Designing a bias free organization
Most diversity training programs are a waste of money, says Iris Bohnet. Companies often conduct programs without ever measuring their impact. And unfortunately, research on their effectiveness shows they seldom change attitudes, let alone behavior. The solution? Focus on processes, not people. Behavioral science tells us that it's very hard to eliminate our biases, but we can redesign organizations to circumvent them. Behavioral design makes it easier to do the unbiased thing by either preventing biased choices or changing people's beliefs. Companies can start by collecting data on their current diversity training. Then they must bring the same rigor to people management that they apply to financial and marketing decisions. This means defining the desired change, implementing new programs, collecting hard data, and evaluating the results. Even simple changes can be effective. For example, hiring managers can use software that allows them to strip age, gender, socioeconomic background, and similar information out of resumes so that they focus only on talent. Bias affects everyone, despite efforts at awareness and the best of intentions. The good news, says Bohnet, is that behavioral design can break the link between our gut reactions and our actions, and allow our biased minds to get things right.