Managing Workplace Bias

If #diversity, #equity, and #inclusion practitioners want to get ahead of anti-DEI backlash, we have to address an elephant in the room: no two people in the same workplace perceive their workplace the same way. I see this every time I work with client organizations. When asked to describe their own experience with the workplace and its DEI strengths and challenges, I hear things like: 😊 "I've never experienced any discrimination or mistreatment; our leaders' commitment is strong." 🤨 "I had a good time in one department, but after transferring departments I started experiencing explicit ableist comments under my new manager." 🙁 "I've never had anything egregious happen, but I've always felt less respected by my team members because of my race." Who's right? Turns out, all of them. It starts to get messy because everyone inevitably generalizes their own personal experiences into their perception of the workplace as a whole; three people might accordingly describe their workplace as a "meritocracy without discrimination," an "inconsistently inclusive workplace dependent on manager," or "a subtly racist environment." And when people are confronted with other experiences of the workplace that DIFFER from their own, they often take it personally. I've seen leaders bristle at the implication that their own experience was "wrong," or get defensive in expectation they will be accused of lacking awareness. It's exactly this defensiveness that lays the foundation for misunderstanding, polarization, and yes—anti-DEI misinformation—to spread in an organization. How do we mitigate it? In my own work, I've found that these simple steps go a long way. 1. Validate everyone's experience. Saying outright that everyone's personal experience is "correct" for themselves might seem too obvious, but it plays a powerful role in helping everyone feel respected and taken seriously. Reality is not a question of "who is right"—it's the messy summation of everyone's lived experience, good or bad. 2. Use data to create a shared baseline. Gathering data by organizational and social demographics allows us to make statements like, "the average perception of team respect is 70% in Engineering, but only 30% in Sales," or "perception of fair decision making processes is 90% for white men, but only 40% for Black women." This establishes a shared reality, a baseline for any effective DEI work. 3. Make it clear that problem-solving involves—and requires—everyone. The goal of DEI work is to achieve positive outcomes for everyone. Those with already positive experiences? Their insights help us know what we're aiming for. Those with the most negative? Their insights help us learn what's broken. The more we communicate that collective effort benefits the collective, rather than shaming or dismissing those at the margins, the more we can unite people around DEI and beat the backlash.

I changed my name to Daniela for 4 days. Over the past week, women on LinkedIn ran an experiment: They switched their profile gender to "male" - and their reach exploded. Sometimes by hundreds of percent. So I did the opposite. I changed my backend gender, my display name, and my pronouns. Nothing else. The result? 📉 Day 1: reach down –26% 📉 Day 2: down another –48% 📈 Day 3: back up +38% 📉 Day 4: down –37% This wasn't a scientific study. But it's one more data point in a pattern women and marginalized identities have been naming for years. Bias rarely announces itself. There's no line of code saying "IF woman > THEN deprioritize." It hides in the architecture. In the training data. In the assumptions about who gets amplified - and who gets silenced. Now think about this: If this is how the platform handles posts, what happens when hiring systems filter people? ____ A few things worth naming: 1) This trend took off during Trans Visibility Week - a week meant to center trans and non-binary voices. Instead, the conversation shifted to cis people testing gender as a variable. Thank you daniela (dani) herrera for naming that. 2) Bias isn't just gendered, it's intersectional. As Bo Young Lee 이보영 and Cass Cooper, MHR remind us, gender, race, disability, age - they all compound. 3) If this post grows legs, spread some love to those who inspired it: Grateful to Lucy Ferguson and Megan Cornish, LICSW Cornish for the experiment, Break the Silence Collective for amplifying it, and to Cindy Gallop, who's been a relentless advocate for as long as I can remember. If AI is a mirror, it’s reflecting something we need to address.

