your biases. Tools like the Implicit Association Test  can help identify your own unconscious attitudes, allowing you to be more mindful of when those biases arise for you. Awareness is crucial for change.

Challenge stereotypes by questioning your assumptions and seek diverse perspectives to broaden your viewpoints.

Begin to implement structured decision-making processes that use standardized criteria for hiring and promotions to minimise the influence of bias.

Seek to grow more diverse teams to reduce conformity bias and lessen the impact of unconscious bias.

Engage in bias awareness training and have professional conversations about how you can implement your learning into your day-to-day interactions and decision making.

Understanding how bias operates helps in counteracting it.

Unconscious bias is a natural part of being human but recognising and addressing our biases is essential. By increasing self-awareness and actively working to mitigate biases, we can foster more inclusive environments. While eliminating unconscious bias may be challenging, striving for fairness and continuous improvement is worth it. Both individuals and organisations benefit from a commitment to fairness, contributing to a future where everyone has equal opportunities to succeed.

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