[Coaching] Constructively Dealing with Unconscious Bias

We all have unconscious biases. Men and women, young and old, people from every ethnic background and every socioeconomic class.

While you may be able to catch one of your own implicit biases in a flash of awareness, it’s more likely someone else will point your biases out for you.

Becoming aware of and removing your unconscious biases takes an openness to hear someone out. It takes reflecting on what they share with you, and considering behaving differently going forward.

For many of us, critical feedback causes our defenses to go up. That's a natural human tendency. Because of this, it takes courage to point an unconscious bias out to another person.

How the feedback is delivered matters if you want the other person to take in the feedback you are sharing with them. As a leader, you want to keep this in mind as you are preparing to talk to another person about an unconscious bias you've observed them display.

This is what came up in a coaching session I had recently with, Jaime, a member of this community and a member of the military.

The unconscious biases in others that are typically experienced by women leaders is around their competence. Even though women leaders score higher on competence than their male counterparts, women are still considered to be less competent than men.

This is why mansplaining occurs and it's why a woman leader's reports and decisions are more likely to be questioned and second-guessed.

How do you deal with this without losing your mind or your temper? Listen in.

In this conversation Jaime shares her experiences and ultimately talks through the solution that feels right for her. I think her solution is going to resonate with you as well.

Episode Show Notes: Transcript and links mentioned in this episode.

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