Episode 135 - Managing Bias

<p class="p2"><strong>Summary</strong></p> <p class="p3">We all suffer from bias. Here’s how to manage bias more effectively.</p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p2"><strong>Transcript</strong></p> <p class="p3">Welcome to episode 135 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we look at ways to manage bias.</p> <p class="p3">If you ask people to picture in their mind a doctor, most will automatically assume that the doctor is male. If you ask the same people to picture in their mind a nurse, most will automatically assume that the nurse is female. It’s true - more doctors are male, and more nurses are female. When we guess at someone’s gender based on their profession it’s like we’re using approximations and rules of thumb. We are guessing at what’s most likely. But our guesses can be wrong, and based on faulty assumptions. All of that can lead us to have biases that shape our behaviour. If I’m hiring a doctor, do I tend to dismiss female candidates? If I’m hiring a nurse, do I put males further down the list? My beliefs and assumptions then become a real problem - they can lead to bias and prejudice. Understanding how this occurs can help us to identify and manage our biases more effectively.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p3">A helpful framework for this is the Ladder of Inference from Chris Argyris. Here we picture a ladder that we’re climbing.</p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li3">The ladder starts with what we observe. That’s the first rung of the ladder.</li> <li class="li3">We then select data from what we observe.</li> <li class="li3">We then add meanings, both cultural and personal, to that data</li> <li class="li3">We make assumptions based on those meanings</li> <li class="li3">We draw conclusions based on those assumptions</li> <li class="li3">Those conclusions shape our beliefs about the world</li> <li class="li3">We take action based on our beliefs</li> <li class="li3">All of this loops back to influence what we ob