Most businesses have understood the advantage—even the necessity—of creating a healthy, diverse work environment where people can express themselves with authenticity.
To achieve this, training and awareness are crucial. At sept24, we believe that training on unconscious biases is a solid starting point to raise awareness in your teams. Why? Because, despite the policies or initiatives in place, our brains can play tricks on us and insidiously compromise our DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts by generating unfair and discriminatory behaviours.
What is an unconscious bias?
According to the definition from the Université de Sherbrooke, “a bias is a mental shortcut that our brains involuntarily take, and which automatically leads us to make quick judgments that lack impartiality and objectivity.” Broadly speaking, our brains want to be efficient by cutting corners either to speed up the decision-making process (ease) or to protect us (survival).
We’ve prepared a list of the top 3 common biases for you to help you target these mental shortcuts and better understand them when they creep up on you.
Confirmation bias
Favouring information that aligns with our opinions and placing less importance on information that goes against them.
EXAMPLE:
An employer is convinced that the productivity of their employees is negatively influenced by poor work tools. To validate this idea, an external firm is contacted and concludes that the source of the problem lies in the lack of communication between the departments.
The confirmation bias would be confirmed if the employer in question remains convinced of their opinion, despite the results of the experts.
The information that we process is influenced by our beliefs and experiences. We seek refuge in ideas that appeal to us and tend to receive conflicting information with skepticism. To counter this habit, it is necessary, above all, to identify it and be open to contrary evidence and information. Seeking out information that conflicts with our beliefs and considering it helps us make important decisions in a more informed way.
Affinity biases
Favouring the person who resembles us, whether it is with respect to their career, physique, values, personality, etc.
EXAMPLE:
A member of the recruitment team of a startup has two profiles from people with equivalent resumes in front of them. The first person is more reserved, has an atypical background, and prefers tea to coffee, while the second has a more typical career, a personality that perfectly matches the team, and shares an interest in cross-country skiing and an unconditional love of coffee with the recruiter. Affinities push the decision toward the second candidate.
By hiring this person, the company may be missing an opportunity to add a complementary profile to the team. At sept24, we like to say that add culture is more powerful than fit culture.
Make no mistake: choosing people with similar interests is totally normal. However, this reflex does not allow the company to form a diverse team. A team with diverse profiles is a sign of success.
To avoid this situation, we recommend keeping in mind the skills required for the position to be filled and referring to them frequently so that the objective remains clear. The most sensible idea would be to create a hiring committee with members of your team who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds. This will greatly reduce the risks of affinity shortcuts.
Group effect biases
Claiming that we agree with the majority opinion when we, in fact, think differently.
EXAMPLE:
A team needs to make a decision on a file. A team member proposes something that more or less makes sense to you. The meeting wraps up, and the person asks if everyone agrees with this action plan, and everyone does. Out of fear of being ridiculed or displeasing your colleagues, you end up going along with the majority opinion and keeping your thoughts to yourself.
This habit of doubting yourself and your abilities is detrimental to an open environment with different points of view. Wanting to please and favouring group thought is an obstacle to innovation! Keep in mind that you are part of the team because of your uniqueness because your opinion matters. Not agreeing with your colleagues on the professional and creative level is completely normal. Confront the status quo and challenge your colleagues. This can lead to stimulating, even necessary discussions.
With everything we just saw, it’s obvious that unconscious biases are harmful to a diverse, inclusive, and fulfilling work environment. We encourage you to take the time to learn about the different biases and surround yourself with diversity in all its forms to prevent biased behaviours or decision-making.
Still curious? Want to go further in your learning? We have team workshops, thinking games for HR and management, training… everything to lead you to your next step. Come chat DEI with the HR marketing experts at sept24 to build your next action plan and change the world of work.
Sources
https://www.usherbrooke.ca/edi/fileadmin/sites/edi/Feuillet_final.pdf
https://asana.com/fr/resources/unconscious-bias-examples
https://innodirect.com/10-biais-majeurs-qui-nuisent-a-la-collaboration/?lang=fr
https://www.revuegestion.ca/se-former-sur-les-biais-inconscients-une-demarche-essentielle
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