Jahnvi reached the culmination of years of hard work cultivating eclectic skills and finding solutions to problems that were hard to crack. When she climbed the ladder of success and got promoted to being a first-time manager, her job took a shift from being an individual contributor to focusing on the overall health of her team. While taking such a leap, she found herself doing everything and falling short of time all at once. She realized she had to change her strategy and think of working smartly to touch all the horizons at work.
This realization led her to embark on a journey of upskilling herself. On the journey so far, she has covered the requisites of becoming a first-time manager, her values, locus of control, setting goals and achieving them, her learnings from The Strangest Secret, how to handle missed goals, an overview of feedback, the gateway to discovering the blind spot, frameworks of feedback, the concepts of feedforward, the overview of the interpersonal skills, the techniques to enhance interpersonal skills, better team management using people reading guide, techniques to effectively manage a team, an overview of time management, the time management matrix, and the techniques to manage time effectively, the art of delegation, ways to consider capabilities of her team, the process to delegate effectively, unconscious bias, and how to be an unbiased leader.
Once Jahnvi was aware of the biases and accepted their existence in her life, she decided to move forth and understand ways to control them to refrain from any aggravated situation. While she was countenancing facts and studies around an unbiased approach, she took a hard stop on one study.
Research by Amy Cuddy, a Harvard Psychologist asserts that we categorize individuals and objects spontaneously based on easily seen factors such as age, weight, skin color, and gender. However, we also categorize people based on their educational level, sexuality, accent, social standing, and job title, automatically assigning presumptive characteristics to anyone we subconsciously place in those groups.
The advantage here is it saves time and effort in digesting the details about others, giving us enough timeframe to focus o other tasks. The obvious drawback is that it can lead us to make assumptions about them and act on those assumptions. As a result, even if we don’t consciously believe in them, we tend to rely on stereotypes.
This insight made her contemplate the fact that she may have different opinions about people subconsciously no matter how aware she is of her biases. However, it can be taken care of by interacting more with the people to burn bridges and set sail with a new perspective. She decided to glide through evidence-based approaches to become an unbiased leader.
How To Be An Unbiased Leader?
Biases cannot be eliminated from our personalities, however, we can keep them in check while being aware of their existence. Jahnvi is looking for ways to put fairness into practice, and she came across some stand-out avenues to keep her biases in check.
Prioritize mutual respect
Consider how you would like to be treated if you were in the other person’s shoes when communicating with your staff. Fairness in the workplace begins with everyone being held to the same level of respect. Make it a point to promote this norm among managers and employees, as well as among coworkers at all levels.
To set the standard for all employees, model polite and fair behavior toward each member of your team. Consider the measures that other managers use to demonstrate that they value their personnel to accomplish this. It is a good idea to reach out to your team to find out how fair is your treatment towards them.
Be a paragon of correct behavior
As a team manager, you set the tone for how employees behave. Keep this in mind as you work and encourage healthy and effective working practices. If you perceive a team member struggling, offer them assistance to encourage teamwork. It frequently aids to excite your staff and maintain each employee satisfied.
For example, if Jahnvi frequently displays gratitude and empathy towards her team and is willing to assist them in need, it may encourage the team to do the same for her.
Deal with the current situation with a fresh perspective
There are times when managers relate the current scenario with something that has happened in the past and it may lead them to form a narrative based on that experience. As a leader, you have to look at every situation with a fresh lens rather than correlating two different scenarios.
Awareness of dealing with the situation at hand in the most befitting way at the moment will help you get an appropriate solution. It will keep you aligned with the need of the hour and give you the window to get the best possible outcome for the situation in the offing.
Make a shift to promote fairness
Consider evaluating some of your workplace regulations and modifying any policies that do not serve the climate you are attempting to create while promoting fairness. However, keep in mind that in these circumstances, rules may have to be applied individually to each employee. As a result, it is frequently necessary to create flexible work policies.
