Next week, I am co-presenting a session to a group of women new in their careers. Our topic is how obstacles can hinder women’s careers in the workplace. We all know bias exists and it certainly is a challenge for women…all women. I have witnessed it. I have experienced it. And I don’t want my daughters (or any other woman) to have to deal with it.
I have created some pre-work to set the stage for the face-to-face training, which I have shared below.
Individual Reflection:
1. What is my first memory of seeing or experiencing someone different from me?
2. When was there a time in my life that I felt different from others?
2. Have you ever experienced or witnessed any of the bias the article discusses?
3. How did you deal with the situations above?
During the live session, we will walk through what bias looks like, how we all have bias and some things we can do when we see or experience bias. I know that women new in their careers might not be willing to speak up, but my hope is to share some tools that will help them address bias in a thoughtful, intentional, empowering way.
“It’s easy to stand with a crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.” Mahatma Gandi
Besides my consulting work, I have signed on for two speaking engagements in April. One session is focused on early career women and how to overcome barriers in their careers. The second presentation is an HR/Benefits one day conference. I will be presenting on how to jumpstart DEI efforts at organizations. This audience is mainly HR and CFO folks.
I love presenting, sharing ideas and hearing stories from audiences. For the barriers presentation, this article provides a nice overview and some much-needed pre-work for audience self-reflection. I think back to my career and how I put up with so much “wrong” stuff early in my career due to fear, lack of knowledge on what to do and just overall naivete. Even in present day, the barriers are pretty much the same…women hold little power and are subject to so much bias. And then couple that with being a women within another marginalized group and imagine the obstacles, doubled or tripled!
I remember being told that you must “ask for what you want” yet even as recent as five years ago, when I did that, I was told, “Leadership will decide when you are ready…not you.” Unbelievable and yet, as women, we are forced to comply or start over. In this example, it was the beginning of me realizing exactly the environment I was working in and fortunately, I had options so didn’t need to stay.
But most women don’t have options or fear sticking their neck out and saying something. How do we teach women to move beyond this fear? First, we talk openly about it! If we normalize behavior that holds women back is acceptable, it will continue. I think we also need to make women aware of bias and what it looks like and actions they can take against it.
Bias “is a human trait resulting from our tendency and need to classify individuals into categories as we strive to quickly process information and make sense of the world.” There are two types of bias:
Explicit Bias
Implicit or Unconscious Bias
Explicit cognitive bias includes overt racism and racist comments; “individuals are aware of their prejudices and attitudes toward certain groups.”
Implicit cognitive bias “involves all of the subconscious feelings, perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes that have developed as a result of prior influences and imprints.” Implicit cognitive bias “involves all of the subconscious feelings, perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes that have developed as a result of prior influences and imprints.” Implicit cognitive bias involves “automatic, unconscious mental processes based on implicit attitudes or implicit stereotypes that are formed by one’s life experience and lurk behind the surface of the conscious.” Implicit biases are necessary for us to survive since our brains cannot possibly process every piece of information coming at it in real time for us to make decisions. Our brains learn to categorize similar things so we can react. EVERYONE has Implicit Bias. A preference for a group (positive or negative) often operating outside our awareness and based on stereotypes and attitudes we hold that tend to develop early in life and tend to strengthen over time.
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Mark Twain
Individual Reflection:
1. What is my first memory of seeing or experiencing someone different from me?
2. When was there a time in my life that I felt different from others?
3. How did you deal with the situations above?
Bias
Conscious Bias
Expressed directly
We have it and we are aware of it.
Unconscious Bias
Expressed indirectly
We are not aware of the bias.
Bias in Action
Age
Color
Education level
Expertise
Family status
Gender
National origin
Personality
Physical ability
Physical appearance
Political views
Race/Ethnicity
Religion
Sexual orientation/Identity
Socioeconomic status
Bias effects
Confidence
Creativity
Decision making
Emotional health
Employment
Engagement
Opportunity
Performance
Personal freedom
Physical health
Relationships
Risk taking
Safety
Self-esteem
Q:When have you experienced or witnessed bias? What happened? What was done about it? What was the end result?
Who are you?
I am not biased. I view things objectively.
Or
Bias exists in everyone, including me. I actively STOP and think about how bias effects the choices I make.
Q: Which one are you? Provide an example.
Sources of your bias:
Your own experiences.
Information you read such as news, social media, stories, books, movies etc.
Your education including school you attend and what you study.
