Unconscious Biases Once a colleague of mine asked me if the vendor we were discussing about, is from a particular southern Indian state, and considering the skin color of the person in context, without even giving it a second thought, I abruptly said, “No, she doesn’t look like� ...suddenly I realized that my response was based on the bias that I have, which tells me that all the people from South India have darker skin. I admit that I have my own set of conscious and unconscious biases... and on digging further about the subject I explored that everyone else also have their biases. Biases, what they are? Biases (an inclination or preference that influences judgment from being balanced and just), either conscious or unconscious are based on certain prior information that our mind possess. This information is mostly based on experiences of self and others. Eventually these pieces of information start settling in our mind as patterns and we refer to these patterns whenever we have to take a decision. And believe it or not we can be biased about something as trifling as selecting one color over the other. Are biases bad? Not always, as they help us to summarize a whole lot of information quickly and pick up what is best for us. Since ages, this ability has helped the mankind to identify who is a friend and who is a foe?
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The problem starts only when our decisions, based on unconscious biases, makes us discriminate among people and form groups that doesn’t allow us to be receptive. In this way, we end up being a “Frog in the Well” and because we are surrounded only by the people who are like minded our behaviour, thinking, knowledge all of it starts following a pattern and we become rigid. Consider a workplace where you have all the team members who think alike. No diversity of thoughts and perspective can be dangerous and it can kill a million dollar idea in seconds, only because you were not ready to accept different perspectives.
But can we overcome such situations?? Yes, we definitely can... by making some changes in our own behaviour like:
Start questioning yourself: When hiring for a sales position, if you pick a male candidate over an equally qualified female, question yourself if you are doing this with a non- judgmental view... a rational thinking... or because you still have a preconceived notion / an unconscious bias which says only men are good at sales?
Study your behaviour to be aware of biases: The best way to come out of biases is to know that you have one. If you know what your biases are you can categories them into harmful biases or non- harmful biases and then try to eliminate the ones that are harmful for you.
Try doing things that are different from your usual behaviour: Make a conscious effort to take decisions that are different from your usual behaviour, like try to be friendly with a person who is not similar to you and you might have a completely different and happy experience. Acknowledging biases in your behaviour will help you climb the first step of the ladder that will take you to a new world of Possibilities and Opportunities.
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We at Tatvã, deal with the subject of unconscious biases with one of our special offering called DRISHTI (the Sanskrit word translate to mean “coming to a state of awareness”). The programme emphasizes on creating awareness and bring to light how unconscious biases play themselves out in a workplace and what are their repercussions on the self as well as people working with you. The programme intends to seed the idea of creating inclusive workplace one which respects and celebrates diversity of all kinds.
Contact Details Registered and Corporate Office Tatvã Leadership and Management Services Pvt. Ltd. Office No. 306, 3rd Floor, Regent Plaza 5, Baner Pashan Link Road Baner, Pune - 411045
http://tatvaleadership.com
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