I sat in the court-room thinking that I would be a fair juror on the trial only to be asked to leave. What a relief! I didn’t want to be trapped for nine days on Jury duty anyway. But, would I have been completely fair, or not? After all, the defense Attorney pointed out that I had had many bad experiences with cops. Was I unconsciously biased?
But, how do our biases affect us in the work place? Are we biased against people because of how they talk, behave, their educational level, or their race? The answer is that we are all biased. Even if we try to be even-handed and fair. How many of us are really fair? And does the fact that we feel that others may not be fair to us affect how we treat them?
How do we detect our own inner biases and how do we fix them? When hiring, you might see some resumes and have some interviews with applicants. The problem is that if any of the applicants remind you of people you have hired in the past, you will be sure to judge them based on those other people. Is that really fair? On the other hand behavioral recognition is important. If you spot a behavioral trait that can lead to disaster, your bias might come in handy.
How can you condition yourself to see past the personalities, the races, and the genders? Is there a way to have more performance based assessment of people? Or perhaps that is once again wrong. Maybe our biases are our subconscious’ secret way of guiding us to success and avoiding threats and problems.
In the end, I would say that compatibility is the most important aspect of hiring. Putting aside how good people are at their work, if they don’t get along with their boss and coworkers, it is all in vein. Becoming an expert at compatibility seems to me to be the most important aspect of hiring, and perhaps your biases might help you in this respect if you ask yourself the right questions.
Would I want to be stuck on a four hour car ride with this person?
If the answer is yes, then you might be able to endure some tough situations that arise in the work place and have a relationship that lasts!