breaking workplace bias at the source

March 17, 2015

2015 © NeuroLeadership Ins9tute 1

Breaking Workplace Bias at the Source Dr. David Rock, Director, NeuroLeadership Institute Heidi Grant Halvorson Ph.D., Snr. Consultant & Researcher, NeuroLeadership Institute

Who we are

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• A research-driven leadership institute with IP in

development since 1998 and operations in 24 countries.

• Building a new language for leadership.

Our vision: Transform leadership through Neuroscience

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Three Core Practice Areas

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Transform performance by lifting

the quality of conversations.

Enhance diversity and inclusion by breaking bias.

Accelerate and embed new behaviors through brain-based learning

strategies.

We Partner With Organizations

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Three hour interactive deep dives into a key area of research with

your talent team.

Partnerships to develop talent strategies in any

of our practices.

Scalable learning solutions to achieve maximum behavior

change at scale.

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Overview

1.  The impact of diversity & inclusion on business results & people

2.  How diversity & inclusion lifts performance

3.  The paradoxes of diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias

4.  Define and mitigate the seeds of unconscious bias

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S&P 1500: Firms with females in C-Suite roles generated $44 million more in revenue on average. (Dezso & Ross, 2011)

Global analysis of 2400 companies: Those with at least 1 female board member had consistently superior share price performance, 4% higher return on equity, and 4% higher net income growth. (Credit Suisse, 2012)

The impact of D & I on business results

506 U.S.-based companies: Those with the highest level of racial diversity generated 15 times more sales revenue on average than those with the lowest levels. (Herring, 2009)

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CEB, 2010

The impact of D & I on people

increase in performance against goals

greater retention

more emotional commitment to colleagues

lift in discretionary effort

57%

24%

21%

11%

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How D & I lifts performance

Reduces mindless conformity

Raises team intelligence by increasing social intelligence

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Multiple perspectives improve problem solving and creativity

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Diversity increases perspective taking Pre-motor Area

Mirror neurons for reflexive

perspective-taking

Insular Cortex Connects mirror neurons to emotional responses

Limbic System Emotional

perspective-taking

Temporal Lobe Memory plays a

role in perspective-taking

Pre-frontal Cortex Executive functions

for cognitive perspective-taking

Diversity & Inclusion Paradox No. 1

People feel more confident in homogenous teams

Diverse teams are smarter and more creative

Yet…

People feel more effective in homogenous teams

Phillips, Liljenquist, & Neale, 2009

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Task Performance Perceived Effectiveness Confidence

Reality vs. perception

Phillips, Liljenquist, & Neale, 2009

The heart of the challenge…

Unconscious bias.

Accidental, unintended, subtle

and completely unconscious choices,

made by everyone, all the time.

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Put simply…

If you have a brain,

you are biased.

Let’s just train everyone?

A study of diversity training over 30 years found that efforts to improve diversity focused specifically on training, educating, or providing

managers with feedback around their biases were the least effective methods for improving levels of diversity.

(Kalev et al., 2006)

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Dobbin, Kalev, & Kelly (2007)

Diversity & Inclusion Paradox No. 2

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2 Standard unconscious bias training has had minimal impact on actual diversity numbers

People like standard unconscious bias training • Validates their experiences

• Provides interesting insights

• Shows that their company values D & I

• Does raise awareness of the issues

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Most biases occur unconsciously

Education doesn’t change that 1

Why standard bias training is not enough

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Most biases occur unconsciously

Education doesn’t change that 1

2 Biases, like diseases, have many causes

Yet we throw the same cure at everything

Why standard bias training is not enough

Similarity: “People like me are better than others”

Expedience: “If it feels familiar & easy it must be true”

Experience: “My perceptions are accurate”

Distance: “Closer is better than distant”

Defining the SEEDS™ of Bias

Safety: “Bad is stronger than good”

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Biases of Similarity

“People like me are better than others”

Examples

•  In group Bias

•  Out group Bias

•  Self-Serving Bias

Common in all people decisions. A function of automatically defining everyone as in-group or out-group, and processing information differently as a result.

(Xu, et al., 2008)

Biases of Similarity

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•  Create shared goals across groups of people

•  Focus on similarities

•  Remove distinguishing features from people decisions

Mitigate Similarity biases

Examples

•  Availability Bias

•  Confirmation Bias

•  Halo Effect

Biases of Expedience

“If it feels familiar & easy, it must be true”

Common when we hurry or experience high cognitive load.

A function of limited prefrontal resources.

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A bat and ball together cost $1.10


Bat + Ball = $1.10

Bat is a dollar more, so…

10 cents!

Which answer pops into mind?


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Mitigate Expedience biases

•  Reward people for finding their own errors

•  Break process into chunks or steps

•  Create processes to consider all information

Examples

•  Fundamental Attribution Error

•  False Consensus Effect

•  Illusion of Transparency

Biases of Experience

“My perceptions are accurate”

Common in creative and resource decisions.

A function of perceptions being highly

subjective, with many processes

invisible to us.

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•  Get multiple other independent opinions

•  Revisit ideas after a break to see them freshly

Mitigate Experience biases

Biases of Distance

“Closer is better than distant, Examples

•  Temporal Discounting

•  Affective Forecasting

Common in all resource decisions Due to a ‘proximity’ network for all types of

Closeness, in time, space and ownership.

