Unconscious Biases

Overcoming unconscious biases is about being aware that they exist, however, increasing awareness is not enough. We must teach people to manage these biases, change their behavior, and track their progress to make certain that we are aware and working towards overcoming them.

If we solely raise awareness of the existence of unconscious biases, we may feel that these biases are involuntary and too widespread and that they cannot be overcome. Remember that all success begins in our minds and if we want to embody the championship mindset it is important that we are empowered and prepared to make those necessary changes. Therefore, people need to avoid feeling that these implicit, unconscious biases that may have been learned over time and are unavoidable.

Therefore, we need to go beyond raising awareness and teach people to manage biases and change behavior. We need to rethink our strategies.

One strategy is “prejudice habit breaking.” It teaches what implicit bias is, how it is measured, and how it harms us and others. How to overcome these biases? Some strategies are calling out stereotyped views, gathering more individualized information about things or people, reflecting on counterstereotypical examples, adopting the perspective of others, and increasing interactions and experiences with “different” things and people. Remember, I have discussed “making mistakes” or choosing things that are “out of the ordinary” helps us discover things about ourselves and our preferences. Ex. dating someone that you do not usually think is “your type” could be the reason why you haven’t been able to find anyone.

Once you discover some of these biases, we need to contemplate how we use them in our lives with examples. As we work through those motions we are better able to “break” those habits.

You hold the power. You can change.

Overcome denial. Not only being aware of our biases but understand the extent and its consequences.

Focus on the potential for growth. The brain is malleable and capable of positive change. Always keep that in mind.

Provide examples of how to change behavior.

Break stereotypes.

Create empathy.

Offer opportunities to take the perspective of others. Put yourself in other situations or someone else’s shoes. See the world from a different perspective. Traveling helps with this one. Or even reading books!

Having small discussion groups with other people about their views or experiences.

Encourage interactions among people from different groups.

Expanding your inner circles.

Nurture curiosity.

Keep track of your interactions.

Encourage good practices and continued learning

Commit to positive change and improvement.

Find a mentor or partner who can provide you feedback.

Track your improvement.

Set a broader strategy for broader impact

Build the foundations and measure effectiveness of strategies.

Focus on making more accurate judgements to maximize the expected value of our choices for better decision making.

Review and RETHINK policies.