Lead at Any Level

unconscious bias

Choose the Best Candidate, Not the Most Obvious One

· · 2 Comments

When you make a decision about your own career, you want to consider the most important factors and make the best choice. If you are a hiring manager, you must also make decisions about other people’s careers. Taking on this level of responsibility requires you to understand and guard against your own biases. After all, your objective is to choose the best candidate, not the most obvious one. This article provides some insights into making more informed hiring decisions.

Preparation Is Critical

If you’ve done your homework, you’ve already positioned yourself to make a good hiring decision. By carefully crafting and strategically distributing the job description for your posting, you have ensured that your slate of candidates is as diverse as possible. You’ve followed scoring criteria for evaluating resumes and conducting fair interviews. Now it’s time to for the hard work: making a hiring decision.

Choose the Best Candidate with Predetermined Criteria

You should already have a weighted scoring system for the job’s key qualifications. When all the interviews are complete, compare your scores with those of other interviewers. Be sure to talk about differences in the scores.  If someone has reservations about a particular applicant, dig into their concerns to find out why. Do those concerns reflect the limitations of the candidate or the biases of the interviewer? Be diligent in uncovering interviewers’ biases.

One way to check your process is to be very transparent with your applicants and with the existing team. If you can clearly state how your “winning” candidate scored relative to other applicants, you’ve probably done a good job. On the other hand, being unable (or afraid) to articulate what drove your decision is a sign that you made a biased hiring decision.

Break Scoring Ties with a Skills Assessment or Work Simulation

Even the best scoring criteria can result in ties or results that are “too close to call.” When you have two or more applicants that seem very similarly qualified, there are a number of ways to break the tie without relying on your gut.

  • Ask your finalists to complete a skills assessment or aptitude test.
  • Provide your finalists with a real-life problem that your team or company is facing.
  • Request a writing sample.
  • Schedule time for them to deliver a presentation or a similar indicator of how they would perform on the job.

Whichever method you use, ensure once again that your evaluation criteria are determined in advance. Then add the new data together with the original resume and interview scores. In other words, try to make your decision as objective as possible. That way, you can really drive to the best decision, not the candidate that you like the best.

Remember that Soft Skills Are “Teachable” Too

Many employers admit to secretly administering a “beer test” in interviews. The “beer test” is a measure of likability and is a direct expression of our affinity biases. If likability is important to you, make it a factor in your criteria. Just don’t make it the only criteria, nor the most important one.  Remember that your goal is to choose the best candidate for the job, not the best candidate for you.

Keep in mind that soft skills, including likability, can be taught. Often, managers think that we can only teach technical skills. When we think this way, we’re really missing the boat. We may have people who are very technically capable but who lack some of the soft skills. But none of us was born knowing how to have empathy. We weren’t born knowing how to present to a room of people. And most of us weren’t born good listeners.

We had to learn those skills, too, at some point. Maybe we’ve turned them into strengths, or maybe we just grit our teeth and continue working on them. Regardless, we acquired them somehow. Challenge yourself and your leadership team with questions about how can you help the highest-scoring candidate improve the skills (whether technical or interpersonal) that they lack. That way, you’ll be sure to choose the best candidate from the applicant pool.

Employee Resource Groups: What you need to know

· · 10 Comments

Author’s note: This article is adapted from my book, Network Beyond Bias.

What are Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)?

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have started cropping up in companies. You may know them as Employee Affinity Groups (EAGs), Business Resource Groups (BRGs), or by another name. These groups are usually launched to help employees, particularly those who face cultural headwinds, connect with one another. And there are many other benefits for companies and employees alike.

How do Employee Resource Groups benefit companies?

Finding and attracting diverse talent

There is a significant talent shortage in many industries. Many companies have aggressive recruiting goals they are struggling to meet. These companies may be in a rut: recruiting from the same professional networks, schools, or geographic areas for decades.

By engaging current employees, companies can expand their reach to find and attract talent in areas they haven’t approached before. People tend to know others who are similar to them. So companies can find new pools of talent by leveraging the connections of employees from non-traditional backgrounds.

From a recruiting perspective, Employee Resource Groups offer an attractive selling point to job candidates. Many new employees want to believe they will feel welcome and accepted in a new company. The company with Employee Resource Groups can demonstrate cultural understanding and acceptance before the candidate has even applied for the job. Having an ERG tells the job candidate, “There are successful people in the company just like you. They want to help you be successful, too.”

Introducing new employees to the corporate culture

Once hired, new employees may need help understanding cultural norms of the company. Fellow ERG members may be helpful in this process, especially if the corporate culture does not readily translate to the subculture of the affinity group. For example, Asian-Americans may find it difficult to tout their own accomplishments due to values instilled in them since childhood. Women may have been taught to downplay their intelligence in group settings. In a large company, these professionals may need to find ways to adapt that are both advantageous in the workplace and culturally acceptable. Employee Resource Groups can help with provide integration strategies from a first-hand perspective.

