Unconscious Biases Once a colleague of mine asked me if the vendor we were discussing about, is from a particular southern Indian state, and considering the skin color of the person in context, without even giving it a second thought, I abruptly said, “No, she doesn’t look like” ...suddenly I realized that my response was based on the bias that I have, which tells me that all the people from South India have darker skin. I admit that I have my own set of conscious and unconscious biases... and on digging further about the subject I explored that everyone else also have their biases.

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Unconscious Biases
Once a colleague of mine asked me if the vendor we were discussing about, is from a
particular southern Indian state, and considering the skin color of the person in context,
without even giving it a second thought, I abruptly said, “No, she doesn’t look like”
...suddenly I realized that my response was based on the bias that I have, which tells
me that all the people from South India have darker skin. I admit that I have my own set
of conscious and unconscious biases... and on digging further about the subject I
explored that everyone else also have their biases.
Biases, what they are?
Biases (an inclination or preference that influences judgment from being balanced and
just), either conscious or unconscious are based on certain prior information that our
mind possess. This information is mostly based on experiences of self and others.
Eventually these pieces of information start settling in our mind as patterns and we refer
to these patterns whenever we have to take a decision. And believe it or not we can be
biased about something as trifling as selecting one color over the other.
Are biases bad?
Not always, as they help us to summarize a whole lot of information quickly and pick up
what is best for us. Since ages, this ability has helped the mankind to identify who is a
friend and who is a foe?

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The problem starts only when our decisions, based on unconscious biases, makes us
discriminate among people and form groups that doesn’t allow us to be receptive. In this
way, we end up being a “Frog in the Well” and because we are surrounded only by the
people who are like minded our behaviour, thinking, knowledge all of it starts following a
pattern and we become rigid. Consider a workplace where you have all the team
members who think alike. No diversity of thoughts and perspective can be dangerous
and it can kill a million dollar idea in seconds, only because you were not ready to
accept different perspectives.
But can we overcome such situations?? Yes, we definitely can... by making some
changes in our own behaviour like:
Start questioning yourself: When hiring for a sales position, if you pick a male
candidate over an equally qualified female, question yourself if you are doing this with a
non- judgmental view... a rational thinking... or because you still have a preconceived
notion / an unconscious bias which says only men are good at sales?
Study your behaviour to be aware of biases: The best way to come out of biases is
to know that you have one. If you know what your biases are you can categories them
into harmful biases or non- harmful biases and then try to eliminate the ones that are
harmful for you.
Try doing things that are different from your usual behaviour: Make a conscious
effort to take decisions that are different from your usual behaviour, like try to be friendly
with a person who is not similar to you and you might have a completely different and
happy experience.
Acknowledging biases in your behaviour will help you climb the first step of the ladder
that will take you to a new world of Possibilities and Opportunities.

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We at Tatvã, deal with the subject of unconscious biases with one of our special
offering called DRISHTI (the Sanskrit word translate to mean “coming to a state of
awareness”). The programme emphasizes on creating awareness and bring to light how
unconscious biases play themselves out in a workplace and what are their
repercussions on the self as well as people working with you. The programme intends
to seed the idea of creating inclusive workplace one which respects and celebrates
diversity of all kinds.
Contact Details
Registered and Corporate Office
Tatvã Leadership and Management Services Pvt. Ltd.
Office No. 306, 3rd Floor, Regent Plaza
5, Baner Pashan Link Road Baner, Pune - 411045
http://tatvaleadership.com