Unconscious Bias Awareness

And speaking of our people’s views on diversity, and unconscious bias and all of that, we all have our own biases. As a leader, how do you check in with yourself about your own biases, and make sure you’re aware of them, and that they’re not getting in the way of ensuring that the employees—all employees, feel like they belong, and are included.

Yeah, so, it’s a great question, always checking yourself, right? And I think it goes back to that feedback question. So, also soliciting the feedback, right? Do you have any feedback for me? How did I handle myself there? Before we made that decision, do you feel like all the voices in the room were heard? I mean, we’ve got to check ourselves too.
And I think that that’s important to go back and solicit that feedback, not just wait for it to be given to you. As far as the unconscious bias, I am constantly taking the trainings around that, because I heard an employee tell me, boy, that unconscious bias training was so good. It not only changed the way I hire, I think about hiring, or how I treat the people on my team. It made me think about how I treat people when I go to the grocery store.
That’s amazing, you know? That you’re bringing that level of awareness to how you’re interacting in your own personal life. That when you go into the grocery store, how are you treating the cashiers? How are you treating the people that you interact with when you’re going to a restaurant? So, I just think that unconscious bias awareness is so important, and not just through a one and done training, but constantly checking yourself, getting the feedback. Being aware is the key.