Identifying and retaining top talent

Employee Resource Groups give a voice and sense of community to employees who may otherwise feel isolated or underrepresented, helping companies to retain talent in their organizations. When people feel isolated, they are not as engaged. Connected employees are more productive, more loyal, and better brand ambassadors. Connected employees stick around.

Rewards and recognition are also a key factor in employee retention. Research shows that managers are more likely to reward and promote employees who are like them. This is especially true when those managers don’t recognize their own biases. If a company has a high percentage of managers with similar demographics, it is likely that those demographics will not change much over time. Employee Resource Groups offer a different avenue for those managers to recognize talent they might otherwise overlook. They can also help mitigate against the default mode of hiring, recognizing, and promoting only within their existing inner circles.

Expanding into new markets and customer segments

Breaking into new markets can be tricky. Many companies have struggled to set the right tone in their advertising. Others may not even recognize that they have a potential niche customer base. In a recent interview, Howard J. Ross reminded us that it’s hard to sell to someone you’ve just insulted. It’s perhaps even harder to sell to someone you don’t know exists.

A diverse employee base can give an insider perspective on different markets and customer preferences. For example, a Latinx ERG might help a company translate both the language and the “feel” of commercials so they seem natural to the target community. An ERG for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) employees may help a financial services company create new products or services tailored to the legal issues faced by this consumer group. By working with management and marketing teams, Employee Resource Groups can provide a competitive edge in under-performing market segments.[bctt tweet=”ERGs can provide competitive advantage in underperforming markets.” username=”LeadAtAnyLevel”]

How do Employee Resource Groups benefit employees?

Professional development opportunities

As companies seek to develop new talent pools, employees can use Employee Resource Groups to position themselves for success. Participation in Employee Resource Groups can provide opportunities that may be missing from the employee’s “day job.” For example, an employee who plans an ERG networking event gains project management experience. Another employee who attends the networking event may meet managers from other areas of the company. Employee Resource Groups provide endless volunteer opportunities and chances to be noticed by management.

A sense of belonging

Most employees are happier and more engaged when they feel connected to others at work. Employee Resource Groups can provide a sense of community and connection, even in very large companies. By meeting others with similar life experiences, people feel more supported. These relationships often go beyond transactional, into deep friendships and mentorships. Project work, problem solving, career management, and other daily realities of corporate life are much easier when you have strong relationships.

Address ignorance and stereotypes head-on

Individual employees often find themselves on the receiving end of harmful stereotypes. Many will find that even well-meaning coworkers can be insensitive to or ignorant about deeply-held cultural norms. By themselves, they may be uncomfortable addressing or combating these situations. However, an ERG can organize entertaining “mythbusting” sessions, cultural awareness events, or expert panels that educate the larger corporate community. Doing so not only improves the environment for affinity employees. Everyone benefits from having a broader perspective and greater empathy.

Including everyone in the conversation

When you look at your company’s executive team, do you see someone who looks like you? Do you see someone to whom you can easily relate? If so, you may take this representation for granted. For those who aren’t part of an underrepresented group, this isn’t about being “politically correct.” And it’s not about offering special treatment to certain groups of people. It’s about recognizing that certain interests and perspectives are represented by default. Employee Resource Groups help expand the circle to include new perspectives at all levels of the organization.[bctt tweet=”ERGs help expand representation to include new perspectives at all levels of the organization.” username=”LeadAtAnyLevel”]

Think about a time when you felt different: new kid in school, new on the job, dressed informally for a formal event, visiting a different office, visiting a foreign country. Can you imagine feeling that way every day of your career?

We can all benefit by educating ourselves on the experience of being different and by opening ourselves up to the value that experience offers.

Get involved as soon as possible!

If your company has Employee Resource Groups, I encourage you to join a group with which you identify. Especially in large companies, this can provide a sense of belonging that you may not even know you’re missing.

And, more important, sign up as an “ally” in an ERG that is outside your own identity. If that makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself why — and be brave enough to answer yourself honestly. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to learn more … from a different perspective.

You have nothing at all to lose, and so much to gain.

Unconscious Bias: Break out in 3 simple steps

· · 13 Comments

If you have ever taken an Implicit Association Test (see post: Our Brains Are Biased), you may have been surprised by your own unconscious bias. I know the first time I took one of these tests, I was pretty taken aback.

Want to learn more? Check out our self-paced online courses to learn how to overcome bias to build a diverse professional network!

