Simply put Bias is a prejudice for or against something. It is usually considered to be unfair. Biases are held by individuals, groups, or organisations and often have unintended consequences, sometimes negative and sometimes positive. There are a number of different types of biases:
Unconscious biases in the context of an organisation are predetermined vies about a particular type of individual or group that an individual forms without being aware of it. We all hold unconscious biases about various groups and types of individuals . These biases stem from our natural and usually innate desire to organise our social worlds by categorising individuals and groups.
Unconscious bias is more common than conscious or deliberate prejudice. They are also often incompatible our publicly stated values.
These biases, whether unconscious or conscious are not limited to ethnicity, gender or race. Racial and gender bias and discrimination are well documented but biases exist around age, gender identity, physical appearance, faith, sexual orientation, size and a huge range of other characteristics.
For more than 30 years our understanding of unconscious bias has been evolving. We now understand unconscious and as a result a number of assessments have been developed to measure it. The best of these is the Implicit Association Test which was specifically developed to assess unconscious bias.
Significant research has been published demonstrating the impact of unconscious bias in a wide range of domains. This has included the criminal justice system, education and business(Kirwan Institute, 2014).
Bias has an impact on recruitment, selection, hiring and promotion of individuals and groups within all organisations.
Research on instruments and assessments to assess and measure subconscious and unconscious bias (also known as implicit associations) has been conducted for decades. The bust and most researched of these assessments is the Implicit Association Test (IAT) which originated at Harvard University. The IAT was developed as part of a project to detect unconscious bias based on several factors including race, gender, sexual orientation and nationality.
How does the IAT assessment delivery?
The IAT measures the relative strength of associations between pairs of concepts. It is designed as a sorting task in which individuals are asked to sort images or words that appear on a computer screen into one of two categories. The basic premise is that when two concepts are highly correlated, people are able to pair those concepts more quickly than two concepts that are not well associated. The reliability and validity of the IAT have been rigorously tested. It is considered to be a highly valid tool.
Dealing with subconscious bias occurs at two levels. Individual and organisational strategies.
Individual strategies to address unconscious bias include:
Institutional Strategies include:
Yes is the short answer: reach out to us on +61 1300936411 or email us at service@test.drivesalespipeline.com and we can work with you in this area.
Introduction to unconscious bias
A 2 hour virtual or Face to Face program that intorduces participants to the key concepts of Unconscious Bias, why it matter and some initial strategies to do something about it.
Identifying and dealing with unconscious bias
A 1/2 day program designed to educate and inform participants and arm them with some practical strategies to manage bias within their team.
Deep dive into bias.
A full day program that goes deeper into unconscious bias, trigger and causes, impact on an organisation and team level strategies to combat the challenge.