Deborah May's blog

The latest panacea: unconscious bias training? How do you DO that??

Our attention is increasingly being directed to the need for unconscious bias training. It is the latest panacea prescribed for ailing organisations seeking to correct the behaviour and decision making of individuals that reinforce the status quo.

Decisions made by well meaning individuals who live from a set of internalised beliefs informed by their personal experiences, parents, social groups, teachers, friends, peers, the media, politicians and everyone else they’ve listened to and have been influenced by.

The status quo can stymie organisational growth, diversity, opportunities and innovation.  It limits an organisation’s ability to meet the challenges of today because it reinforces outdated cultural practices and norms that may have been useful in the past but limit the possibilities for tomorrow.

We all have a set of beliefs that are unconsciously held that govern our decision making and behaviours. These beliefs are reinforced over years as we are rewarded with love, acceptance and security or protected from physical or emotional harm, ridicule or stigma.

These beliefs inform decisions and judgements about

• Who we are and what we’re capable of
• Our own capacity to achieve goals and aspirations
• How we interpret the behaviour of those around us
• How we respond to criticism, conflict, love, violence, threats
• How we respond to people who are different to us
• Who we trust and who we don’t
• How we spend or save our money
• Who we regard as credible, competent leaders.

If we’re not consciously thinking about our assumptions and decisions or how they’re made, we make them by default according to an internalised belief system that may no longer be serving us or our organisations well.

When decisions based on outdated paradigms or assumptions begin to impact organisational diversity or growth, it’s time to pay attention.

So along come the unconscious bias trainers ready to train our unconscious to make unbiased decisions.

As if our unconscious can be trained.

Certainly our consciousness can be raised and we can become more intentional in our decision making and choices, but we cannot train our unconscious – because it’s not known or seen by our rational conscious mind.

I’m all for awareness raising. The more intentional we are and the more awareness we have of the factors that inform our decision making and behaviour, the better choices we can make.

Just don’t call it unconscious bias training.

Lessons from Defence Force's Most Senior Woman

At the ACT’s Women in Information and Communication breakfast this morning a packed room listened to ‘lessons I have learned so far’ from Air Vice Marshall Margaret Staib.

Her advice to women:

1. When the answer is no, ask again – but ask a person one level higher.
2. Bureaucracy: requires a tolerance for stupidity and sometimes a bulldozer.
3. Patience is a virtue, but the persistence to continue until you succeed is a blessing.
4. When you can’t beat them, join them. Then beat them.

Don’t let them fool you: for men, it is definitely personal.

We’ve all internalised it as if it’s true: women take things too personally.  It’s usually said in a tone that implies we’re somehow inferior, and it can erode our confidence and power. What we fail to notice is that for men, it’s also very personal.  

We’ve all seen it: Guys talking over each other, slamming the table and behaving as though they’re about to deck each other.  Then someone wins the argument and they head to the pub for a beer. 

Today a client shared an account of a meeting she attended as the only woman amongst a bunch of posturing angry men.  She was new in the role and her predecessor had been a bloke.

At this meeting the guys talked over each other, were rude and critical and openly disparaged all ideas that weren’t their own. They were so invested in being right, they had lost the point of the meeting, which was to come up with a solution to an intractable problem.

My client didn’t join in, but when the finger was pointed and a demand made of her, she calmly said, ‘that sounds like a good idea.’ These guys were looking for a fight; she was looking for a solution. Her calmness, common sense and focus on what they were there for won the day and changed the dynamic. They all left the meeting applauding it as ‘constructive’ and ‘a refreshing change.’

When meetings are dominated by men, they too frequently become a contest – where views are presented and ‘discussed’ until one person wins.   Perspectives are tabled and argued, not necessarily because they’re great ideas, or that the bloke presenting it thinks he’s right. It’s because he wants to win so badly, he can't remove himself from the story.

Men allow their egos to get in the way of a good outcome. Women allow their feelings to get in the way of objectivity. Neither is good, and for both, it’s personal.