Women are changing their gender to "male" on LinkedIn to prove the algorithm is biased. And it's working. Visibility shouldn’t require women to sound less like ourselves. Yet here we are. All over my feed this week, women are changing their gender markers to “prove” a point – and the results are loud, undeniable, and honestly painful. Engagement jumps. Comments triple. Reach explodes. The bias becomes visible in real time. And I get it. It’s important work. It quantifies what many of us have felt for years but couldn’t “prove” in a way algorithms take seriously. Here’s the tension I can’t shake: If we keep performing masculinity to be heard… what are we training the algorithm to believe about our real voices? Because short-term proof comes with long-term consequences: Maybe.... → We risk signalling to the platform that feminine-coded communication isn’t “valuable” → Diluting the diversity the algorithm should be learning to amplify → We risk becoming attached to the virality instead of the message → We slowly lose the nuance, softness, depth, and empathy many women naturally write with → We normalize the idea that adaptation is the only survival strategy And that’s a cost I’m not willing to ignore. This isn’t about calling out women experimenting. It’s about asking a critical question: Are we documenting the bias… or accidentally reinforcing it? There has to be another way.... ....a better way. One that strengthens our collective voice instead of bending it. Rachael (whose article sparked this reflection) said something powerful: “Instead we could all find ten women’s posts per day – follow them, engage, and amplify their voices.” And dare I add – resharing their content with the same energy we’re giving this experiment? Maybe that’s the real secret sauce. Imagine that. Thousands of us intentionally raising the volume of women who are already writing with excellence, insight, and emotional intelligence. We are not gaming the system. We are reshaping it – one amplified voice at a time. And perhaps it’s time LinkedIn joined the conversation. So here’s my stance: We don’t beat bias by becoming less of ourselves. We beat it by being so visible, amplified, united, and supported – the algorithm has no choice but to learn. This conversation isn’t about virality. It’s about voice. And how we choose to protect it. What do you think? Is there a better way forward than swapping genders just to be heard? I’d love to hear thoughtful perspectives – especially from women navigating this tension in real time.

Your competence at work is judged in seconds. Even when you over-deliver, you can be underestimated. Every day, false assumptions about you are made: — Polite = Weak — Older = Not agile — A foreign accent = Less capable — Introverted =  Not a strong leader — Woman =  Softer voice, less authority It's not just unfair. It's exhausting. So the question is: How do you beat biases without changing who you are? Here’s what I recommend: 𝟭. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 → Speak about impact, not effort. → Articulate your value proposition. →“Here’s the problems I solve. Here's how. Here’s the result."  If no one knows what you bring to the table, they won’t invite you to it. 𝟮. 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 Silent excellence is wasted potential. → Speak up when it feels risky. → Build real not just strategic relationships. → Share insights where people are paying attention. You don’t need to be loud. You need to be seen. 𝟯. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 The traits that trigger assumptions? Those are your edge. → Introverted? That’s deep listening. → Accent? That’s global perspective. Don’t flatten yourself to fit. Distinguish yourself to lead. 𝟰. 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 → Say “I recommend” not "I think.” → Hold eye contact. Take up space. → Act like your presence belongs (even when others haven’t caught up.) Confidence isn’t volume. It’s grounding. Bias is everywhere. But perception can be changed. Don't let other people's false assumptions define you. Do you agree? ➕ Follow Deena Priest for strategic career insights. 📌Join my newsletter to build a career grounded in progress, peace and pay.

Often, it’s easy to “call out” people when we notice their microaggressions or biased behaviors. But it can be equally challenging to recognize and acknowledge our own unconscious biases. That said, becoming aware of your shortcomings can help you hone your leadership style, especially when you’re a new manager. The first step is to acknowledge that you have biases and educate yourself to do better. Ask yourself: Do I hold stereotypes or assumptions about a particular social group? As a manager, do I acknowledge and leverage differences on my team? Use your answers to help you unlearn your unconscious assumptions. When someone calls out your unconscious biases, try not to get defensive. Rather, assume positive intent and use their feedback as an opportunity to learn. Reach out to a diverse group of peers to understand how they perceive you, and seek continuous feedback. These peers can also become “accountability buddies” who help you stay on track when you decide to change your behaviors. Embrace diverse perspectives. If your close circle “looks” just like you, it’s time to build a more diverse network. Join an employee resource group or look to connect with colleagues whose backgrounds are different than your own.close. #diversity #equity #inclusion #belonging

