How to Uncover and Overcome Unconscious Bias in the Workplace (and Everywhere Else)

Here are four suggestions on how to manage your biases so that they don’t manage you!

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(a blog post originally created for Intelligent Futures)

Unconscious Biases - we all know they exist and we seem to easily recognize them in others, yet when it comes to us we want to believe that somehow we are immune. If you are a fellow human you have them. Here are some examples:

• Affinity bias

• Gender bias

• Confirmation bias

• Beauty bias

• Conformity Bias

• Age Bias

Uncovering and overcoming unconscious biases is particularly essential in the context of city building where decisions of elected officials, planners, architects, engineers, and developers have a direct influence on the realities of folks from all walks of life. How might we engage in practices and decision-making that actively promote equity, diversity, and inclusion?

1. Develop and promote awareness and curiosity

First and foremost know why unconscious biases exist and recognize when they are being detrimental to our life or the lives of others. These biases have their benefits. They help us get through everyday tasks without doing much processing (aka autopilot mode) so that we can channel our cognitive power to tasks that require deeper thinking. (For more on the science behind unconscious bias check out Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman).

The goal is not to entirely rid yourself of biases but to surface them and recognize which ones are relevant. There is no need to question whether the sun will rise tomorrow. However, you should pay attention to the diversity of folks on your team, for example. Who are you hiring? Who are you not hiring? Who are you promoting? Who are you not promoting? Walk towards your discomfort. Be willing to question yourself honestly and rigorously.

Then be curious - ask why multiple times. Why is the majority of your team composed of white/ female/ heterosexual folks? Does my upbringing have anything to do with why I’m choosing to hire or promote X over Y?

The hope is that you continue to develop emotional granularity - the ability to recognize and describe your emotions as they are the key to unlocking your mental framework. Then ask yourself: do I want to hold on to this belief? Do I want to live by default or design?

2. Create safe spaces within your organization

At an organizational level, create and promote safe spaces where team members can be open about their biases and transcend them together. Remember: don’t judge others or yourself - we are all in the same boat!

“Alter the environment in which decisions are made so that people are more likely to make choices that lead to good outcomes.” -John Beshears and Francesca Gino in Leaders as Decision Architects in HBR

The key here is willingness and courage. It is our responsibility as citizens and leaders to start these hard conversations and incorporate these spaces within our organizations. Why don’t you start by inviting your team to complete this Implicit Bias Test as a first step to open the debate?

At Intelligent Futures, we are currently creating a living IF Dictionary as a way to agree on some common language that will continue to promote the debate and inspire us to be more intentional in terms of language in team meetings, client presentations, and overall practices. Here are some examples of the words we are including: intersectionality, internalized oppression, equity-based placemaking, cultural intelligence., humankind, emotional granularity, etc.

3. Mitigate bias in decision making

Unconscious biases are particularly problematic in the context of decision-making as they might perpetuate discriminatory systems. So make sure to do some internal work to bring your biases to the surface before you decide to hire or promote anyone else. A study from Hewlett Packard found that the levels of confidence of men and women while applying to job descriptions diverge considerably :

“Men are confident about their ability at 60%, but women don’t feel confident until they’ve checked off each item on the list.” -in Act Now to Shring the Confidence Gap, Forbes

Fortunately, more and more tools are out there to make our lives easier and our practices more mindful. Textio is a tech tool that detects language that might be promoting gender bias.

Choice Architecture is another helpful framework that that aims to understand the context in which people make decisions (for more on choice architecture, check our previous post Reflection On the First 50(ish) Episodes of 360 Degree City). Intentionally planning, organizing, and clarifying the how and why we make decisions is the first step towards more inclusive decision making,

4. Review and Reform Current Frameworks and Practices

Overall, the main idea is that we should actively include triggers in our processes that remind us to take our unconscious bias into consideration. At Intelligent Futures, we are currently exploring ways to surface our individual and collective biases. Here are some examples of frameworks and concepts we have been exploring in our practices:

• Design Thinking seems to be a particularly interesting tool to promote empathy and inclusion. However, we should be critical of this approach, using a complementary framework to make sure we are actively looking for blind spots.

• Liberatory Design is a complementary framework to design thinking that challenges designers to surface the mindsets and approaches they use, with the aim of achieving equity in their work.

• The Gender-Based Analysis+ (GBA+) is an analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender diverse people may be experiencing policies, programs, and initiatives. GBA+ is exceptionally relevant as it takes intersectionality* into consideration. During our weekly Monday Insights session, our Engagement Lead Cass walked us through how we might routinely include this tool in our practices. (For more on the GBA+ process click here)

• Intersectionality is an essential concept to understand the complexities of the lived experiences of many folks. The term was coined by American law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw to explain how the confluence of elements of someone’s identity (gender, race, physical ability, etc) can lead to exacerbated forms of discrimination, or ‘injustice squared’ as Crenshaw puts it.

Whether you are in the field of city building or not, there is an abundance of tools you can review to engage in practices and decision-making that actively promote equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The key ingredients willingness and courage. Ultimately, we have the ability and responsibility to move towards a more equitable track, as Rafael Smith put it in his insightful talk on Designing for Unconscious Bias.

And remember: It is not about judging ourselves or others or achieving perfection, but rather about connecting with one another and recognizing our shared humanity. By keeping an open mind and heart, we are one step closer to overcoming our biases and help make the world a better place for more of us.