Unconscious Bias Limits Your Potential

Now that you likely have hard evidence of at least one bias, you can imagine how this bias might be shaping your opinions, judgments, decisions, and even your self-identity. You may even choose or avoid certain relationships or experiences as a result of unconscious bias. As icky as that feels right now, there is hope.

You now have the power to make better more rational decisions. You have the power to open yourself to new perspectives, to more varied experiences, and to deeper learning. Entertaining new ideas and innovating is now possible for you. And when your decisions improve, when your perspective expands, when learning takes hold, and when you innovate, you reach your goals faster!

Break the Cycle of Unconscious Bias

Having the power to break out of unconscious bias is one thing. Wielding this power won’t be easy. You will have to recognize your own biases, confront your assumptions, and challenge your beliefs. You may even have to change how you see yourself in order to see others in a new way. It requires honesty, integrity, and vulnerability. This is the work of leaders.

In order to break out, you need just three tools and a lot of practice.

  1. Put yourself on NOTICE:
    First, NOTICE your own responses. You don’t have to judge, or critique, or feel guilty. Just noticing, as if you were observing yourself in the wild, can make a big difference in how you respond over time. Noticing your biases takes away their power over you. Think about what identities, experiences, values, or perceptions may have led you to this type of response.
  2. Then, begin to notice the responses of others. Again, I didn’t say to judge. Just NOTICE. Think about what identities, experiences, values, or perceptions may have led someone to this type of response.
  3. Finally, press your PAUSE button.[1] Once you have practice with noticing, it’s time to break out your next tool: The Pause Button. The Pause Button allows you to think about other valid responses to the same situations, ideas, or people. When you can consider multiple responses, you can choose the best one for the situation at hand. Better responses lead to better decisions.

That’s it. Just three steps to break out of bias and make better decisions. Simple? Yes. Easy? Let me know!

[1] Adapted from Everyday Bias by Howard J. Ross

Our Brains Are Biased: Understanding Unconscious Bias

· · 11 Comments

Author’s note: This article is adapted from my book, Network Beyond Bias.

You may not know it, but unconscious bias affects you before your brain even knows what’s happening! Don’t believe me?  Imagine you’re driving late at night down a fairly deserted highway.  You look up into your rearview mirror and see a police cruiser with its lights flashing.

police in rearview

What do you notice about yourself first?  Maybe your heart starts racing, you start to sweat, and feel nervous.  You’ve probably already taken your foot off the gas.

Then what happens?  You start wondering if you were speeding. Or whether you have a tail light out. Did you remember to renew your plates?  Or maybe you’re wondering if your race, gender, type of car, bumper stickers, or some other quality made you a target for a less-than-scrupulous police officer.

Do you know what’s happening here?  Your brain starts making up a story to explain how you’re feeling.  You felt nervous first and then you try to find a reason for that feeling.

What happens when the police officer passes you and speeds on down the highway? Your mind says “WHEW!” but your heart takes a few moments to stop pounding, right?

This is a situation most of us can relate to on some level. It plays out in many aspects of our lives, in bigger and smaller ways, often without our even realizing it.

Want to learn more? Check out our self-paced online courses to learn how to overcome bias to build a diverse professional network!

biased brain

Unconscious Bias is Universal

My brain is biased, and so is yours. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Bias means preference. We are hard-wired for bias. Bias kept us safe when we were hunter-gatherer nomads who had to decide if each new thing we saw was something we could eat, or something that would eat us.  Knowing who was in your tribe and who wasn’t was literally a split-second, life-or-death decision. Yet, despite all our cultural and physical adaptations, this biology is still with us.  In fact, new studies show that babies start to demonstrate racial bias as early as fifteen, nine, or even six months.  We can only make good decisions if we understand that this bias exists and recognize it when it’s

As we develop physically, emotionally, and socially, we learn to shape our various characteristics into a sense of self, or social identity.  This social identity is based on our experience in the world relative to other people: how strong we are, how we look, where we live, how we speak, how we dress or eat or worship or spend our free time. We form our sense of self based on those who are similar to us and those who are different. In part, we are basing our own identity on our perceptions of others.

bias cycle

As we firm up and fine-tune our sense of self, we also learn to make judgments – and I’m using that word on purpose – about others. Even as we define ourselves relative to others, we evaluate others from the perspective of our own identity.

But wait, there’s more! We choose our experiences in ways that reinforce our identities and our perceptions of others. It becomes a vicious cycle. The less you vary your experiences, the more resolute you are likely to be in your perceptions of others, and the more vested in your own identity.

Unconscious Bias Can Be Measured

The good news is that you can invest five minutes right now to test yourself for bias. Come back when you’re finished. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

(No, really, go take the test.)

Now that you understand what unconscious bias is, you may be thinking, “This feels icky. Make it stop!” Check out Overcoming Unconscious Bias to learn how!