Behaviors are learned and reinforced. To make performance evaluations more inclusive, you need to proactively craft new practices. 🧠 Unbiasing nudges, intentional and subtle adjustments I craft with my clients, can play a pivotal role in achieving an objective and inclusive performance assessment. 👇 Here is what to consider: 🔎 Key Decision Points Analyze your evaluation process to identify key decision points. In my practice, focusing on assessment, performance goal setting, and feedback processes has proven crucial. Introduce inclusive prompts at each stage to guide unbiased decision-making. 🔎 Common Biases Examine previous reviews to unearth prevailing biases. Halo/horn effects, recency bias, and affinity bias often surface. Counteract these biases by crafting nudges tailored to your organization, integrating them seamlessly into your review spreadsheets. 🔎 Behavioral Prompts I usually develop concise pre-decision checklists tailored to each organization. The goal is to support raters' metacognition and introduce timed prompts during the evaluation process. 🔎 Feedback Loops Begin with small-scale implementation and collect feedback. Compare perceptions of both raters and ratees to gauge effectiveness. 🔎 Ongoing Training Avoid off-the-shelf solutions; instead, tailor training to your organization's unique context and patterns. Your trainer should understand your specific needs and design a continuous training program that reinforces these unbiasing nudges, providing managers with the necessary competencies. 🔎 Pilot and Evaluation Define metrics to measure progress and impact. Pilot your unbiasing nudges and regularly evaluate their effectiveness. Adjust based on feedback and insights gained during the pilot phase. 👉 Crafting inclusive performance evaluations is an ongoing journey. Yet, I believe, it's one of the most important ones. Each evaluation matters as it defines a person's career and sometimes even the future. ________________________________________ Are you looking for more DEI x Performance-related recommendations like this?  📨 Join my free DEI Newsletter:

A few years ago, I was working on a critical project when a senior leader pushed back. "This won’t work," they said, citing a past failure. Their conviction was strong—but I noticed something. Their conclusion wasn’t based on deep analysis. It was based on one easily recalled memory—a failure that overshadowed everything we had successfully built up to that point. This is the "Availability Heuristic" in action—our tendency to judge situations based on the most vivid or recent examples, rather than the full picture. And it works both ways: failures stick, but so do successes. Both can shape decisions in ways we don’t always realize. In leadership, this bias can be a double-edged sword: ✔️ Useful: When drawing from experience to make quick, informed decisions in high-pressure situations. ❌ Limiting: When one past failure (or success) distorts objective judgment, closing doors to new opportunities. That day, instead of debating, I asked: "What made that past failure stick with you? What’s different now?" That simple question reframed the conversation—from instinctive doubt to thoughtful discussion. And together, we found a way forward. Leaders, be mindful of this bias. Are you dismissing ideas because of a past failure? Or backing an approach just because it worked once? Challenge your instincts, ask better questions, and broaden your perspective. #Leadership #Mindset #Decisionmaking ------------------- I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. Follow Surya Sharma.

This is one I've been reflecting on for quite some time: my fellow #diversity and #inclusion practitioners are burning out. 🤯😩😵💫🔥 Some reasons behind that are quite obvious: many of us have been put in our roles with little-to-none preparation or onboarding, by business leaders with too much of a sense of urgency given the pressure on organisations to respond to the unprecedented social unrest right after George Floyd was murdered in 2020. Given the lack of planning, many took over roles with loose job descriptions, slim budgets and indifferent peers. No wonder the formula didn't work. There's more to that, though. As this Harvard Business Review article highlights, this job demands constant emotional labour and surface acting (when people try to fabricate positive emotions when they do not genuinely feel positively and suppress negative emotions when they feel them) – particularly for professionals of colour. As a result, frustration and exhaustion mount. Here's what any wise business leader can do to actually set their DEI leaders up for success: rethink how your DEI programmes are designed. When programmes take what’s known as a "discrimination-and-fairness" paradigm approach, DEI leaders experience more burnout because the organisation’s focus assumes employee differences are sources of problems that must be managed. Alternatively, when organisations take a "learning-and-effectiveness" approach, which values employees for who they are, #burnout is less frequent. How does one do that, though? 1️⃣ Conduct regular DEI climate assessments: rely on surveys to get insights, so you can count on effective benchmarks to assess future progress (other than over-relying on subjective notions of success on the role); 2️⃣ Assess and improve HR policies to ensure equity: there's only so much a DEI leader can do if our HR policies are stuck in the last century – we gotta ensure whenever inequities emerges there's a plan to redress them; 3️⃣ Top management must demonstrate consistent, enthusiastic DEI support: racism, sexism, ageism and all the other - isms were not invented by a single person, so can't be addressed by a DEI leader alone. It takes a village and here it's critical that the C-suite not only leads by example, but also ensures there's clarity that complacency or indifference to DEI have no place in the organisation; 4️⃣ Institutionalise DEI roles with the power and resources to effect change: give us the money and access to the resources needed to have the impact that's envisioned. We gotta have a seat at the table if we want to really walk our talk; 5️⃣ Provide resources for social support when emotional regulation is necessary: this job is tough! Ensure DEI leaders have access to peer networks, external coaches and/or industry mentors. We gotta help each other here. What other tips would you add to this list, based on your experience?

