The Unconscious Bit is the Problem

8028297466?profile=originalWhile the concept of “leading alongside” is a noble one for an internal adviser, it is not accomplished easily overnight. You see, the problem is the “unconscious” in “unconscious bias”. The decision makers you are trying to influence are not aware of the unconscious biases that may be clouding their judgement unless they have been trained to understand their sources and to recognise them. It is useful to understand and recognise the sources of their biases: genes, beliefs and aspirations.

Our unconscious biases stem from our genes, our beliefs and our aspirations.

Genes 
A simple example of how our genes create biases is “face-ism” which I have blogged about before. The key point: we only need 200 milliseconds to form a judgement of a person. Evolution has taught us to be cautious of people who do not look like us and we know for sure that we trust people we like, even at first glance. 

Beliefs 

If we believe something we need good cause to believe something different. Therefore we are more likely to block evidence or advice to the contrary. For example, people who have a distrust in science and believe climate change is due to simple variability over millennia, won’t accept that climate change is influenced by humans as scientists have shown. No matter how much scientific evidence is portrayed. They don’t believe it because they believe science can’t be trusted. 

Aspirations 

Our aspirations come from many corners. Some we might have dreamt of since we were children. Others are created for us by our leaders and we are provided with incentives to realise those aspirations. Aspirations cause us to be blinkered. While the world needs risk takers who are blinkered to failure, we don’t need risk takers who are blinkered to the hurt that can be caused to customers, suppliers and of course staff. 

If decision makers allow their unconscious bias to run unbridled, sooner or later their decision making will diverge from the values they purport to operate by. See if you can help them before they diverge. Once they diverge, help them to see why the situation arose.

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Bryan Whitefield works with strategic leaders across all sectors to help organisations harness uncertainty – uncertainty is the strategic leader’s best friend. He is the author of DECIDE: How to Manage the Risk in Your Decision Making and Winning Conversations: How to turn red tape into blue ribbon. He is the designer of the Risk Culture: Build Your Tribe of Advocates Program for support functions and the Persuasive Adviser Program for internal advisers. Both can be booked individually or in-house. For more information about Bryan, please click here.

www.bryanwhitefield.com

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Bryan is a management consultant operating since 2001, specialising in risk-based decision making and influencing decision makers, born from his more than twenty years of facilitating executive and board workshops.

Bryan’s experience as a risk practitioner includes the design and implementation of risk management programs for more than 150 organisations across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Bryan is the author of Risky Business : How Successful Organisations Embrace Uncertainty; Persuasive Advising : How to Turn Red Tape into Blue Ribbon, and Team Think : Unlock the Power of the Collective Mind [to be published in 2022].

He is licenced by the RMIA as a Certified Chief Risk Officer (CCRO) and is the designer and facilitator of their flagship Enterprise Risk Course since 2019.

<a href="http://www.bryanwhitefield.com">www.bryanwhitefield.com</a>

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