4 Tips on Breaking the Bias and Building an Inclusive Workplace

One of the biggest hurdles women face is the ‘imposter syndrome.’ It is loosely defined as the internal experience of believing you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. Start by asking yourself the question — ‘Can I do it? Am I capable?’. Once you learn to answer that confidently, you begin to speak up.

Tip 1: Recognize Biases

Most internal biases are unconsciously held. Therefore, the most crucial element to breaking bias is to recognize the bias. While some are easy to spot, most of them are often deep-rooted in our psyche. It takes years of education, awareness, self-evaluation, and reflection to uncover unconscious biases we each may hold.

Eventually, once we start believing in ourselves, we begin to ask for what we deserve confidently. And, once we break our inner biases, we can also speak out against external biases.

Tip 2: Tweak your inner monologue

“To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them.” — Michael A Singer, The Untethered Soul

Most often than not, what we tell ourselves tends to be worse than reality. Especially while dealing with feelings of guilt and inadequacy because of gender. Acknowledging these feelings and understanding where they stem from is very important.

Tweaking our inner monologue also involves accepting ourselves for who we are and validating our feelings. For decades women have been trying to be more ‘man-like.’

Tip 3: Monitor your behaviors

We can always question our first impressions and extreme reactions to people; reflect on any rapid decisions we make (i.e. were they made objectively or was unconscious bias at play?)

Then pay attention to bias related to protected characteristics, For example, age, disability, sex, maternity, race, religion, etc. — as this is discrimination and hence illegal.

Tip 4: Cultivate allies and mentors

Widen our social circle — Don’t sit with the same colleague every day. Move around and spend time with people from different cultural and academic backgrounds etc. This will build our cultural competence and lead to better understanding.

To drive change, we must build allies with the same vision. A culture of equality can be created by roping in the right people and resources to ensure discussions are turned into actions.

While we work toward making our workplace more inclusive, we must also strive to build a support system at home. Engaging in candid discussions with our families will help us understand different perspectives and be more respectful of everyone’s feelings. Learning indeed starts at home — Start with building an A-team at home that supports you, and the rest will follow.