The Landscape: One of the top three Tech companies in India have a clear mandate from the leadership team, to build a more diverse and inclusive culture. A mindset that makes this goal challenging is the Unconscious Biases all of us carry. This was coming during several employee engagement conversations and surveys. Executives and Managers felt they were at the receiving end of different biases, both conscious and unconscious
The Solution: As a part of an organization wide initiative to develop an awareness of biases and how to deal with these biases, we partnered with the learning team to structure a program that was designed to help individual contributors and managers
1. Reflect on the origin of unconscious biases
2. Relate to different biases they encounter at the workplace
3. Use simple techniques to reduce their own internal biases
4. Apply strategies on how to deal with biases at work
The Result: One of the principal outcomes was that Managers felt heard. They were able to discuss their challenges around biases they faced, in a safe forum and brainstorm on the best ways to deal with these biases.
Another key take away was a definite sensitization towards managers’ own internal biases and how it affects their decision-making processes and behavior with their team members. There were clear commitments made on practicing techniques that would reduce unconscious biases and help managers work with more awareness.