Unlocking Potential through the Management of Unconscious ... · organisational performance through people development. Increasingly we are finding that the concept of unconscious

Innovation NE

Celebrating Difference, Supporting Diversity

This paper seeks to highlight some of the elements driving our unconscious bias and explores how unconscious bias

can affect our ability to lead and make effective business decisions.

Unlocking Potential through the Management of Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

1 Innovation NE Tel: +00441912570946 Email [email protected] Web

www.innovationlimited.co.uk

Contents 1. ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................ 2

2. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 2

3. MORE ABOUT UNCONSCIOUS BIAS ................................................................................................ 3

4. BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE - The Necessary Purpose of Bias .......................................................... 4

5. UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE ....................................................................................... 6

6. COMMON TYPES OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN THE WORK PLACE .................................................... 7

6.1. Conformity bias ....................................................................................................................... 7

6.2. Beauty Bias .............................................................................................................................. 7

6.3. Affinity Bias ............................................................................................................................. 8

6.4. Halo / Horns Effect .................................................................................................................. 8

6.5. Attribution (conformation) Bias .............................................................................................. 8

7. ADDRESSING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE ................................................................. 9

8. MANAGING PERFORMANCE THROUGH PEOPLE - THE IMPACT OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS ON

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION ............................................................................................................... 10

9. IMPACT OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS ON INNOVATIVE THINKING ...................................................... 11

10. AVOIDING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS ................................................................................................ 12

11. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 13

12. ABOUT INNOVATION NE ........................................................................................................... 13

13. CONTACT INFORMATION .......................................................................................................... 14

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.innovationlimited.co.uk/



1. ABSTRACT This paper seeks to highlight some of the elements driving our unconscious bias

and explores how unconscious bias can affect our ability to lead and make

effective business decisions. Further, at an individual and organisational level, it

explores some of the approaches that can be implemented to reduce the impact

of unconscious bias in the workplace.

2. BACKGROUND Great efforts, at all levels and across all sectors, continue to be made to

eradicate discrimination from the workplace. Yet in many circumstances

initiatives fail to achieve the desired outcomes or are viewed by many as box

ticking exercises.

Innovation NE specialise in supporting and facilitating business transformation

and growth. We seek to achieve this by focussing our efforts on improving

organisational performance through people development. Increasingly we are

finding that the concept of unconscious bias is at the forefront of our

development work.

Evidence suggests that while a group of similar people feels better for its

members, a diverse group consistently performs better. This is reflected in the

approach modern successful organisations are increasingly adopting which

encourages and embraces an inclusive, equitable, diverse, cognitive and socially

intricate working environment.

ACAS describe unconscious bias as an act that occurs when people favour others

who look like them and/or share their values. To address this type of

fundamental discrimination in the workplace we need to understand the impact

of unconscious bias. While our tendency to discriminate against a group or type

of person may not be intentional we can still do something to change it. The

more we expose ourselves to ideas, images and words that challenge negative

stereotypes, the less discriminatory we will be.





Leaders and Managers can play a key role in unearthing these hidden biases by

declaring their intentions to be non-biased. They can also implement

unambiguous performance systems that focus on each individual's unique

talents and skills and the competencies needed for success.

However before we set off on a crusade to eradicate “bad bias” it's important to

reiterate that everyone has subconscious biases, it’s part of being human and

it’s equally important to not to be ashamed of this basic fact. These biases are

simply the brain's way of coping with and categorising all the information we

receive every day.

3. MORE ABOUT UNCONSCIOUS BIAS Many still generally assume that discriminatory behaviours are based solely upon

a conscious act i.e. that good people are non-biased and inclusive and that bad

people are the biased. This leads to an approach to diversity which is based

upon finding the “bad people” and fixing them.

While it is clear that conscious bias and discrimination does still exist the

problem with the good person/bad person paradigm is that it demonstrates a

lack of understanding of a reality:

Human beings, at some level, need bias to survive.

So, are we biased? Yes, we are all biased toward something, somebody, or some

group. While we believe we are being deliberate, rational and thoughtful our

conscious thinking is actually a very small part of what drives our actions and

judgments. The act of unconscious bias, a process used by us all to rapidly sort

people into groups, is having a disproportionate influence upon our decision

making.

Unconscious bias is an automatic judgment process which is hard-wired in to our

brain and one we are unaware of; however it is not entirely beyond our control

as it is influenced by factors such as our background, cultural environment and

personal experiences. For example, while it seems natural and rational to prefer

people who look like us, sound like us and share our interests. These

preferences are based upon a minute percentage of the information received and





processed by our brain; rendering our categorisations and subsequent decisions

illogical and in the workplace potentially illegal.

4. BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE - The Necessary Purpose of Bias Most human decisions are made emotionally and then we process the evidence

to justify them. For example when we see something that “feels” dangerous, we

have already launched into subconscious action before we have even started

“thinking”. From a survival point of view this is not a negative trait – it’s a

necessary one – if you sense something coming at your head, you duck and if it

turns out to be harmless you don’t regret ducking!

Our fundamental behaviours are driven by this “hard-wired” pattern of making

unconscious decisions about others based on what feels safe, likeable and

valuable. We can see this in everyday life, for example, if you are looking for a

new car, how often do you suddenly start to see that car in commercials and on

the street? This is our perceptive filters enabling us to see certain things and

miss others, depending on the focus of our unconscious. In simple terms we

filter the evidence that we collect, generally supporting our already held points-

of-view and disproving points of view with which we disagree. Resultantly

through these pre-established filters, we see things, hear things, and interpret

them differently than other people might.

We have already established that all humans possess unconscious bias. Freud

theorised that the unconscious was far bigger and more powerful than the

conscious. He described it as an iceberg i.e. far more under the surface than

above. Yet, even Freud may have underestimated the unconscious. Research

suggests that the human mind takes in 11 million pieces of information per

second, of this our brain is consciously aware of about 40 pieces of information

per second. In percentage terms our unconscious deals with about 99.999996%

of information, it's our brain’s way of quickly making sense of situations.





In very simple terms this can be depicted as a series of brain filters

In Summary

The brain uses shortcuts to speed up decision making and unconscious

bias is a by-product.

This sort of quick decision making is useful, for example, if faced with a

dangerous situation.

Everyone has unconscious biases;

o it's natural;

o it's unintended;

o it can affect decisions;

o it can be mitigated.





5. UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE Moving on from Freud, Harvard University’s Implicit Attitude Test has

demonstrated that unconscious (implicit) bias is far more prevalent than

conscious (explicit) bias. This re-enforces the belief that we all have powerful

biases that we are unaware of. The power of these biases appears to be far

greater than that of our explicit bias. Therefore it is absolutely essential that

leaders are able to understand and work through their own implicit biases as

they affect our ability to recruit, evaluate performance and promote elite talent.

In essence these unconscious biases can paralyse innovation and hinder the

development of high performing teams. These views are supported by a number

of credible studies and well-substantiated facts.

We are all aware that salaries for women are often significantly lower

than those of their male counterparts performing the same job.

Recruiters of both genders are more likely to rate the resumes of men

as more hierarchal, more coachable, and more promotable than

women (Reuben, Sapienza, & Zingales, 2014).

The UK’s Department for Work & Pensions found in 2009 that fictional

candidates with white-sounding names could expect to receive a job

interview for every nine roles applied for; a jobseeker with an ‘Asian or

African sounding name’ would have to distribute 16 CVs in order to

obtain the same result.

Research by the Peninsula Group in 2015 found that eight out of ten

UK managers discriminate against those with regional accents, most

notably Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and London.

In recruitment, we do not hire the best candidate; we hire the

candidate that we are most drawn to (Graves & Powell, 1995; Rivera,

2012).

A Princeton University study of 2012, found that a fictional ‘John’ was

more likely to be hired, despite having otherwise identical

characteristics to the fictional ‘Jennifer’





6. COMMON TYPES OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN THE WORK PLACE In order to overcome our unconscious bias and enhance organisational and

individual performance, we must first be able to identify aspects of our

experiences that may not be as reliable as we believe. In 2015 researchers at

the Australian National University classified more than 150 types of cognitive

bias among these the commonest types of unconscious bias include:

6.1. Conformity bias Almost everyone who has considered the issue of social conformity

acknowledges that people conform strongly to social behavioural norms i.e. we

have an ingrained tendency to take cues from the actions of others rather than

exercise our own independent judgment.

The work of Solomon Asch identified that in approximately 75% of cases people

will discount their own opinion in favour of a group opinion and while the idea

that social decision making can give superior outcomes to individual decisions is

valid, if an individual feels the majority of the group are leaning towards/away

from a certain action, they will tend to go along with what the group thinks

rather than voice their own opinions.

