The world's not black & white but shades of grey.
The more comfortable we get in our worlds
the more we view the wider world as black & white
Susan Popoola
Have you heard of unconscious bias before?
According to Nareen Young, CEO of the Diversity Council of Australia unconscious bias is attitudinal biases about gender, age, race etc that we unaware we have and are unaware we act upon. Backing this up, research shows that our brains jump to assumptions and conclusions with us even knowing it.
In line with this, I believe that unconscious bias is a critical hindrance countering discrimination, accepting differences and enabling integration. This is as it pertains to preferences and inclinations that we have developed often from a very young age that have become natural to so. Critically as the name suggest we are not aware of them.
I believe we all have our biases. In fact according to Professor Binna Kandola, “We’re all affected by unconscious bias to some degree…. While our prejudices may vary, we’re all the same in having prejudices” The impact is, however, greater if shared with a majority group such that they form a norm or when processed by a person in a position of power such that their biases may have a greater impact on the people that they have authority over.
I heard someone recently say that people should stop using unconscious bias for an excuse for their actions. Whilst I don’t believe that the fact that actions may be based on unconscious bias makes the actions right or acceptable, I don’t believe such actions are excuses as it’s not conscious. I do however, believe that it is critical for individuals, organisations and communities to recognise where our biases exists so that we can do something about them.
At an individual level I believe this requires the ability to look inwards and self-access. The ability to accept feedback or dare I say even constructive criticism. In effective it requires trust and open communication without allowing political correctness (to be taken to an extreme) and get in the way.
Organisations and communities (in their various forms) also need to put measures in place to counteract unconscious bias. I believe similar measures as apply to individuals are important. Additionally, there are activities that can create awareness of bias. Policies, Procedures and Processes can also be reviewed to ensure that they don’t subconsciously encourage bias. The need to counteract bias is also a key reason for having diversity in management, recruitment panels and other decision making processes.
I’ve also come across tools that are aimed to help, such as websites that provide insights on the social economic demographics of postcodes of candidates for jobs, so that special consideration or at least an awareness of possible barriers for people from certain backgrounds may be considered. The concern that I have for such tools is that just like with the Waterline of Visibility of an iceberg, such tools do not show what is going on beyond the surface. For instance a family may live in an economically deprived postcode/community because they like the sense of community in the area – not because they are poor.
A person from an affluent area may come from an abusive environment which has had a negative impact on their development and ability to access opportunities. Equally a person who has migrated to the UK from a developing country may actually come from an affluent family and may have had access to the best of opportunities.
Critically the key that whilst recognising bias that may exist and using such measures and tools to be aware of bias and possibly address issues; care and caution must be taken to minimize the risk that new biases are developed or enhanced in the process of trying to address them.
Ultimately, my hope is that we can have the dialogue to enable great communication and understanding in order to be able to beginning to address our biases – it will never be an overnight process and I don’t believe that we will ever totally overcome it – it’s almost akin to human nature. I do however hope that as HR contemplates its place and its value that this is a critical area that it can lead on.
Has this inspired you to discuss HR? Leave your comment here explaining your experience of unconscious bias and how HR can go about reducing such instinctive discrimination.
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