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Unsuccessful acquisitions tend to be divested after the CEO

who made the acquisition leaves the firm. (Weisbach, 1991)

New bank executives are more likely to terminate poorly performing loans. (Staw, Koput, & Barsade 1997)

When mutual funds change managers, new managers are more likely to sell off inherited momentum losers – particularly when they are external hires.

(Jin & Sherbena, 2010)

Biases of Distance: organizational examples

•  Decide as if the people/resources affected are closer

•  Decide as if the benefits are yielded sooner

Mitigate Distance biases

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Biases of Safety

“Bad is stronger than good.”

Examples

•  Loss Aversion

•  Sunk Cost

Common in all resource decisions Due to a larger threat than reward system.

Heads = You lose $10K Tails = You win ______?

Biases of Safety

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•  Imagine you are deciding for someone else

•  Assume the decision is already made

Mitigate Safety biases

Similarity Focus on shared goals or similarities

Expedience Paint a complete picture

Experience Get other perspectives

Distance Decide in another time frame

Mitigate the SEEDS™ of Bias

Safety Decide for other people

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Mitigate bias with research-based strategies

Preventative measures Keep biases from being activated

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2 Decisions guides Step-by-step protocols for making key decisions

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If-then plans Make positive responses automatic in everyday activities

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Change behavior with ‘If-Then’ plans

If (or when) situation X occurs, then I will perform behavior Y

Situation and action become linked in your mind

Situation becomes high accessible – your brain searches for it

Once detected, action is taken automatically

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If-Then Planners Control

Sticking to Exercise 91% 39%

Finishing a resume by 5pm 80% 20%

Breast Self-Exam 100% 53%

Completing weekly task on time

Average lateness: 1.5 hours

Average lateness: 8 hours

How effective are if-then plans?

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Example preventative measures

Remove distinguishing features from CVs

Group hiring

Designate a “chief contrarian”

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Bias is becoming a bigger problem

•  Decisions need to be made faster

•  Decisions are made under increased cognitive load

•  There’s less hard data available in a VUCA world

In summary

Lack of diversity & inclusion costs, and it’s getting worse 1 Diverse & inclusive teams perform better, but feel worse 2 Unconscious bias is the heart of the challenge 3 Just raising awareness of bias feels good but does little 4 You can now label the type of bias in any situation 5 It is possible to mitigate directly against that type of bias 6

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A research based approach to breaking unconscious bias in your organization

The ‘Decide’ 30 day sprint

Overall outcome:

Dramatically improve the quality of key decisions that managers make, in just 30 days, at any scale.

To do this, we:

1.  Develop If-then plans for everyday interactions

2.  Encourage the development of preventative measures

3.  Embed a process for key people, resource and rethink decisions

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The ‘Decide’ 30 day sprint

5 minute video

Research Summary

The ‘Decide’ program – WEEKLY CONTENT

Practice Tool

Week 1: People Decisions

Each week, participants watch a five minute video describing how to break bias in a particular kind of decision. They can download a one-page practice tool and 2-page research summary to more deeply embed their learning.

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research summaries

Access to research summaries on each area of SEEDS, Breaking Bias Research Paper

WEBINAR Decision Guides

Debrief

1- People Decision Guide

2- Resource Decision Guide

3- Re-Think Decision Guide

In Week 4’s live webinar, participants receive and practice using 3 x one-page decision guides. Each is a simple three-step protocol for breaking bias in key decisions, that participants can refer to again and again as needed.

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Measurement of participants and their direct reports observations

3 follow up embedding messages

Campaign can be run once or twice each year for further embedding

Content lives in your LMS and can be used in many other ways

MEASUREMENT AND EMBEDDING

Visit

Schedule a demo today.

Visit neuroleadership.com or email [email protected]

March 17, 2015


2015 NeuroLeadership Summit Big ideas: •  Pick stars early •  Grow people faster •  Transition leaders better •  Create lasting change Neuro & trend research on: •  Performance management •  Diversity & Inclusion •  Compensation Neuroscience updates on: •  Empathy •  Persuasion •  Insight •  Behavior change summit.neuroleadership.com

Education

neuroleadership.com/education

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How we support organizations

Contact us Research briefings, thinking partnerships, digital learning solutions

•  Transform performance management

•  Break bias

•  Redesign learning initiatives

•  Create a coaching culture

Contact: Christine Chesebrough - [email protected]

March 17, 2015


Further Resources

•  Breaking Bias, NeuroLeadership Journal 2014

•  SCARF, NeuroLeadership Journal 2008

•  SCARF in 2012, NeuroLeadership Journal 2012

•  Turn the 360 around, NeuroLeadership Journal 2010

•  Your Brain at Work, HarperBusiness 2009

•  Contact: [email protected]

March Special Offers

Institute Membership: Access all Journal papers, discount to the Summit, exclusive webinars and more.

Register using promo code “NORATINGS" and SAVE 10%.

Certificate in the Foundations of NeuroLeadership: Virtual education program.

Next intake June 22.

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Register at neuroleadership.com before March 30th.

breaking workplace bias at the source

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