Your context-family, friends, work, where you live, what you do and who you spend time with.
Culture-spoken and unspoken rules in your community and society.
Innate characteristics you are born with.
All of these create your identity. Your identity can be sources of positive and negative bias. Some of our identifiers cause us to be biased to others and others to be biased towards us.
Q: What is your identity? Note if any create bias towards others.
How to Disrupt Bias (within yourself)
Create connections with folks different from yourself.
Move from “autopilot” to questioning your thoughts and behaviors.
Be curious.
Be empathetic.
Ask questions. Even if uncomfortable. You can say you are uncomfortable!
Q: Think about who you connect with, hang out with, spend time with, ask advice from…do they look different or similar to you? Why?
Broaden your viewpoint by:
Joining different groups
Reading different viewpoints, following different influencers
Joining different community groups
Try new experiences
Change your routines
Take Action
Ways to Act with Courage
Notice bias happening
Confront bias
Help others with bias
Address bias
Q: What are specific ways you can act with courage as described above?
Pause and question actions, thoughts and outcomes.
Seek to understand.
Check assumptions.
Learn. Educate yourself and others.
Share your story.
Bring people together.
Be a coach or mentor.
Amplify others’ voices.
Speak up.
Organize groups.
Your perspectives are incomplete. You are an expert on your identity…be willing to learn about others.
Types of Bias
Confirmation bias-get information that supports our existing beliefs. Ex. News from a single source.
Take action: What could we do differently?
Anchoring bias-rely on first piece of information we see. Ex. Misdiagnose an illness by paying too much attention to the first symptom we see.
Take action: What could we do differently?
In-Group bias-we favor people we like and who are like us. Ex. Hiring a candidate that has our similar background, alma mater etc.
Take action: What could we do differently?
Negativity bias-we are more powerfully influenced by negative experience than positive or neutral experiences. Ex. Remembering bad customer service experience.
Take action: What could we do differently?
Attribution bias-we judge others on their action but we judge ourselves based on our intent. Ex. Thinking someone is ineffective because of a mistake.
Take action: What could we do differently?
Sunk-Cost bias-we continue things because we have already invested time, money resources. Ex. Keep reading a book even though you don’t like it.
Take action: What could we do differently?
“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles; cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.” Martin Luther King
Share your experiences and ideas…and what you can do differently.
Last week I spoke at the #HRTED2022 conference about ideas to build your internal DEI program. Primarily this session focused on four elements of a program, internships and employee resource groups (ERGs). I want to share the main points of the presentation. If you want more information, please contact me. This post will touch on the four elements and internships. My next post will focus on ERGs.
The four elements of a DEI program consist of:
Metrics-identify what and how you are going to measure your program.
Process-consider the many processes in your organization including people, operations and purchasing.
Education-there are lots of training needs so make sure you force rank them, determine your strategy and how you will measure effectiveness.
Initiatives-this is where internships, ERGs, mentorships, leader cohorts and many other programs come into play.
Make sure you create organizational buy-in.
Develop a business case for why DEI matters to organizational goals and success
Conduct an honest assessment of whether the organization can support diverse interns
Something phenomenal has happened recently in my workplace—an entire behavior shift that I at first believed would never take hold in our fast-paced, ever-changing environment. I decided to put learning in the employee’s hands in the form of an Individual Learning Plan (ILP).
Our company culture advocates the “51 percent” rule, which dictates that employees determine what to work on and go after it with a zeal not commonly found in a typical organization. In other words, no rules, no asking permission, but instead just do it. And so I figured: Why not take that approach in employee development, too?
Every road trip starts with a good map. Whether electronic or an old-fashioned paper map, good up-front planning allows for a more successful outcome (including seeing all the famed attractions) and potentially the trip of a lifetime. So, imagine a world where your employees know exactly what they are good at, what they need to work on, and what tools to explore on their path to self-development. It is possible—with some up-front planning and targeted conversations throughout the year, coupled with a detailed document, the Individual Learning Plan. I am a strong proponent of the almighty (and highly underutilized) ILP. Learning plans are the customized, individualized road map for your employees to ensure they are aware of both the skills they need to develop and a defined path to achieve those skills.
Your ILP should contain a minimum of three things:
Learning objectives
Strategies and resources
Evaluation
Essentially, ask the employee to document answers to these three questions:
What do I need to learn?
How am I going to learn it?
How will I know that I learned it?
