P2P

21 I L T A N E T . O R G H istory has taught us that combatting overt bias is no easy feat. While we have come a long way, we still have quite a distance to go. Yet as challenging as our struggles with overt bias have been, overcoming the equally insidious and potentially destructive unconscious biases we all harbour may prove even more challenging. Why? Unconscious biases are hard to beat because we all have them, but are unaware of them most of the time. Unconscious bias is that human tendency that, without thought, pulls us toward some things and away from others. These biases are the "social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness." 1 We do not choose to develop these preferences and aversions; rather, we are "biologically hardwired to align with people like us and reject those whom we consider different." 2 Somewhere far back in our distant past, when we were living in the wild, it may have made good sense and even kept us safe some of the time. Those days are long gone and these unconscious biases if left unchecked can have a damaging impact on our organizations and efforts to create a diverse and inclusive environment. Evidence strongly suggests that, "unconscious bias seeps into decisions that affect recruitment, access to healthcare and outcomes in criminal justice in ways that can disadvantage people from ethnic minorities." 3 Given that unconscious bias is a human trait, feeling guilty or defensive is not helpful. On the other hand, adopting an attitude of complacency also is not the answer. 4 Instead, the goal is to understand how it functions in our daily lives and control it. Unconscious bias comes up in both our personal and professional lives and can operate in both benign and harmful ways depending on the circumstance. However, in the work environment, unconscious bias can permeate every aspect of work and undermine our efforts to create a diverse workforce, which in turn can impede an organization's success given that diverse teams tend to be more innovative, higher functioning, and better performing. More specifically, unconscious bias may affect how we select from a pool of applicants whom we will interview and how we respond to their answers to questions in an interview. These same biases can affect how managers assess employees' overall performance and individual behaviour in meetings, and subtly determine how managers allocate work among team members. All told, unconscious bias can significantly – though unintentionally – affect who advances in the organization, as well as who stays and who decides to go elsewhere. On an organizational level, some enterprises have invested in unconscious bias training programs with varying degrees of success. On an individual level, what can each of us do to reduce – and ultimately eliminate – "Unconscious bias is that human tendency that, without thought, pulls us toward some things and away from others."

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