6.2. Beauty Bias We tend to think that the physical attributes a person has will make them

successful e.g. someone who looks like the kind of person who should have the

role based on a preconceived bias. Arguably the most quoted statistic on this is

that 60% of CEOs in the US are over 6 foot but only 15% of the total population

is over 6 foot tall. Further while 36% of US CEOs are over 6.2 feet, only 4% of

the population is over 6.2 feet tall.

Beauty bias is often manifest in the recruitment process, where, commonly,

employers will look to fill a role with someone who shares similar physical

attributes to the person who held that role before, or who they believe looks like

the kind of person who should have the role based on their preconceived bias.





6.3. Affinity Bias Affinity bias is the tendency to favour people who are like us in some way, for

example, follow the same team, share a hobby, grew up in the same town, or

they remind us of someone we know and like. This can alienate people who

seem to be less like us and we may miss out on opportunities to gain new

insights and diverse perspectives.

6.4. Halo / Horns Effect Halo is when we see one great thing about a person and we let the glow of that

achievement (halo) effect how we perceive everything else about them.

The Horns effect is the direct opposite of the Halo effect. The Horns effect is

when we see one bad thing about a person and we let it cloud our opinions of

their other attributes.

6.5. Attribution (conformation) Bias When we do something well we tend to think it’s down to our own merit and

personality. When we do something badly we tend to believe it’s down to

external factors. When it comes to other people, we tend to think the opposite.

If someone else has done something well we consider them lucky, and if they’ve

done something badly we tend to think it’s due to their personality or shoddy

behaviour.

This type of behaviour seeks to reinforce how we are right and can lead us to

forget the lessons of the past or indeed our ability to learn from others. This can

make it difficult to recognise and improve upon weaknesses as leaders. For

example ingrained prejudices can become self-perpetuating through e.g. we

seek evidence to confirm that our original perception was correct.





7. ADDRESSING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE As discussed unconscious bias at work can lead to employers overlooking

talented workers and instead favouring those who share their own

characteristics or views. Resultantly these biases can adversely influence

decisions pertaining to recruitment, promotion, staff development and

recognition and can lead to a less diverse workforce. Where unconscious bias is

against a protected characteristic, it can be discriminatory.

The traditional approach to improving diversity and inclusion has been to support

the positive recruitment of underrepresented groups. While this approach

appears to solve the problem, it could be argued that it deals with symptoms

rather than causes and does nothing to mitigate unconscious bias in decision

making i.e. it does little to address the actual impact of our biases on others. For

example a study of 829 companies over 31 years showed that diversity training

had “no positive effects in the average workplace (Forbes 2017).

Understanding that unconscious bias skews our perception goes some way to

enabling us to understand its impact upon the key areas of decision making in

recruitment, performance management, succession planning, talent

management and our capacity to develop high-performing teams. This is

underpinned by the key findings arising from a recent study carried out by the

NeuroLeadership Institute which concluded that while a group of similar people

feels better for its members, a diverse group consistently performs better,

making it clearly worth our while to consider the impacts of unconscious bias.

By challenging the assumptions and approaches of leaders and managers to

recruitment, selection and the development of the organisation’s people, we can

much more effectively and rapidly promote inclusion, increase productivity and

create greater innovation. By creating this awareness and understanding and by

increasing exposure to a variety of people and groups we can develop our

thinking and decision making and reduce collective biases which are far stronger

and more devious than our individual biases and build cultures that collectively

diminish the effects of unconscious bias in the workplace.





8. MANAGING PERFORMANCE THROUGH PEOPLE - THE IMPACT OF

UNCONSCIOUS BIAS ON PERFORMANCE EVALUATION In addition to impacting on the “makeup” of the organisation unconscious bias

can also influence the performance cycle and subsequent evaluation.

Good performance management (not performance measurement) centres on the

ability to provide objective feedback and to coach and mentor in an appropriate

style. Subconsciously, we are driven towards things that are most like us and

make us feel most comfortable. Resultantly our unconscious bias increases the

level of connectivity to those who we perceive as familiar and similar to

ourselves and we find it far easier to coach and offer feedback to such

individuals.

Conversely, if you are managing someone who is very different from you, you

may not completely understand their motivation or be able to anticipate their

reaction to your feedback. This potentially results in both parties being less

comfortable and drives the way in which our unconscious bias impacts our ability

to manage talent. For example, in the simplest of terms, an assertive woman is

often perceived differently than an assertive man. Once we begin applying these

“labels”, we limit our ability to completely appreciate the added value these

behaviours may offer i.e. we actually limit ourselves by restricting the

interactions that are available to us..

