We all live varied human experiences that shape the way in which we interact with and think about others. When we work in a company that has a truly diverse workforce, it is important to honor these different human-centered experiences. Companies can ensure they are honoring different perspectives by assessing and controlling how much implicit bias is being filtered into their culture. It isn’t enough to hire people that look differently; but it is also important to create a work environment where everyone feels welcomed and brings their whole selves to work. Company culture should ensure that they are training and teaching all their employees, from the top down, to control all instances of casual, overt, and covert bias.
What is implicit bias?
Implicit bias is treating or looking at someone differently; or overlooking someone’s experiences based on your limited, or narrow-minded, knowledge of those experiences. Essentially disregarding the human aspect of diverse lived experience. When companies are thinking about their culture, the questions they must consider are:
“Is our culture and our leadership open to listening and learning, rather than assuming and judging?”
“Does all of our staff feel comfortable interacting with others at work?”
By accepting forms of implicit bias in the workplace, your company may be showing that they actually value a homogenous work culture, even though your staff may look diverse in areas. It creates a culture of “tone deafness” and ostracizes certain individuals whose experiences are dissimilar to the homogenous norm.
What does implicit bias look like?
Implicit bias can be practiced on both a micro and macro level. It’s the difference between negatively targeting an individual to their personal detriment vs. perpetuating an organizational structure set up to segregate an entire class or marginalized group. More often than not, implicit bias isn’t overt, or an extreme form of bias. Your colleagues of marginalized groups may simply feel unwelcomed; and/or made to feel uncomfortable at work.
Comments about hairstyles, dialects, and appearances can be examples of microaggressions, a form of implicit bias. This includes comments, i.e. insults, about someone’s appearance, dialect, or culture, that are masked as “jokes”.
This also includes comments, such as:
“You aren’t like most people from your marginalized group because you don’t appear to be or sound like….”
“You are from this marginalized group, what is your opinion on these issues?”, (ones that you may think they have the authority on based on their culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, pronoun identity, physical abilities, religion, etc.)
Implicit bias gets increasingly more problematic when your company is creating a culture that silences colleagues from marginalized groups. They fear speaking up because they are either labeled “aggressive” or “out of line” for respectfully having an opinion or idea; while colleagues of non-marginalized groups are labeled as “thought leaders”, and welcomed for their “boldness” and “gusto”. Your company may even limit opportunities for promotion and career advancement to colleagues of marginalized groups because their voices are heard the least, and opportunities for executive sponsorship are nil. Or, non-marginalized colleagues may be getting the recognition that colleagues from marginalized groups are not, for holding the same ideas and sentiments. It’s the inequity of what’s deemed an inappropriate act when exercised by some, but deemed worthy of praise when the exact same act is exercised by a homogenous voice. This disparity of treatment is cause for concern, most especially in this age of social justice and racial reckoning.
This type of implicit bias may go unchecked for years. But an easy way you can tell if this is the case, is if you look at your leadership compared to your junior hires. If most, if not all, of your colleagues at the top are from non-marginalized groups, while your junior employees look more diverse; your company is likely operating with implicit bias.
Your company’s staff may be completely overlooking their bias, especially in instances where they think, or could be perceived, to be acting from a place of understanding, or attempting to be complimentary. A prime example of this is when your staff or leadership is swooping in to play the “savior” role for their colleagues from marginalized groups; yet, still centering their “heroic” efforts as the main point of focus when discussing their colleagues’ needs and ideas. This is still considered implicit bias. If a colleague really wants to use their privilege to speak up and out for their colleagues from marginalized groups; then they can simply: highlight their colleagues’ efforts, then move aside to give their colleague the floor to voice their ideas and opinions. Their intent may be in the right place, but it’s considered implicit bias because the colleague from a non-marginalized group is still essentially suggesting that their own voice or their actions matter more than their colleagues, who likely has already been overlooked by the majority. When considering whether your company is perpetuating implicit bias in its culture; it is more important to consider whether you are creating a negative impact on your colleagues from marginalized groups, rather than focus on the intent to issue diversity, equity, and inclusion statements.
If the behavior at your company is still largely making some of your colleagues feel uncomfortable, unwanted, and unsupported; it’s time to take responsibility for your company’s culture of implicit bias.
How Can Your Company Ensure Implicit Bias Is Eradicated From The Culture?
What makes a diverse and inclusive workplace is one that honors and appreciates people from all different backgrounds and experiences. Everyone in your organization can take responsibility for their role in maintaining implicit bias in the culture, whether they personally believe they contribute to it or not. This means everyone has a responsibility to check their own uninformed opinions of others’ lived experiences, and anyone else’s, if they perceive it to be biased. Take a step back. Ask:
“Could I, or another, be negatively impacting my colleagues?”
“Am I, or another, impacting the energy in the room; or am I, and others, uplifting everyone in this space?”
It’s important to consider the bigger picture. This applies to every interaction, meeting, or call. Rather than talking and perceiving others from your vantage point only; it is important to observe, listen, and consider other people’s views; especially those that don’t look like you. Sit and lead from a place of empathy with intention to welcome a human-centered workplace culture that positively impacts equitable opportunities for every employee group.
Your company can pivot from implicit bias tendencies by encouraging a culture where empathy is valued and taught. This requires your staff to be encouraged to listen before engaging. Next, encourage your staff to come from a place of curiosity and openness, especially when asked to be receptive of their impact from their known/unknown acts of microaggression. Create a human-centered culture that welcomes and accepts feedback, no matter where or who it is coming from.
No matter what, it’s an act of authenticity when your company can direct people to resources where they can educate themselves on different cultural experiences, either at a companywide level, or on an individual basis. It is not the responsibility of your staff from marginalized groups to be expected to educate everyone. Such an expectation falls entirely outside of the scope of their work purview. Remember there are trained DEI professionals that your company can hire to consult as coaches, trainers, and subject-matter experts.
(A great place to start understanding the deep-seated conditioning of implicit bias and systematic oppression is: Caste by Isabelle Wilkerson. This is a must-read, worthy of adding to a company’s DEI booklist. I also suggest hiring a DEI facilitator to partner with your company’s DEI committee, inviting all staff members to engage in a book club discussion about Caste, no matter their role.)
Eradicating implicit bias may not be easy; but it can only be done when everyone in the company takes full responsibility for their role in it. It’s not about being afraid of being imperfect or getting it wrong. Mistakes will happen along a company’s implicit bias training journey. But what your company stands to gain from committing to a culture of inclusion and belonging will prove invaluable. Your company will eventually create a more productive and reflective workforce, where employee morale will improve and company loyalty will grow.
