“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
— Marcel Proust
Unconscious bias is a product of the way the human brain works, and is universal to everyone. In order to make sense of the overwhelming amount of new data we receive per second, the brain takes shortcuts and uses previously stored information to produce assessments and decisions about the present.
While this kind of fast thinking comes in handy during urgent situations, it’s not the best tool to use when we’re trying to cultivate new relationships, or to embrace new perspectives.
Unconscious bias can be impacted by our previously existing thoughts, beliefs, emotions, knowledge, and experiences, and it also changes the way we interpret all of our interactions with others. It’s something that we’re not aware of until we make the choice to explore it.
Unlearning unconscious biases can be a complex process. We need to first become aware of what biases we carry in order to change them.
Using this 3-step approach can help:
1. Identify and reflect on your blind spots.
Just like we can have a blind spot while driving, we can also have blind spots when it comes to our own biases. This is a part of our own set of assumptions and prejudices that we cannot see, therefore making it unconscious—or unknown—to us.
Here are a couple of ways you can start to discover and think about your blind spots to personal bias:
- Self-Reflect
Try just taking a moment to reflect on what biases you could possibly hold that you haven’t yet given thought to.
It can help to start by first reflecting on biases you are already aware of, even simple ones, and writing them down. Then, see if you can dig a little deeper to reflect on other personal biases that might be there, and write those down also.
- Ask for feedback
Sometimes, others can see aspects of our biases that we can’t see.
To learn about your unconscious biases and track your progress in overcoming them, it can help to ask those around you how you’re doing. For example, ask if your words and actions are considered inclusive, and if there is anything that you could work on to become more inclusive.
2. Do active work to change your perspective and awareness.
After becoming more aware of unconscious bias, the next step is to take action to move past it. This is something that happens over time, but there are some things you can do to start to shift your perspective:
- Practice a perspective-taking mindset
To strengthen the perspective-taking muscle requires regular practice. This is something you can do while just quietly sitting on your own.
First, try bringing to mind a person or group of people who live a very different life than you do—perhaps someone in another country. Use your imagination to create a clear picture of who this person is—their face, their family, their way of life, etc.—and just notice any thoughts or feelings that you might experience. You can repeat this multiple times with different people or groups.
Then, you can also try the same exercise with each of your colleagues—imagine what it might be like to be in their shoes. You might know some things about them, but in this practice, also leave room for all the things you don’t know. See if you can conjure up feelings of empathy for each person.
- Curiosity conversations & active listening
As a next step beyond using your imagination to build empathy, try initiating curiosity conversations with colleagues.
Curiosity conversations are dialogues driven solely by the desire to get to know others and their experiences better. For the most effective curiosity conversation and the highest chance of a change in perspective, take the following steps:
Create a designated time and place for the conversation, and establish that the only intention is to get to know each other better.
Use open-ended questions like, “Can you tell me more about that?” and avoid closed questions such as, “Wasn’t it so difficult to go through that?”
Practice active listening, which means that you have heightened focus and attention, are free of distraction, and you’re hearing the other person’s sharing instead of thinking about what to say.
The more you engage in curiosity with colleagues and others, the more opportunities you create to expand your perspective and overcome unconscious bias.
3. Be a leader.
While you might be doing work to make your own mindset more inclusive, the systems around you might not progress at the same speed. Be prepared to make personal changes anyway, even if you feel you’re the only one doing it. This means that you’re leading the way in creating a culture of inclusion in your workplace.
To practice being a leader in unlearning unconscious bias, you can:
- Role model your process
Be vocal and visible about the work you’re doing to learn about your own biases. For example, if you invite someone to have a curiosity conversation, you explain that you’re practicing learning about and changing your own unconscious bias. You don’t need to ask them to do the same—just modeling this behavior can have a positive impact on others.
- Become an active ally for others
Once you start to uncover and change unconscious bias, it’s important to take action based on your new perspective, and to be an ally to those who want support. Becoming an ally for people with diverse experiences can provide you even more insight into your own biases, as well as continuous opportunity and motivation to change them.
Unlearning unconscious bias takes time and commitment, but it will change the way you see every interaction, both in and outside of the workplace. And because unconscious bias can inhibit relationships and team collaboration at work, being intentional about overcoming it helps to create a more inclusive work environment and better business outcomes.
Learn more about identifying unconscious bias. 