Allow the employee to search for resources internally and externally. Suggest a mix of self-paced seminars, courses, and learning situations to develop the identified weak skill.
For example, let’s say you have an employee who needs to develop their communication skills. You might have an internal training session on that specific topic. Or perhaps this employee would be better served by learning and practicing communication skills with an outside resource—or maybe signing up for a group that meets weekly is a better fit. Perhaps there is another employee who has honed their communication skills to perfection and could provide guidance to this employee. Whatever the resource, let the employee figure out the best fit. But guide the employee with resources they might not be aware of. There is no one path to reach the desired destination; allow the available resources and best fit to define the route. During this process, the employee receives targeted feedback on how they are doing that gets documented in the learning plan, too.
No one likes to search aimlessly for the correct exit or next tourist destination, so provide a road map so that your employees can reach skill nirvana while dealing with the day-to-day challenges of completing their job tasks. The employees benefit from better self-esteem and higher productivity, the company benefits from employees who feel nurtured and supported, and ultimately, everyone reaches the intended destination in a more effective, positive manner.
Surprisingly enough, at a recent all-company meeting, ILPs were mentioned in several sessions. It appears the entire vernacular of the company now includes the Individual Learning Plan as a path to employee development—and ultimately engagement—that the employee controls, drives, and benefits from in their career path.
It seems like I am constantly being asked to complete a survey. And as a trainer, I ask all my participants to provide feedback via a survey. But I have noticed that often I do not get the complete, insightful answers I hoped to get. So, we need to teach people how to answer a survey effectively. This does not mean “lead the witness” or direct responders to give you the answer you are looking for. Instead, help the responder by giving him the tools to answer the question, so that meaningful information can be gleaned from the response.
Ask the responder to take their time. We are all inundated with too many emails, phone calls, job deliverables and personal responsibilities. It is a wonder we sleep at all! But ask the responder to find the right time to be able to give the survey the time it deserves. This allows the responder to give thoughtful answers. I even recommend that the responder make some mental or written notes prior to starting the survey so that they know what information is important to convey once they are in the survey.
If the responder does not have the answer right away, come back to it. Sounds like the old days of taking tests doesn’t it?! Better answers happen when we have time to think it through.
Be honest but constructive. It goes back to the old adage of the glass being half full or half empty. If you see the question as an opportunity to solve a problem or improve something, it is likely that your answer with be more constructive and solution-oriented.
Keep it professional. Use words that convey the correct meaning and give examples. The answer will be of no value if it reads like a personal vendetta or feels like a personal attack on someone.
Provide suggestions. Paint a picture for the feedback-seeker to understand what you are trying to say and the intention of the feedback. If you have had time to think about your answer or the issue being asked about, the more likely ideas about the issue are developed.
Teaching your employees to answer thoughtfully and thoroughly when questions are asked, gives the organization the information they need. Getting the needed information ensures that the organization can make the intended change or improvements. Also, showing your employees how the survey responses can benefit them with improved processes or communication can gain buy-in from the employees. So set your employees up for success by teaching them how to be effective survey responders.
Stories can be used quite effectively for training. Often, training consists of a PowerPoint deck, a presenter that talks a lot or tons of handouts. Engaging it is not. But stories can bring content to life and stories are everywhere; you just need to look!
Stories make the content relatable and easier to remember.
Stories help the learner construct knew knowledge by taking current knowledge and applying in a new or different manner.
Stories provide examples which helps when a learner needs to make a decision.
Stories give the learner the ability to recall and use information when they are on the job and in their own context.
So how do you effectively use stories in training? Start with throwing the learner into the action. Or focus on something the learners care about right away. Build opportunities for the learner to discover and give the learner the challenge of solving a problem.
Some tips:
Start with discovery
Focus on a central challenge
Give learners resources to uncover answers
Make the transformation obvious.
Think about the last training you went to. Can you remember the discrete facts and figures shared? Probably not. But if you were lucky and the facilitator shared stories, I bet you can remember the story and possibly even have shared the story with someone else! Stories are powerful in so many ways, so the next time you are developing training, choose to center your content around stories and watch the magic happen.
There have been lots of discussions about Gen Y — also known as the anti-establishment. And employee handbooks are about as establishment as you can get. But they’re not likely to go away anytime soon.
Employee handbooks typically are sterile and very “corporate,” and these two words definitely do not capture Gen Y employees’ hearts. This group is not interested in the typical corporate ladder but is inspired by the ideal career path. Since fit is a critical factor in employee retention, give a potential hire a glimpse of your employee handbook to send the Gen Y candidate a clear message about who and what your company values.
