Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2016 - 13

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
DR. SHAWN ANDREWS

HIDDEN
BIASES
HINDER OUR SUCCESS

A trending and hot topic in the world
of diversity and inclusion, D&I as its
affectionately called, is unconscious bias.
Research on unconscious bias is a recent
and emerging field of social psychology,
cognitive sciences and neurosciences.
Just in the last few years, this topic
has appeared on the radar of many
corporations, including Google, Facebook,
Broadcom, Genentech, and Pfizer, which
have all invested in unconscious bias
training for their employees.

is an unintended, subtle and completely
unconscious expression of our biases
which are unaddressed. It often comes
in the form of almost imperceptible
differences in opportunity. For example,
an introduction not made, key
information not shared, or an event
invitation not given. If you are on the
receiving end, these subtleties can have
a tremendous impact on your ability to
network with key stakeholders, acquire
more customers, keep current on market
opportunities, and succeed in your job.

UNDERSTANDING BIAS
Let's define bias. Bias is a prejudice in
favor of or against a person, thing or
group compared with another, usually in
a way considered to be unfair. Common
types of biases in the workplace
include gender, race, ethnicity, age,
height, weight, religion, culture, sexual
orientation, personality type, disability,
pregnancy/children,
socio-economic
status, and even introverts.

BE HONEST WITH
YOURSELF ABOUT
BLIND SPOTS.
You may have heard the terms conscious
and unconscious bias. Conscious bias,
also referred to as explicit or overt bias, is
an outward expression of our biases that
we are aware of. We don't see as much
of this type of bias in the workplace
as we did 20 or 30 years ago, such as
blatant racism or sexism comments
and behaviors. Unconscious bias, also
referred to as implicit or hidden bias,

The problem with unconscious bias in
today's workplace is that it affects how
welcoming and open a workplace is to
different people and ideas, and affects
how we interpret information and make
a whole host of decisions-including
recruiting and hiring, promotion and
succession
planning,
performance
evaluations and compensation, team and
project assignments, budget decisions,
client or customer service, and openness
to new sources of ideas and innovation.
Given that our world, and thus our
workplaces, are becoming more diverse
every day, unconscious bias stands as
one of the biggest threats to a company's
ability to compete successfully.

improve individual decisions. You can
also collaborate with your leadership
teams and human resources to
implement programs and policies to
take bias out of organizational processes.
For instance, use joint and structured
interviewing to ensure that you make
decisions collectively. Create objective
standards for evaluating performance
and assigning new opportunities. Or,
measure and collect diversity data at
both the individual and group level.
Individually, when it comes to bias, it's
important to be honest with yourself
about blind spots. Do you hold any
biases that are inconsistent with your
personal values? Question your first
impression about others and take a
minute to allow your unconscious
thoughts to become conscious. Be aware
of the words and physical reactions that
surface in your daily interactions. Finally,
make a conscious effort to seek and
learn from others different from you-
and you'll likely need to disrupt your
normal process to do this. There may be
someone down the hall from you that
you've never spoken with that has the
answer to your problem. The knowledge
and insight you'll gain from others, and
about others, will be well worth the
extra effort.

STRATEGIES TO MINIMIZE BIAS
As a training professional, there are
many organizational and individual
strategies to help you minimize bias and
create an environment where others can
fully contribute. From an organizational
standpoint, you can initiate training
programs that create awareness of
hidden biases, and that help employees

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - TRENDS201 7 I WWW.TRAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

Dr. Shawn Andrews has 23 years of
biopharmaceutical leadership experience.
Her dissertation research focused on
leadership, emotional intelligence, gender
and unconscious bias in the workplace. She
is CEO of Andrews Research International.
Email Shawn.

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