Bias
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
first, you may be asking why we need to pay attention to unconscious bias in the workplace, and that's a good question. We know that unconscious bias impacts our work and workplace on a day to day basis. In particular, it keeps us from creating the most effective and inclusive work environments. When bias unknowingly gets in the way, we're not able to be a welcoming, open and engaging as we need to be, whether with our customers or our co workers. We'll explain more about that connection between unconscious bias and inclusion in a bit. But before we do, we have a quick activity for you. Take a look at this picture and in the space provided list as many descriptions as you can for what you see when finished, Click next to see how your descriptions. Compared to those that we typically hear people list, Do your descriptors resemble these? If so, your responses are fairly typical. We're going to set aside this list of typical responses for now and come back to them in just a bit. But before we do, let's look at a model that helps us better understand how we describe the things we see and experience. This model is called the S E Model. It describes three levels of how we take in information. First, see then explain and finally evaluate Click each level to learn more in the first stage. See, we objectively gather information and we think only about what we actually see or observe. The second stage explain is more subjective. In this stage, we take the information from the first stage and subjectively analyze it based on our culture, experiences and opinions. As we explain, we process and make sense of what we see based on our perspectives. So this stage is about what we think we see or observe, and the third stage evaluate is the judgment stage. In this stage, we take the analysis from the second stage on place judgmental values on the situation based on what we think we see. Why is this model important? Because the Onley level in which we can be confident that our description is 100% accurate, is the first level of C. The more we stray from just this first level, the more we're being driven by our biases and the greater our chances of misinterpretation. Yet unfortunately, many of our descriptions of people, events and interactions go beyond the stage of certainty into the stages of bias and misinterpretation. Unfortunately, we can't just stop our brains at the first level of C, so what we need to do instead is be aware of our explanations and evaluations that are impacting how we perceive others. Now let's go back and take a look at our list of typical descriptions. Each descriptor you see in this activity comes from each of the three levels of C. Remember, we're more effective if we stop our descriptions at the first objective level of C. Can you identify which descriptions stopped at that level? Select those descriptions that you think stop at the first level of see with Justin objective description, then click the submit button to check your selections in this module will discuss why unconscious bias matters. Let's begin by taking a look at the descriptions we provided earlier for comparison purposes. So what does all of this mean and why does it matter? Our explanations and evaluations may not be even close to the reality yet, because our brains took us to the conclusions that match our experiences and because it did so in a matter of seconds. We believe them to be true. It is our past experiences that shape our perception of reality. Since none of us share all of the same past experiences, it's safe to say that most of the times our perceptions of reality also differ. What happens then, when we come together with different perspectives and we're not aware of how they shape our reality differently, we get significant misunderstanding, confusion and even conflict. This is essentially what happens with unconscious bias. Unconscious bias is an evaluation that is made about other people, groups or situations. That evaluation may be positive or negative, but because it is based on and confirms our past experiences, we believe it to be true. Even if it isn't. Take a moment to consider several examples to see how this actually plays out. Click on each image to learn more when finished, Click next to continue CEOs. It's probably no surprise that most CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are men. But did you also know that 58% of those are 6 ft tall or taller, even though in the general population Onley 14.5% of men are this tall orchestras? Over the last 30 years, US orchestras have begun to use screens to block the appearance of a musician during auditions. Since doing so, the number of women in the top orchestras has increased fivefold. Car sales. In an experiment conducted with car sales, where similarly dressed white and black men and women went to car dealerships in the same neighborhood, the initial price of the cars quoted by the car sales professionals were much higher for black men than white men. Specifically, the prices quoted were $725 above cost for white males, $935 above cost for white women, 1195 above cost for black women. And 1687 above cost for black men resumes. Another study sent 5000 comparable resumes in response to 1300 job ads. The Onley significant difference in the resumes was that the names were either names commonly thought of as white names like Emily and Greg, or names commonly thought of as black names like Lakisha and Jamal. Those with white sounding names were 50% more likely to be called for an interview. How is it that this happens? Is it that we all intentionally stereotype or discriminate? No. The very nature of unconscious bias is that we aren't aware of it, and many times our intent doesn't match our impact. Bias is actually one of the ways that our brains put massive amounts of information into order. This happens for all of us, regardless of our background or even our desire tow avoid by us. Let's take a closer look at how biased develops. Click on each button to learn more lack of exposure because our brains are directed to information we store from past experiences. When we have few of those experiences with a particular group of people, we rely on third hand information, such as from the media or from stereotypes, affinity bias. When we identify someone as similar tow us, we tend to be more comfortable around them, are more likely to forgive their faults and give them a second chance difference Bias. When we identify someone as different from us, we more readily taken information that confirms our belief about that group and will discount information that contradicts our belief about that group cultural values and beliefs. Our culture shapes our perceptions. We are also taught culturally to link certain behaviors to certain values, while other cultures may be taught the opposite. For example, some cultures teach that direct communication is respectful, while others teach. That in direct communication is respectful. You might be wondering what all of this has to do with the workplace and why it really matters. Well, we know that unconscious bias actually impacts our work and workplace every day. Click on the different aspects of our work place to see the implications of unconscious bias. Who's higher? Good candidates may be ignored, Mediocre candidates may be hired, and the best talent may be scooped up by the competition. How we work our bias not only impacts how we take in information, it may also determine how we behave on what we deem good right or professional opportunities we miss. Innovative ideas may come wrapped in a package that we don't expect and therefore don't acknowledge how much we enjoy our work. When biases in check, we all feel more included and engaged in our work, how much money we make. Height, weight, race, gender, even how similar person is to their manager. All may impact lifetime earnings through salary raises and promotions. Now that you have an idea of what unconscious bias is and how it can impact our daily lives, you may be wondering what we can do about it. Click on the different strategies to learn more about what we can do. Learn more. We can continue to learn by reading more about unconscious bias or taking the Harvard test that lets us know if we have a bias for or against particular groups. Click on the link for more information change first impressions. The more positive images and statements we take in about a particular group of people, the more likely we will perceive an individual from that group positively when we first see them focus on the goal. If the goal is to hire the best candidate, we need to focus on skills and abilities. How we've always gotten our candidates in the past, or the image of who we think that best candidate is may be influenced by unconscious bias. Build cultural competence. Building our cultural competence helps us reduce our unconscious bias. Change existing bias. Our brains follow the programming of past experiences. When that programming points us to a negative bias, we can intentionally re program our brains by taking in more positive information. That helps us to see certain groups more favorably. Learning about positive leaders and heroes from other cultural groups is one way to do that. Learn differentiation With unconscious bias, we tend to lump numerous individuals into one group or another. When we learn more about the differences within an identity group, we start to see greater complexity in that group and actually reduce our bias. Read more in the science Journal. Click on the link for more information. Our ability to increase the consciousness of our decision making begins with the recognition that we all have bias and a willingness to identify hours. Remember to P a U S. E. The Pause model invites biases to surface, lets you notice your reactions and helps you think through how they might notice your perceptions. Click each button to learn the five steps of the pause process