Why diversity can be difficult

Although most people would not consider themselves to be prejudiced, we are conditioned to categorize information and make instinctive judgements, often based on physical characteristics, when determining who is in our ‘in-group’ or ‘out-group’.

These arise from prevailing societal beliefs and circumstances together with evolutionary suspicion of the unfamiliar. This is done, by many without thinking and is called unconscious bias. The concept of unconscious bias relates to beliefs and intentions which are shaped by society, upbringing and environments. They are often deeply ingrained, automatic and can create ‘blind spots’ which affect behaviour. We all have unconscious biases, and while in most cases they will fall short of overt discrimination, they may nonetheless result in unconsciously favouring a person of a particular demographic.

Cultural stereotypes can register on the brain in one-fifth of a second, but can take a lot of time to overcome. Someone who we initially consider to be in our ‘out-group’ will have to do a lot more to overcome our initial judgements, unless we consciously try to create a more egalitarian environment.

We have to work at minimizing our biases with the ultimate aim to assess another person based entirely on their skills and abilities, ignoring any assumptions about the demographic to which they belong to. This cycle can be very difficult to break, but the first step in reducing the impact of unconscious biases is to recognize them and spend time developing a greater awareness of them. Some ways to help this include:

·       Being conscious of implicit biases when evaluating performance, making a hire, or nominating a team member for promotion.

o   An awareness of the potential biases involved in decision making means people are less likely to lean on mental shortcuts and make them more  aware of the potential biases involved in the decision.

·       Engaging with diverse groups of people.

o   Working with individuals of different groups is one of the most effective ways of breaking down reliance on assumptions, biases and stereotypes

·       Reflecting on personal values, cultural norms and behaviours.

o   The more we learn about ourselves, the more we are aware of how the lens we see through affects our behaviour towards other people.