“[O]ur attitudes towards things like race or gender operate on two levels. First of all, we have our conscious attitudes. This is what we choose to believe. These are our stated values, which we use to direct our behavior deliberately … But the IAT [Implicit Association Test] measures something else. It measures our second level of attitude, our racial attitude on an unconscious level—the immediate, automatic associations that tumble out before we've even had time to think. We don't deliberately choose our unconscious attitudes. And … we may not even be aware of them. The giant computer that is our unconscious silently crunches all the data it can from the experiences we've had, the people we've met, the lessons we've learned, the books we've read, the movies we've seen, and so on, and it forms an opinion.”

—Malcolm Gladwell

***

Many of us consider ourselves to be well-intentioned, egalitarian, fair-minded individuals who would never allow our biases to negatively inform our interactions with people we work with. Consciously, we are absolutely determined to be kind, objective, and nonjudgmental. Unconsciously, we often do just the opposite. Meet unconscious or implicit biases. They are triggered involuntarily and without our awareness. The truth of the matter is that while we mean well, the workplace is rife with implicit bias. We pack them up and carry them around with us every day. We can size people up in a matter of seconds and allow those perceptions to affect the way we work and communicate with one another. According to scientists, there is no way around it. Implicit bias is ingrained, and everyone has it. When Karen, a White sales manager enters the office kitchen, she encounters Robert, a young Black man dressed in a hoodie and sneakers, and she instantly concludes that he's part of the cleaning staff. As she sparks a conversation about the weather, she alerts him to the fact that there are no coffee mugs in the cabinet. Perplexed, he asks why he needs to know about the lack of coffee mugs. He explains that he is on the software development team and that he's on his way to a meeting and apologizes that he can't help her with the coffee mug problem. Surprised at the discovery, and slightly embarrassed, she apologizes for the faux pas. In this instance, she didn't intend to judge; she sparked a friendly conversation about the weather and let her bias guide the interaction. Perhaps she has never met a Black software engineer, and she associates hoodies and sneakers with cleaning staff when she sees that attire in the office. The effects aren't always negative. On the other hand, given the same situation, what if she held a point of view that Black men wearing hoodies and sneakers were professionals? After all, Meta's (formerly known as Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg frequently dons hoodies and sneakers—even to his company's initial public offering. Implicit bias could mean that she is more open to the possibility that the man in the kitchen is not only a professional but a high-ranking executive. At least in this scenario, Robert wasn't demeaned, insulted, or diminished as she had clearly not intended. The key reason our biases are so pervasive is that our brains have a natural tendency to seek patterns and associations in an effort to make sense of a complex world. Our backgrounds, previous experiences, and cultural contexts directly impact how we judge, evaluate, and relate in the workplace. These biases can divide us and compromise our ability to establish healthy and productive relationships with diverse groups. Had Karen taken a moment to get to know Robert, the mistake would have been avoided, and Robert would not have left the encounter feeling slighted. The mental shortcuts that we use to assess people and situations allow us to navigate through the day more efficiently while simultaneously preventing us from seeing the whole person or situation. Our snap judgments invariably help some and harm others.

The Perception Institute defines implicit bias in these terms, “Thoughts and feelings are implicit if we are unaware of them or mistaken about their nature. We have a bias when, rather than being neutral, we have a preference for (or aversion to) a person or group of people. Thus, we use the term ‘implicit bias' to describe when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge.” The good news is that we don't have to be victims of our biases as they can be managed once we realize what they are. We make the unconscious conscious and adapt our behaviors.

In the workplace, negative biases impact groups based on gender, race, age, ability, LGBTQ status, and culture but can also manifest when we have preferences to things like Anglo-sounding names or physical attributes such as weight, height, and beauty. When men continuously interrupt or ignore contributions of women, that signals gender bias and the belief that men are superior thinkers. If the work of a Hispanic colleague is constantly overscrutinized by a White colleague, it's indicative of racial bias and the belief without realizing it that Hispanic people are less competent. If you notice that the entire sales team has the physical attractiveness of supermodels, the hiring manager is biased toward beauty. Uncover your personal biases with the implicit associations test. It was developed by scientists, grounded in how our brains process information, and designed to uncover unconscious attitudes and beliefs. Once we become aware of our biases toward various groups, we can begin the work of interrupting thought patterns, making gut decisions, and being more mindful in our communications. Champions of inclusion are in touch with their unconscious biases and stereotypical beliefs and we use this knowledge to ensure that they don't show up during interactions and decision making. In the process, we start to actually see individuals as they are and empower ourselves to cut through biased beliefs. Grab a teammate to join you on this journey—spread the wealth.

Actions

Action Accelerators

• Youtube.com: We all have implicit biases. So what can we do about it?, Dushaw Hockett, TEDxMidAtlanticSalon: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKHSJHkPeLY
• Book: Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Claude M. Steele
• ChicagoTribune.com: “‘Implicit bias': The problem and how to interrupt it. Plus, the beads test,” by Michelle Sharpe Silverthorne: www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-black-white-families-implicit-bias-0611-story.html

Sources Cited