Ahead of Pitt’s Social Justice Symposium, which took place on Thursday, Jan. 24, Sherdina Harper, coordinator of cultural programming of Cross Cultural Leadership Development, requested participants take an online test on implicit bias. The exercise, created by Project Implicit, was meant to be educational and also raise self-awareness among symposium participants.
Harper also saw it as a way to establish a foundation for the symposium to spark dialog. “Be respectful. Invite conversation. We’re going to create this environment that’s conducive to learning,” she said.
At the start of the symposium, Harper challenged the audience of more than 200 to create what she called a “brave space.”
“We want to be in an area where we feel comfortable to talk, but also where we feel comfortable and brave enough to maybe express something we never have before, and be open to ideas that may challenge us,” she said.
Ways to reduce implicit biases in the workplace and beyond
-
Think differently.
-
Flip it to test it.
-
Educate ourselves on our biases.
-
Don’t accept our first response.
-
Accept tension and uncomfortable feelings.
-
Safely challenge others.
-
Become an ally.
Creating a brave space requires participants not just to have open minds, but to also acknowledge that people have unconscious biases. Part of the work of advancing inclusion is uncovering those biases while bringing respect and good intentions to conversations.
Helen Turnbull, a diversity thought leader who founded Human Facets, an international organizational consulting firm specializing in global inclusion, presented the symposium’s keynote. In her speech, she said that one challenge of fostering inclusion is a reluctance to acknowledge biases at both individual and institutional levels. “Organizations often believe that just because they have diversity in a room, they’ve achieved diversity in a workplace,” Turnbull said.
This can further present in how institutions operate. Many, she said, “hire for diversity, but manage for similarity,” meaning that companies often hope that their employees will adapt to a common culture despite differences in backgrounds, identities or experiences. This can lead to a gap between employers’ perception of their achievement of inclusion versus their employees’ experiences.
“We’re often not as inclusive as we like to think we are,” Turnbull continued, noting the difference between diversity and inclusion: “Diversity is often acknowledging differences, but inclusion is cultivating an environment where people can be their authentic selves.”
An exercise in gender bias
“The words of my doctor from earlier that morning were still ringing in my ears when I found myself slamming the brakes of my car to avoid a nasty collision. An incompetent driver was cutting across two lanes at a roundabout just in front of me. Still perspiring somewhat, I carried on to drop off my screaming child with the nanny. It was a hectic morning.”
Ask yourself: What is the gender of the doctor, driver, child, nanny, narrator and the writer?
Source: The Conversation
In a breakout session focused on bias in the workplace, Cheryl Ruffin, institutional equity manager in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, tied the work directly to the The Plan for Pitt, the University’s strategic plan. Ruffin referenced a 2016 TEDx talk that suggests people “flip it to test it” as an approach to recognizing and reducing unconscious biases in the workplace.
Melissa Marks, associate professor and director of education at Pitt–Greensburg, included exercises in her breakout session on gender bias. In one, created by Magdalena Zawisza, senior lecturer in psychology at Anglia Ruskin University and published at The Conversation, participants were asked to read a scenario in which no pronouns were used and then try to recognize if their assumptions were male or female for each person (see sidebar). “Even when we are aware of the idea of implicit gender bias, we still sometimes have those biases,” Marks said.
In a session on racial bias, Mario Browne, director of diversity and inclusion in the Office of Health Sciences Diversity, suggested a reason we all have biases: The human brain processes so much information so fast that it naturally tries to compartmentalize a lot of it for purposes of survival. One way to try to counter this, Browne said, “is to spend real and intentional time with people other than your racial group identity. Have real and honest conversations about stereotypes, remembering that not all are negative.”
Tessa Provins, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, spoke about political bias before the symposium ended. Provins noted the value of the implicit bias test, and that unconscious biases can affect not just collaboration on projects and work but even something as simple as who people invite to lunch.
Harper said that that acknowledging and recognizing biases can be the first step to overcoming them. “It’s how can I be the best person to people that I can be, making sure that I check myself every day.”
For more information, check out the symposium program.