I recently led a workshop with senior leaders on unconscious bias, one of the most subtle yet impactful forces shaping workplaces today. Here are some key, thought-provoking takeaways: Talent Pipeline: - Bias in "fit" over potential– We often seek candidates who feel like a "good fit," but this focus on familiarity limits diversity of thought and experience. By sticking with what feels comfortable, we may be missing out on the very perspectives that can push our business forward. - Meritocracy myths– Many of us believe we’re creating a merit-based environment, but unconscious bias can lead us to underestimate talent that doesn't mirror our own journey or leadership style. Thought: Could the future leaders of your organization be getting overlooked because they don't fit the traditional mold? What opportunities are we missing by favoring comfort over potential? Performance management - Critical vs. nurturing feedback– Studies show men often receive feedback that highlights their potential, while women and minorities are judged more on their current performance. This can lead to a self-fulfilling cycle where some are groomed for leadership, while others are held back. - Bias in “leadership traits”– We tend to associate leadership with traditionally masculine traits like decisiveness and assertiveness, while underappreciating qualities like empathy and collaboration. This limits the development of diverse leadership styles and stifles more inclusive forms of leadership. Thought: Are we unconsciously reinforcing outdated ideas of leadership that prevent diverse talent from rising? What if the traits we’re overlooking are exactly what the future of leadership needs? Bias as a leadership challenge Unconscious bias isn’t just an HR issue—it’s a leadership challenge that permeates every level of decision-making: - Awareness isn’t enough– Simply recognising our biases isn’t sufficient. We need strategies that actively challenge our instincts and foster fairer, more inclusive decision-making. - Courageous conversations– Creating an environment where it’s safe to talk about bias isn’t easy, but it’s essential. These discussions help us redefine how we view leadership, success, and talent. Addressing unconscious bias isn't a one-time fix—it's an ongoing commitment to redefining how we lead and make decisions. By fostering a culture that actively challenges bias, we don't just create a more inclusive workplace—we build a stronger, more innovative organization. The real challenge is: Are we willing to do the hard work to make it happen? #leadership #highperformance #DEI #inclusion

What is the Biggest Demotivating Factor for an Employee? 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦! It’s only natural to have “favourites” in our personal lives—favorite foods, movies, or hobbies. But the one place favouritism should never exist is in the workplace. How it often begins: A manager and an employee happen to share a habit (like smoking) and start taking breaks together. Then, they share lunch, important projects get discussed, and next thing you know, that “favoured” employee lands the high-visibility tasks, promotions, and raises. Meanwhile, equally dedicated colleagues are overlooked. 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦 Unequal Opportunities: The same person always gets prime assignments, raises, and promotions, while capable peers are passed over. Selective Leniency: Certain employees get away with lateness or mistakes that others can’t. Exclusive Access: Private chats, inside jokes, and leadership’s ear are reserved for a select few. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨? Self-Check First → Is it truly favouritism, or could you improve your own skills? Seek honest feedback before jumping to conclusions. Build Relationships → If you’re certain favouritism is at play, don’t isolate yourself. Strengthen your professional connections across the team and leadership. Document Disparities → Keep track of situations where the bias is crystal-clear. Concrete examples can help if you raise concerns with HR or upper management. Address It Professionally → If it’s hindering your growth, discuss it with your manager. Frame it as a request for more opportunities, rather than a complaint. Explore Other Roles → If bias is systemic and limits your career, consider switching teams or even companies. Sometimes leaving is the only solution to a toxic environment. Remember: When favouritism goes unchecked, it demoralizes top talent and can push them out the door. A healthy workplace rewards skills, effort, and results—not lunch buddies. 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮: Q1: Have you ever felt overshadowed by a favoured colleague? Q2: Managers, how do you ensure you treat all your employees fairly? Let me know in the comments. #workplaceculture #management #employeeengagement #favouritism