I'm Biased, Now What?
January 25, 2016 1:03 PM Subscribe
I manage various affinity groups at a large law firm so I am constantly trying to find ideas and research about programming and how to facilitate change.
Can anyone point me in the direction of people (authors, speakers, researchers) who are coming up with "crazy", innovative, and/or shocking ways to address bias at work/in society?
I find that when EQ issues become popular, companies tend jump on a couple of sound bites and then just start spouting the most popular terminolgy to suggest that they are doing something about it. Don't get me wrong - I think that getting people to talk about bias is HUGE but what about action? How do we keep the conversation going past the one-off training or seminar? How do we get people to truly care about the issues rather than just pay lip service?
I've been thinking about asking this for a while but I just read this article and it made me have my typical reaction of why the hell is this stuff still going on (her theory that binding arbitration is part of the problem is interesting) but (and this is a little rhetorical) why can't people just treat each other with respect - particularly at work? It's hard not to feel like things have actually gotten worse in the past few years with the rise of tech culture and the seeming acceptance of bad behavior but maybe that's just because it's being brought to light in a way that it hasn't been in recent years?
Anyway, I'm hoping this post sparks Mefi thoughts on articles/books/research/presentations/TED talks/blogs from people who really are doing cutting edge work on not only making people aware of their implicit biases but then finding ways to turn that into manageable change/action ideas within an organization (or even in society generally).
By way of an unrelated example of the types of things I'd love to find is this story about implementing one man's plans on how to speed up responses to 911 calls. At first, everyone thought he was crazy but it has now been adopted all over the country and has improved the process tremendously. Are there people out there with crazy ideas about diversity & inclusion that just might work? I'd love your help in finding them.
I find that when EQ issues become popular, companies tend jump on a couple of sound bites and then just start spouting the most popular terminolgy to suggest that they are doing something about it. Don't get me wrong - I think that getting people to talk about bias is HUGE but what about action? How do we keep the conversation going past the one-off training or seminar? How do we get people to truly care about the issues rather than just pay lip service?
I've been thinking about asking this for a while but I just read this article and it made me have my typical reaction of why the hell is this stuff still going on (her theory that binding arbitration is part of the problem is interesting) but (and this is a little rhetorical) why can't people just treat each other with respect - particularly at work? It's hard not to feel like things have actually gotten worse in the past few years with the rise of tech culture and the seeming acceptance of bad behavior but maybe that's just because it's being brought to light in a way that it hasn't been in recent years?
Anyway, I'm hoping this post sparks Mefi thoughts on articles/books/research/presentations/TED talks/blogs from people who really are doing cutting edge work on not only making people aware of their implicit biases but then finding ways to turn that into manageable change/action ideas within an organization (or even in society generally).
By way of an unrelated example of the types of things I'd love to find is this story about implementing one man's plans on how to speed up responses to 911 calls. At first, everyone thought he was crazy but it has now been adopted all over the country and has improved the process tremendously. Are there people out there with crazy ideas about diversity & inclusion that just might work? I'd love your help in finding them.
How do we get people to truly care about the issues rather than just pay lip service?
By making the negative consequences of bias outweigh positive consequences keeping status quo. You need evaluation tools to track bias in your organizations, metrics to track the negative impact of the bias, and different metrics to track positive impact of training/awareness/specific action.
I'd write up a proposal to create a report on the organisations, re-evaluate all job descriptions for bias but also add empathy/sensitivity as a necessary qualification (that also includes a monetary benefit, so two jobs with similar educational qualifications would pay more to position that requires more sensitivity), identify best practices from successful organisations, and draft actionable and objectively evaluable recommendations (so, not "reduce bias in recruitment" but "do an environmental scan of demographics of possible local applicants, track candidates through to hiring and examine deviations; engage with hiring officers and applicants to examine decisions.). Most importantly, engage your staff in creating any training and allow them to help shape the overall programme and specific sessions. There should be a "bias training" category on their annual training plan so you are re-engaging with them at least once a year and empathy/sensitivity should be a significant part of their annual review.