The aforementioned exemplifies the impact that our singular and collective

unconscious biases have in organisations. To address these discrepancies, we

need to challenge the criteria through which we conduct performance

management and succession planning.

Educating our future and potential leaders about how our brain limits our ability

to see the world holistically would help to mitigate the impact of our unconscious

bias on performance management. Further, while there is no silver bullet

approach, there are a number of simple quick fixes which can avoid performance

tunnel vision.





An approach which ensures the development of a robust, equitable and objective

understanding of future business needs, for example, based upon defined

competencies by level and by job will support multi-trait approaches to

development, reward and recognition. Such an approach provides employees

with a crystal clear picture for the evaluation process, the methods used to

judge success and the kinds of desired skills and behaviours:

Adopt a suite of competencies to objectively assess future development

needs and track development;

Monitor the appraisal process among staff e.g. gender difference in the

outcomes of appraisals;

Encourage mentoring and exciting opportunities where flexible work may

be possible for key leadership;

Challenge our definition of leadership and define success competencies.

9. IMPACT OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS ON INNOVATIVE THINKING Innovation thrives upon creativity; in contrast we have already established that

unconscious bias is driven by the intrinsic desire to find the easiest, most

efficient and quickest answers and is therefore the enemy of innovation. For

example when we are presented with a challenge we often go to our old data /

memories to find a similar situation, whilst learning through reflection is

invaluable, we tend to bend and twist these ideas until they can be applied to

the new situation. This form of attribution bias becomes a replicating activity,

not an integrating activity i.e. we are seeking evidence to confirm that our

original perception was correct. Thus we build upon an answer we already have

to reach a solution to a differing problem as quickly and easily as possible.





10. AVOIDING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS If we accept the evidence that eliminating unconscious bias is impossible, we

must therefore look at how we can mitigate the impact of our biases. The

systems and processes by which we recruit, evaluate, promote, build teams and

innovate are often our biggest weaknesses. They enable our individual biases

rather than challenging the paradigm.

We can address these discrimination issues by increasing our awareness of our

unconscious biases and by developing plans that make the most of the talents

and abilities of our team members. We can also, pay particular attention to our

choices when you are feeling tired, rushed or stressed, as these situations tend

to activate our biases.

At the individual level we can:

Drive out and deploy competency based development programmes that

tackle the root of how we process information and make decisions.

Develop leaders and challenge their way of thinking.

Challenging stereotypes and counter stereotypical information.

Work at understanding that our brains limit our ability to see the world

accurately.

Don't rush decisions - take time and consider issues properly.

At the collective level we can:

Challenge our processes and practices around recruitment, performance

management, promotion, team formation and development, and

innovation.

Increase leaders’ comfort with people and understanding of their

priorities.

Improve leaders’ mentoring and coaching skills.

Ensure that the criteria for talent development, promotion, and succession

planning are based on clear competencies and job roles

Encourage collaborative working.





11. CONCLUSION Thankfully explicit discrimination in the workplace has been greatly reduced;

however the failure of many diversity initiatives can be attributed to a failure to

accept that inside all of us exists an unconscious bias towards those who are

different from us.

Shaped by our background, personal experiences, societal stereotypes and

cultural context our biases can have an impact on our decisions and actions

without us realising. When not addressed and regulated, this bias causes

diversity initiatives to fail, discriminatory practices to go unnoticed, and the

demographic disparities within the workforce to continue.

12. ABOUT INNOVATION NE

At Innovation NE we are committed to improving business performance and we

have a growing reputation for delivering credible, cost effective and practical

outcomes which help organisations of all sizes to Transform, Grow and Prosper.

Our approach is straightforward we believe that in order for organisations to

thrive:

People form the cornerstone of success;

Business performance should be managed through people;

Working together to develop new and innovative products is the best way

to build a sustainable business.

Our Values are to be:

Accountable;

Focused;

Open in the way we do things;

Successful in achieving desired results.

This approach means that we will be your development partner whether you’re

interested in developing singular learning and development solutions or

organisational wide transformational strategies.





13. CONTACT INFORMATION

Tom Gallon

Innovation NE LTD

1 Back Front Street

Tynemouth

Tyne and Wear

England

NE30 4BP

Tel : 0191 2570946

Email [email protected]

Web www.innovationlimited.co.uk




Documents

Unlocking Potential through the Management of Unconscious ... · organisational performance through people development. Increasingly we are finding that the concept of unconscious