It’s not necessarily prudent to have a different handbook for every generation, but for Gen Y, it’s a great solution since this generation views work much differently than previous generations.
How to Write a Handbook
Capture the Gen Y audience with fun and humor. Don’t take the handbook too seriously. Personalize it with current events and fads. For example, compare customers to stars competing for “American Idol” stardom. Listen to what these employees listen to and watch on television and the Web to get indicators of analogies to use. Also, Gen Y wants to know and understand the big picture. So be sure to answer the question “why” with all policies.
Some policies are more important to address than others, based on Gen Y’s expectations. For instance, Gen Y employees naturally like to work in teams and work with their friends. Some employers are even hiring groups of friends for positions. But it is critical to have a policy on what is and is not acceptable in the team environment. Again, use humor if possible. Workplaces have gotten increasingly casual, but if the organization perceives attire as an important item, address it in the handbook. Provide pictures and examples to get the point across.
Communication style varies greatly between the generations, so it’s necessary to spell out your policy in the handbook. Since Gen Y prefers e-mail and texting, have a policy in place for those types of communications. If it is not appropriate to text in the middle of a meeting, say so. But say it with humor and explain the “why.”
Capture not only the mindshare but also the hearts of Gen Y employees by touting corporate social responsibility and community involvement. Continually inform employees about the company’s positive impact on society. If employees identify with the company’s social mission, they are more likely to stick around.
Workplace flexibility also is a hot topic with Gen Y employees. Clearly spell out workplace expectations, and don’t forget the “why.”
Be Innovative to Get Gen Y to Read the Handbook
Delivery is important to the success of any handbook. Deliver it in multiple formats and consider texting and e-mailing policy updates. A blog can be an effective way to keep Gen Y employees apprised of corporate updates. Remember to seek their feedback constantly and provide them with regular feedback.
Gen Yers expect to have fun at work. They also expect to be encouraged to take risks and want to see that rules can be broken a little bit. Ultimately, this generation wants to do a good job. To capture their hearts, which is key to retaining these valuable employees, take a good look at your handbook. With a little tweaking, the employee handbook can be a retention tool instead of just a policy guide.
I love my “Managing Transitions” book by William Bridges. In the first two chapters he highlights some things he thinks are important to tackle early in a transition process. Bridges presented these recommendations as part of a case study on customer service. Although your specific situation may be somewhat different, I think the principles still apply.
Figure out exactly how individuals’ behavior and attitudes will have to change to make teams work. To deal successfully with transition, you have to determine precisely what changes in their existing behavior and attitudes people will have to make. It isn’t enough to tell them they have to work as a team.
Analyze who stands to lose something under the new system. You can’t grasp the new thing until you’ve let go of the old thing. It’s this process of letting go that people resist, not the change itself. You have to understand the pattern of loss to deal with resistance or even sabotage.
“Sell” the problem that is the reason for the change. Most leaders put 10% of their energy into selling the problem and 90% into selling the solution to the problem. People aren’t in the market for solutions to problems they don’t see, acknowledge, and understand.
Put team members in contact with disgruntled clients, either by phone or in person. Let them see the problem firsthand. (Again, this was relevant to the case study.) This is part of selling the problem. If you are the only one with first-hand experience of the problem, it is going to remain your problem. The key is to make it everyone’s problem.
Talk to individuals. Ask what kinds of problems they are having with “teaming.” When an organization is having trouble with change, managers usually say they know what is wrong. But the truth is that often they don’t. They imagine that everyone sees things as they do, or they make assumptions about others that are untrue.
Talk about transition and what it does to people. Offer leaders training on how to manage people in transition. Everyone can benefit from understanding transition. A coordinator will deal with subordinates better if he or she understands what they are going through. If they understand what transition feels like, team members will feel more confident that they haven’t taken a wrong turn. They’ll also see that some of their problems come from the transition process and not from the details of the change.
Start holding regular team meetings. Even before you can change the space to fit the new teams, you can start building the new identity by having those groups meet regularly. The plan had been to hold meetings every two weeks. Bridges immediately changed that: the teams met for 10 minutes every morning for the first two months. This frequent clustering helped override old habits and self-images and built the new relationships that teamwork requires.
Bridges follows with four more categories of specific tasks:
Those that are important but require more planning
Those that may be beneficial depending on how they are implemented
Those that are not very important and may even be a waste of time, and
Those that should be avoided at all costs.
