Unconscious bias is not just a concern of the Royal Family, it also impacts UK businesses of all sizes. Katie Howard, Director at New Street Consulting Group explains what it is.
Last Sunday, Prince Harryโs 90-minute ITV interview with Tom Bradby was aired with 4.1 million viewers. The Duke of Sussex suggested that unconscious bias was to blame for several issues caused between himself, Meghan, and the Royal Family.
Imperial College, London describes unconscious bias as โthe associations we hold, outside our conscious awareness and controlโ.
ICL also says that unconscious bias is triggered by our brain automatically making quick judgments and assessments. We are influenced by our background, personal experiences, societal stereotypes, and cultural context.
As hinted at by Prince Harry in his interview, unconscious bias doesnโt negate the harmful impact of a biased personโs thinking or behaviour.
When it comes to hiring staff unconscious bias plays a role
Moving this behaviour into a wider business context we know – whether we like it or not -, biases โ unconscious or otherwise- also play a role in businesses of all sizes.
While positive steps have been made, itโs a challenge that companies continue to grapple with, especially during the hiring process. But highlighting the different types of biases that we all have, can make all the difference when it comes to effective search and selection.
The main forms of biases that commonly crop up in the interview process are:
Similarity bias
We gravitate towards people who are like us. Itโs human nature to do this.ย So, when hiring make sure there is a diverse selection of people on the hiring committee to lower the likelihood of the similarity bias
Confirmation bias
If you like a particular candidate, you will seek out information that backs up why you like them. Likewise, if you dislike a candidate, you will seek out information that proves your dislike.
Gender bias
At the office, an assertive woman might be perceived as โaggressiveโ while a man with the same attributes might be described as โconfidentโ.ย When women are deemed as confident or ambitious the terms typically used can be bossy or aggressive, but if male counterparts are deemed as confident or ambitious that is seen as a positive trait
The halo effect
This is where a positive first impression can lead us to treat someone more favourably and overlook any negative traits. On the flip side, we have the horn effect where a negative first impression can lead us to treat someone less favourably.
Effective ways to ensure more inclusivity and less bias
Raising awareness is a cornerstone of creating a more inclusive culture and can create a marginal gain step in the right direction. However, to overcome biases in the workplace, itโs important to have an objective system and criteria for assessing candidates, during the hiring process.
An effective way to overcome this bias would be to undertake structured interviews where each candidate is asked the same set of questions and a scoring matrix is used so you can score the answer against the specific question which is based on skills for the position rather than โgut feelingโ.
Providing more specific unconscious bias training to all who are involved in building teams within organisations is also useful. Itโs not the magic bullet that will solve a companyโs problems like itโs sometimes touted to be.ย However, what it does do very effectively is raise awareness.
Just by bringing unconscious bias to attention, managers typically will be more open-minded, more inclusive, and more receptive to considering someone who doesnโt necessarily โfit the mouldโ.
For larger organisations, an internal hiring board or committee can help alleviate some of the biases one or two people may hold when choosing interview candidates or to who to send a job offer to. This can include a variety of genders, educational levels socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.
ย The need to better diversity and inclusion policies
Finally, addressing unconscious bias in the workplace, leads to the wider task of creating better diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies. There is a misconception that D&I belongs solely to HR.ย But Itโs the responsibility of the whole organisation starting at the top with the CEO and trickling down through to management.
Companies must decide what their goals are when it comes to D&I policies, procedures and working practices to continue to build a supportive, progressive culture.
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