in front of a group of very senior executive women. Our conversation focused on the Unconscious Bias (UB) that exists in organizations and ways to address it. A rich discussion ensued about the various ways in which UB manifests and its implications on talent at all levels. Soon it became clear that many of the organizations represented in the room have already either conducted or are in the process of an UB awareness or training initiatives –this is where the discussion became very interesting.

 

From my vantage point, I can appreciate the amount of effort and resources required to successfully implement UB training. Often, such “targeted interventions” produce results. I also know that regardless of the success of the UB training, its impact is often diluted by the broader systemic bias, which tends to run undetected vis-à-vis “cultural norms”, “calcified” processes and collective “blind spots”.  In addition, the other “not-so-unconscious” tendencies, attributions, and organizational dynamics further add to the formation of the “us vs. them” dynamic that plays itself out repeatedly as part of day-to-day employee interactions, performance and career decisions, and eventually, who is “in” and who is “out” applied to strategic decision-making at the most senior level.

 

In most organizations, biases tend to be systemic, yet the organizations’ approaches to tackling bias are often localized. For example, many organizations tend to take a “hammer to a nail” approach, where an UB training or other “singular” approaches are used with mixed results. The solutions and responsibility often rests with the Diversity and Inclusion office or, alternatively, someone in HR who is tasked with identifying and implementing a solution to reduce bias and support more inclusive behaviors. Such approach of addressing symptoms instead of focusing on the underlying cause or factoring-in systemic impact may result in resistance to change and occasionally generates new “symptoms”.

 

The truth is that biases as well as a broader range of diversity and inclusion issues are about leaders– how they show up, “walk the talk”, and act day-to-day sets the tone, cues in others on vision and direction, and molds the entire organizational culture. From this perspective, all diversity and inclusion decisions, including the commitment to address various biases belong with the company’s leaders, starting from the C-Suite.

 

Inclusive leaders who effectively build and lead diverse teams drive innovation, revenue and organizational growth. Such leaders also create cultures and workplaces that thrive on diversity, value individual expression, and treat people with respect. Organizations should cultivate such leaders: hire them, support and develop them and promote them. Giving the power to leaders who have what it takes to create healthy inclusive workplaces and grow diverse and robust pipelines of future leaders is the only sustainable approach.

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This post is a part of the leadership series –  Re-defining and Harnessing Diversity for Business Results.