You're Biased & You Don't Even Know It

righttrack Unconscious Bias: You're Biased & You Don't Even Know It 51 90% of CEOS are above average height of HR professionals were found to be biased against overweight women, and weren't aware 86% Why of it of 200 first-year medical students subconsciously favoured upper class people is it that: 40% 67% of people in a UK study were tested to have a gender bias, having reported no such known prejudice before the test 70% of employers with mandatory unconscious bias training had more equal rates of conversion from of the general population have an implicit preference for white people. 'shortlist' to 'hire' for men and women during recruitment Answer: Unconscious Bias! It's impacting on: Customer Diversity & Culture Recruitment Performance Talent & Selection Management Management Service What is Unconscious Bias Our brains are bombarded with thousands of messages each second but instead of constantly seeing the world and making decisions as if for the first time the human brain has learnt to work more efficiently... 1 Our minds archive patterns and associations we observe throughout our upbringing, from family, education, peer groups, media exposure and other life experiences. Experience We have evolved to be able to process 200,000 times more information by making rapid, unconscious decisions based on 3 Decision assumptions we make from our archive of The impact is that we are no longer neutral. If we have seen two 'things' occur together, our unconscious mind will often assume we'll see patterns and associations. Unconscious them together again. As a result, we display micro-behaviours and unknowingly discriminate against one group and in favour of another. Bias Types of Bias Social Affinity Confirmatory Comparison Bias Bias Bias Where we ignore negative traits of people we like and focus on the Where we seek Where we favour people who don't compete with certain strengths. facts that will confirm our existing pre-conceptions. faults of those we don't. How to reduce the impact of your Unconscious Biases Tip#1 Simply raising awareness of unconscious bias and its impact is enough to trigger personal 'checkpoints' that provide an opportunity to consciously check important decisions that may (or may not) have been influenced by unconscious assumptions. (On-line tests are available to identify specific personal biases and how strong they are however, use with caution. Some are more careful than others in the way they provide feedback and support.) Tip #2 Unconscious bias is more likely to happen when we are stressed, emotional or tired. So if you have a bundle of CVs or appraisal forms to work your way through (for example) then the worst thing to do is take them home to work through in the evening after a long day. Tip #3 Make a conscious effort to look out for examples that contradict assumptions you might make about certain groups of people. Proactively seek to challenge your unconscious preference for people most like you by talking to or spending more time with people who are 'different. For more information on Unconscious Bias Workshops, Testing & Coaching contact us on [email protected] to ask for your copy of Methods to Manage Unconscious Bias in the Workplace. righttrack y @righttrack righttrackconsultancy.co.uk www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/p/paymentgateway.aspx?re- turnURL=/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2012/10/88/bias-in-the-workplace-2012-10.aspx&blogid=2& postid=9668 www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/looking_for_the_roots.of_racial_bias_in_delivery_of_health_care: www.hrzone.com/feature/business-benefits-diverse-workforce/143868 www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articles/height.discrimination_ short_guys.finish.last/index.html