No one sees the world in the same way. Bias is not good or bad; it just is. The sad thing is that we make many decisions—particularly hiring decisions— based on subjective and unconscious biases and then we enumerate very conscious reasons to justify those decisions.
Do People Make a Conscious Decision to Discriminate?
In the vast majority of cases: NO. But a few telltale statistics throw a spotlight on the matter:
- Fewer than 15% of American men are over six foot tall; nearly 60% of corporate CEOs are over six foot tall.
- Women comprise 51% of the workforce; fewer than 3% of CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies are women.
Why does this happen?
Clearly corporate boards of directors do not send out a message to “Get us a tall guy,” or specify that “We only want a man,” but these numbers speak for themselves.
Unconscious bias cuts across private and public sectors.
How many heads of state are women?
It seems unfair, patently absurd to choose a CEO because of height or gender, just as it is unfair and absurd to give employees lower performance evaluations because they’re less vocal or visible. Nor is refusing to hire someone because they speak with an accent a particularly wise decision.
But every day doctors prescribe procedures to people more often due to a preconceived notions about community and affiliation.
And every day we treat people differently depending upon their attire.
And we statistically call on men more often than women when hands are raised at a meeting.
All of the above, and more, happens regularly to the detriment of others, without most of us consciously recognizing that we’re guilty as charged.
We can only achieve true diversity when organizations raise awareness about bias. We need to bring it to the surface where we can examine and acknowledge it. Unconscious or hidden beliefs underlie far too many of our behaviour patterns.
Bias impacts literally everything we do at work:
- Recruitment
- Hiring
- Interviewing
- Mentoring
- Promotion
- Job Rotations
- Performance Reviews
- Talent Management
- Board Members
- Policy
Unconscious patterns can play out in ways that are so subtle they are hard to spot, think about the conversations you have and the bias you hold – and – remember this reflection the next time you’re making a decision that is crucial to the long-term viability of your enterprise.
Bias: Have A Consequential Conversation