Pay very close attention that the onus on eliminating bias is not just on the individual workers but addresses any underlying institutional bias. Salaries need to be tracked by demographics and and patterns reflecting bias need to change.
This sounds fun! Good luck!
posted by saucysault at 4:46 PM on January 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
By making the negative consequences of bias outweigh positive consequences keeping status quo. You need evaluation tools to track bias in your organizations, metrics to track the negative impact of the bias, and different metrics to track positive impact of training/awareness/specific action.
I'd write up a proposal to create a report on the organisations, re-evaluate all job descriptions for bias but also add empathy/sensitivity as a necessary qualification (that also includes a monetary benefit, so two jobs with similar educational qualifications would pay more to position that requires more sensitivity), identify best practices from successful organisations, and draft actionable and objectively evaluable recommendations (so, not "reduce bias in recruitment" but "do an environmental scan of demographics of possible local applicants, track candidates through to hiring and examine deviations; engage with hiring officers and applicants to examine decisions.). Most importantly, engage your staff in creating any training and allow them to help shape the overall programme and specific sessions. There should be a "bias training" category on their annual training plan so you are re-engaging with them at least once a year and empathy/sensitivity should be a significant part of their annual review.
Pay very close attention that the onus on eliminating bias is not just on the individual workers but addresses any underlying institutional bias. Salaries need to be tracked by demographics and and patterns reflecting bias need to change.
This sounds fun! Good luck!
posted by saucysault at 4:46 PM on January 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, and in my jurisdiction Binding Arbitration is produces outcomes more favourable to the worker, so research your industry/jurisdiction.
posted by saucysault at 4:55 PM on January 25, 2016
posted by saucysault at 4:55 PM on January 25, 2016
. . .not only making people aware of their implicit biases but then finding ways to turn that into manageable change/action ideas within an organization (or even in society generally).
That's the premise of Advocacy, which is in turn a summary of its author Professor John Daly's life's work. It's a very easy read, a little self-helpy/Dale Carnegie, but ultimately one of the better things I've read about how to advocate for change within a large organization.
posted by Ndwright at 5:35 PM on January 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
That's the premise of Advocacy, which is in turn a summary of its author Professor John Daly's life's work. It's a very easy read, a little self-helpy/Dale Carnegie, but ultimately one of the better things I've read about how to advocate for change within a large organization.
posted by Ndwright at 5:35 PM on January 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Get them where they live: money. Bring in as a speaker one of consultants / advocates who are championing policies in big corporate clients that effectively impose quotas penalizing law firms whose partner or total-attorney demographics are insufficient diverse -- or better yet a general counsel of a company which has adopted, and who is enforcing, such a policy. A LOT of law firm partners at the executive committee level are unaware of this trend or are pretending it won't touch their firm.
posted by MattD at 4:53 AM on January 26, 2016
posted by MattD at 4:53 AM on January 26, 2016
You may be full-up on law blogs, but have a look at Simple Justice. Many of the posts have to do with fairness and justice from the point of view of a defense attorney. He often points out how new ideas for social justice tend to be bad for traditional protections such as constitutional rights. The might be an interesting antidote to some of the new age thinking.
The author, Scott Greenfield, is also a prime mover of Fault Lines. If you click on the "Fault Lines" option in the menu bar, you get to a page with posts by a number of people. It is news reports, essays, and interviews mostly about how the criminal justice system does not do justice, especially to the poor.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:40 AM on January 26, 2016
The author, Scott Greenfield, is also a prime mover of Fault Lines. If you click on the "Fault Lines" option in the menu bar, you get to a page with posts by a number of people. It is news reports, essays, and interviews mostly about how the criminal justice system does not do justice, especially to the poor.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:40 AM on January 26, 2016
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posted by rdn at 1:19 PM on January 25, 2016