“The first task of change management is to understand the desired outcome and how to get there. The first task of transition management is to convince people to leave home, to leave what is comfortable and known. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief if you remember that.”
Change is omnipresent in our daily lives. Every year companies initiate thousands of changes. Statistics show that between 50% – 75% of those changes do not produce the expected results. Research points to several reasons for this. The top reasons are:
Lack of Executive Leadership or buy-in surrounding the change
Lack of proper planning or funds
Employee Resistance.
Often, people resist change based on their perceptions of four factors
identified by William Bridges as C.U.S.P. factors:
Control: How much control do people feel they have over the current situation?
Understanding: Do the people involved understand specifically what is happening and why, in language and terms that are meaningful to them?
Support: Do people feel they have the emotional and practical support necessary to help them get through what they are experiencing?
Purpose: Do people feel they have a purpose in the current change that gives meaning to what they are doing and feeling?
William Bridges, in Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, discusses the idea that successful changes are accomplished by managing the transitions that people must go through. He draws a distinction between “change” and “transition” as illustrated below:
Change
Situational
Physical
External
Set time frame
Transition
Psychological
Emotional
Internal
Variable time frame
Transition is the process people go through when adjusting to a change in their lives. There are three phases of transition that must be managed to be able to positively function within the new environment.
Ending
Whenever a change takes place, people lose something. They may lose power, relationships, familiar surroundings, a process they were comfortable with, anything that they had an emotional attachment to. To effectively manage the transition, it is necessary to identify who is “losing” what and acknowledge the loss.
The Neutral Zone
Between the place where the old ways are over but the new ways haven’t quite settled in is the Neutral Zone. People in the Neutral Zone don’t really know what to do. Processes, both new and old, might get dropped. Customer service might go down due to confusion over procedures. To effectively manage the transition, it is necessary to communicate, over and over and over, what part people should be playing, how the change is progressing, and what is over.
However, the Neutral Zone isn’t all “life in limbo.” The Neutral Zone is where the most creative energy lies. During this phase, people are better able to come up with new ways of doing things. Given proper encouragement and authority to innovate, people in the Neutral Zone can really add value to the company.
The New Beginning
When the change finally kicks in and people have accepted the “new order” they have reached the New Beginning. In this phase, the new processes and procedures start to “feel right.”
Change is going to happen whether we like it or not, so why not be a little more thoughtful about the process. I highly recommend reading William Bridges’ work and trying some of the strategies he suggests. Change is inevitable but how we react to the transition is up to each of us.
Every road trip starts with a good map. Whether electronic or an old-fashioned paper map, good upfront planning allows for a more successful outcome (including seeing all the famed attractions) or in other words, potentially a trip of a lifetime.
So, imagine a world where your employees know exactly what they are good at, what they need to work on and what tools to ensnare on their path to self-development. It is possible, with some upfront planning and targeted conversations throughout the year, coupled with a detailed document called a Learning Plan. I am a strong proponent of the almighty (and highly underutilized) Learning Plan. Learning Plans are the customized, individualized road map for your employees to ensure they are aware of what skills they need to develop AND a defined path on how to achieve those skills.
Your Learning Plan should contain a minimum of three things:
Learning Objectives
Strategies and Resources
Evaluation.
Essentially ask the employee to document answers to these three questions: “What do I need to learn?” “How am I going to learn it?” and “How will I know that I learned it?” Allow the employee to search for resources internally and externally. Suggest a mix of self-paced seminars, courses and learning situations to develop the identified weak skill.
For example, let’s say you have an employee that needs to develop their communication skills. You might have an internal training session on that specific topic. Or perhaps this employee would be better served learning and practicing communication skills with an outside resource. Or maybe signing up for a group that meets weekly is a better fit. Perhaps there is another employee that has honed their communication skills to perfection and could provide guidance to this employee lacking in communication skills. Whatever the resource, let the employee figure out the best fit. But guide the employee with resources they might not be aware of. There is no one path to reach the desired destination; allow the available resources and best fit to define the route.
No one likes to search aimlessly for the correct exit or next tourist destination, so provide a road map so that your employees can reach skill nirvana while dealing with the day-to-day challenges of completing their job tasks. The employee benefits from better self-esteem and higher productivity, the company benefits from employees that feel nurtured and supported and ultimately everyone reaches the intended destination in a more more effective, positive manner.
seniyegroff 