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Designing A Better Workplace Roots Out Bias. And It's There For You To Find, If You Look.
Mika Cross is passionate about people and missions. Especially about figuring out the best way for people to deliver a mission. From her military and civilian service to her consulting today, Mika's mission is to help organizational leaders get that right. And this year's International Women's Day theme - #BreakTheBias - is the perfect backdrop for our discussion about how to position people to contribute their best work - or not.
Bias is in the news a lot, today, with coverage of it in law enforcement, education, hiring and compensation, hostile workplaces, emotional intelligence, and unconscious bias and training, generally. Much coverage shows a bias about bias (sorry) conflating it with prejudice, moralizing about it, or scorning the moralizing. While that might or might not be deserved, it skews a basic point (again, sorry!): Experience wires our brains in ways which ready us to act in ways which can be biased. Apart from intentional bias, whether or not we're unintentionally biased depends mostly on how aware we are of what we're doing, and why.
Awareness is key and Mika describes a solid way to become aware of bias in the workplace - data. She shows how knowing your data will reveal patterns in hiring, firing, promoting, pay, telecommuting and more, which might be the result of bias. You'll only know if you look! Mika also brainstorms ways to change the conversation with data to learn what will give employees the best way to give you their best work. Here are some of my favorite ahh-ha! moments:
4:32 - The pandemic highlighted equity issues organizations can address now, as they plan post-pandemic "back to office" strategies
9:26 - No matter what percent of your workforce telecommuted during the pandemic, you might find distribution across jobs was unequal for reasons of bias, not strategy
12:17 and on - Hybrid work strategy by design, using mission requirements to determine work arrangements, and accountability
19:22 and on - Leaders can chose "one size fits all" work arrangements but they'll rob some employees - and their organizations - of productivity. Is the trade-off worth it?
25:12 and on - Flexible work arrangements require trust and accountability
31:56 - How knowing their data saved The State of Kansas money, and saved its employees time
36:25 - What if people can't get on the same page? What then?
BTW, check out https://www.etymonline.com/word/bias for a fun, quick history on the origin of the word "bias," dating back to the game of bowls with balls shaped to curve when rolled.
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By Lou Kerestesy
5
11 ratings
Mika Cross is passionate about people and missions. Especially about figuring out the best way for people to deliver a mission. From her military and civilian service to her consulting today, Mika's mission is to help organizational leaders get that right. And this year's International Women's Day theme - #BreakTheBias - is the perfect backdrop for our discussion about how to position people to contribute their best work - or not.
Bias is in the news a lot, today, with coverage of it in law enforcement, education, hiring and compensation, hostile workplaces, emotional intelligence, and unconscious bias and training, generally. Much coverage shows a bias about bias (sorry) conflating it with prejudice, moralizing about it, or scorning the moralizing. While that might or might not be deserved, it skews a basic point (again, sorry!): Experience wires our brains in ways which ready us to act in ways which can be biased. Apart from intentional bias, whether or not we're unintentionally biased depends mostly on how aware we are of what we're doing, and why.
Awareness is key and Mika describes a solid way to become aware of bias in the workplace - data. She shows how knowing your data will reveal patterns in hiring, firing, promoting, pay, telecommuting and more, which might be the result of bias. You'll only know if you look! Mika also brainstorms ways to change the conversation with data to learn what will give employees the best way to give you their best work. Here are some of my favorite ahh-ha! moments:
4:32 - The pandemic highlighted equity issues organizations can address now, as they plan post-pandemic "back to office" strategies
9:26 - No matter what percent of your workforce telecommuted during the pandemic, you might find distribution across jobs was unequal for reasons of bias, not strategy
12:17 and on - Hybrid work strategy by design, using mission requirements to determine work arrangements, and accountability
19:22 and on - Leaders can chose "one size fits all" work arrangements but they'll rob some employees - and their organizations - of productivity. Is the trade-off worth it?
25:12 and on - Flexible work arrangements require trust and accountability
31:56 - How knowing their data saved The State of Kansas money, and saved its employees time
36:25 - What if people can't get on the same page? What then?
BTW, check out https://www.etymonline.com/word/bias for a fun, quick history on the origin of the word "bias," dating back to the game of bowls with balls shaped to curve when rolled.