FINAL WORD the sports you enjoy , how you vote in political campaigns , your sense of humour etc .
2 . Deliberately seek alternative perspectives
AN IMPORTANT PART OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT IS GATHERING FEEDBACK TO DEVELOP YOUR THINKING AND APPROACH .
Getting to know people who aren ’ t just like you helps you realise you have more in common than you think , which is a great place to build from . It also broadens your awareness and increases your empathy for experiences that differ to your own . And this helps limit your bias and be more successful when contributing to or making decisions that might affect them .
At work you could spend time with other teams , join networks or social groups . And there ’ s a bunch of ways to do this in your own time too . If you ’ re a regular on social media , look at who you follow and see if you can create a greater mix . If you like books , look at the authors ; podcasts , look at the hosts and guests ; boxsets and movies , look at the lead characters , writers and producers . The algorithms for all these things will recommend you more of the same . So you can teach the algorithms to serve you a greater mix and boost your knowledge while enjoying the things you love .
An important part of career development is gathering feedback to develop your thinking and approach . Whenever you do this , make sure to go beyond your usual ‘ go to ’ people ; who you spend most time with and already know your work . To challenge bias , you also need to approach people who are less familiar with what you ’ re working on , as they can usually offer perspectives you hadn ’ t considered .
Write down a list of ten people you ’ d like to approach . Then look at your list and if the people are all a bit like you with similar work and life experiences , consider who else you could approach . Then either switch half the names or add another ten people .
3 . Disaggregate your data
Whenever you share data to demonstrate research , design or testing , make sure the data is broken down by demographic groups .
Because data presented as an average of the total group often masks the reality that people from underrepresented groups are having a lesser experience . As most things in the workplace and society have been designed by people from overrepresented groups who share similar experiences and needs .
To protect people ’ s private information , only a limited number of people will be able to produce disaggregated data . So whenever you ’ re working with data insight specialists or third parties , ask them to present the data in a way that shows which demographic groups are having the best and worst experiences . Or which demographic groups are going to benefit most and least from potential new designs , policy decisions etc .
Challenging your automatic ( biased ) thinking makes your work better and contributes to a world that works better for everyone . Because unless you ’ re consciously including people , you ’ re almost certainly unconsciously excluding people .
Catherine Garrod is the Founder of Compelling Culture and author of Conscious Inclusion : How to ‘ do ’ EDI one decision at time . She is also a guest lecturer for inclusive leadership at Cambridge Judge Business School . x
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