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By Barry Johnson-Smith

Cultivating Awareness in the Workplace

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What is Implicit Bias?

Perceptions, attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious way.

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Cause of Implicit Bias?

Tendency to seek patterns

Tendency to take shortcuts

Influences from society, media, and connections

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How implicit Bias Affect the Workplace?

  • Only socializing with co-workers who have similar traits as you

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  • Committing acts of microaggression and enforcing negative stereotype

Affects engagement with co-workers

  • Qualified employees are overlooked for promotions and career advancement.

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  • Manager and co-workers assume an employee is not capable of handling certain projects.

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Affects Peoples’ Career Opportunities

  • Interviews does not accurately measure a candidate’s qualifications.

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  • Lack of diversity in talent pool

Affects Hiring and Recruiting

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Addressing Bias in the Workplace

Be more mindful of your actions

Shift from an assumption mindset to a curious mindset

Develop processes to rule out implicit bias

Develop a culture of embracing accountability

  • Challenge the assumptions you have about someone.

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  • Ask clarifying questions for any concerns you have.

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  • Engage with people outside your circle and seek to understand.

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  • Ask yourself why did you take that course of action?

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  • Observe the sensations and thoughts you have before you make a quick decision.

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  • Record this information in a journal to keep track of your patterns.

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  • Develop a formal process that hires and promotes people only on their qualifications.

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  • Have diverse interview panels

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  • Develop a procedure to encourage recruiting through various channels.
  • Encourage coworkers to check each other on their implicit bias.

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  • Educate coworkers on how to give compassionate, constructive criticism and receive criticism as well.

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  • Give space for people to address their biases

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Key Takeaways

  • Implicit bias happens unconsciously and instinctually and is form by your life experience and how your brains processes the world.
  • Bias are not inherently bad, but leaving bias uncheck could negatively impact the work environment.
  • You will have to be mindful of how implicit bias show up in your workplace and create processes to address them
  • Be kind to yourself as you address your bias
  • Treat accountability as a love language

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Citations

https://www.simplypsychology.org/implicit-bias.html

https://www.verywellmind.com/implicit-bias-overview-4178401

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-think-about-implicit-bias/

https://www.bettercognitions.com/articles/system-1-and-system-2-thinking/

https://www.vox.com/2014/12/26/7443979/racism-implicit-racial-bias

https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion/unconscious-bias-examples

https://perception.org/research/implicit-bias/

https://www.afponline.org/career-hub/management-resources/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-resources/implicit-bias-in-the-workplace

https://www.impactgrouphr.com/insights/unconscious-bias

https://www.tasb.org/services/hr-services/hrx/hr-trends/how-unconscious-bias-hurts-the-workplace.aspx

https://www.allegisgroup.com/en-gb/insights/blog/2020/january/unconscious-bias-in-the-workplace

https://corvirtus.com/what-is-implicit-bias/

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Implicit Bias Test

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

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