For example, if an employee cannot commute to the office due to some personal exigencies, Jahnvi may want to consider implementing a hybrid work model to accommodate their needs.
Communicate to promote clarity
Biases impact our perception of everything from the people we find attractive to the statements we believe. When we intend to keep our biases in check, it is quintessential to ask questions that do not lead the individual in a certain direction or in the direction we want them to go. The conversation should contain neutral sentences to allow them the space to think through them. It is a good way to build on the conversation and make them open up about their thoughts and inputs.
For example, if we initiate by asking ‘Was your experience good?’ They will certainly start reeling all the good things that happened to conclude the experience. We did not give them the opportunity to think through their experience, instead, we asked them to tell about only the good things.
Be transparent
Promotions are a perk of doing excellent work. When leaders inform their teams about improvement objectives and promotion standards, the teams frequently work to achieve these objectives.
We must consider putting in place transparent processes for promotions and appraisals that we may use when distributing these benefits. It allows us to refer to these structures when an employee inquires about the potential for advancement.
Here are some things to improve transparency:
- Establish regular feedback periods.
- Mentors and trainees should be paired together to provide feedback.
- Establish regular goals with team members to track their progress.
- Establish a systematic promotion path for the team to follow.
Jahnvi thought these avenues will help her think through her decision-making process while keeping her biases in check. She firmly believes that creating a window to analyze and understand the situation will help her enhance her capabilities to make better decisions for her team and will also uphold her trust in her team.
Strategies To Achieve Unbiased Leadership
Jahnvi is aware that being bias-free is not an easy road, however, a crucial road to creating an inclusive workplace where her team feels valued and heard. When she accepts different opinions and thought processes, she can harbor biases that prevent her from communicating effectively, working together, and serving others with fairness. She found the following strategies helpful.
Be aware of your actions
Leaders must be aware of their biases and strive to eradicate them. Leaders must be self-aware in organizing how their biases influence their judgments and behaviors. Leaders can take proactive actions to address their biases by acknowledging them.
Embrace diversity
Leaders must foster a culture that promotes diversity and encourages employees of all backgrounds to express their thoughts and perspectives. This includes recruiting a diverse staff, providing chances for training and development, and supporting inclusive attitudes and practices.
Keep your tone neutral
To make employees feel appreciated and heard, leaders must use inclusive language, prevent stereotypes, and encourage open dialogue. By instilling a sense of belonging in employees, inclusive language fosters an inclusive work environment. It is critical to avoid using exclusionary vocabulary and ableist words in favor of embracing inclusive language, which involves a dedicated effort to educate yourself.
Accountability
Leaders must hold themselves and their teams accountable for fostering an inclusive workplace. They should set goals and track their progress regularly. Creating an accountability culture in which everyone is accountable for their actions and behaviors is critical.
Keep updating your version
Learning about the various sorts of bias is one of the best strategies to become an unbiased leader. This understanding can assist you in recognizing when prejudice is influencing your decision-making.
Solicit feedback
Leaders should solicit feedback from their team members to discover areas of bias. Leaders who receive regular feedback might become more self-aware and alter their conduct accordingly.
One thing that was apparent to Jahnvi was inculcating a continuous learning culture to encourage learning and a growth mindset. She has to upgrade her version from time to time to stay on top of her game. Learning sessions from experts in the area can help her team as well as herself to implement effective diversity. She aspires to plant the seeds of an unbiased approach in her people to create a robust team that crosses barriers and develops an understanding to look at a situation or individual with a different point of view.
In the next article, she intends to set foot on new horizons to explore different ways to inspire her team.
https://www.speexx.com/speexx-blog/unbiased-leadership-possible/
https://www.learning-mind.com/judging-others/
https://officevibe.com/blog/how-to-be-a-fair-manager
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/fairness-in-the-workplace
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https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2019/03/Mar19_29_1136585466.jpg
Written By: Jimmy Jain
Edited By: Afreen Fatima
Society of Design Thinking Professionals
