Towards Inclusion – The Key To Moving Bias
How can we address diversity and inclusion issues when we are unaware of the judgments we hold individually, and of how those judgments inform our actions?
How can we move bias?
As the discussions around issues of gender and racial inclusion in the workplace (and everywhere else in society) reach new heights, we agree on the scope of the problems, and of the need to solve them. What I’m missing in the articles and statements I come across is the ‘How’. There are calls to action and very few solutions. It seems up to governing bodies, CEOs and managers, and generally ‘them’ to solve the problem. Most people are not aware of their own bias, or at least not the extent of it. And how can we address diversity and inclusion issues when we are unaware of the judgments we hold, and of how those judgments inform our actions?
“I don’t judge people.”
“I don’t judge” is a common statement in any discussion. The judgment of others has become a tabu. We believe (quite rightly) that judging others keep us from being objective; judgments cloud our vision and impair our listening abilities. Yet the human mind functions through judgments. Our mind constantly interprets our environment in relation and comparison to ourselves. By making the judgment the culprit we deny that process and try to suppress it. As a result of this suppression, these sentiments inform our actions in subconscious ways. By denying our judgments because they are deemed ‘wrong’ we give them greater power.
Society and cultural changes demand ‘positive’, ‘open’, and ‘inclusive’ ways of being. As we try to conform to these clearly beneficial ways for the good of society and ourselves, we feel shame and guilt when we become aware of ‘negative’ or ‘derogative’ judgments in ourselves. As long as we have no way of working with these deep-seated, conditioned, and very human ways of interpreting the world, we are unable to move past them; even with the best and most inclusive intentions.
Self-awareness as the key to moving bias and achieving true inclusion
The key to moving bias is to allow the judgments to surface in ourselves. Everyone who wants to work towards greater inclusion has that responsibility for themselves first and foremost. Bias needs to be moved on an individual level. The greatest power towards inclusion in action and decision making lies in the individuals’ self-awareness of motivation. As long as biased, derogative, and judgmental thinking is regarded as shameful in oneself, it is not allowed to bring the gifts of self-awareness to the individual. If instead, we can allow the judgments and inquire into their relevance towards our own lives, we can learn from them. If we can be held in a process that allows us to understand their context, their influence in our lives, and their validity in regards to ourselves, we can begin the journey towards true inclusion.
Inquiry-based learning
Inquiry is such a key to moving bias in ourselves. Allowing negative judgments doesn’t mean acting on it, maybe not even believing in it. Just like emotional intelligence doesn’t mean acting out, allowing our thoughts to surface doesn’t mean we revert to greater discrimination. Inquired thoughts, beliefs, and judgments allow us a greater range of responses to the world.
What we think isn’t always true.
Thoughts dictate our actions. Our sense organs give us information about our environment. This information is classified and interpreted by our mind in accordance with the information we possess already – in line with our past experiences. Unfortunately, this interpretation doesn’t necessarily correlate with the reality in front of us – it is only one possible interpretation [*]. However true or untrue, the outcome of this interpretation results in emotion. Emotion is felt in the body and leads to action. Emotion is also part of a feedback loop that triggers further thought along the same lines – a physiological feedback loop that proves our interpretation to ourselves as being correct. If we are not aware of other possible interpretations, we have no way of disrupting or questioning this loop. We just take our thinking for truth.
Inquiry allows us to take each judgment and fully understand its influence on our lives. It’s a process of educating the mind to different scenarios. Just like we can learn new skills through simulation, this inquiry allows us to acknowledge, understand, and disengage from negative judgment, and learn new ways of interpretation.
“You either believe a thought, or you inquire. There is no other way.”
Byron Katie
Unless I investigate, I can’t make myself not believe something.
The Work as a process to question biased judgments and move towards inclusion
Inquiry, also known as The Work of Byron Katie, is the simple process of answering 4 questions about a judgmental thought. The questions are
- Is it true?
- Can I absolutely know this is true?
- How do I react, what happens, when I believe this thought?
- Who would I be without this thought?
Questions 1 and 2 invite us to stop, pay attention, and consider. It is beneficial to give these seemingly obvious questions time. They allow inner wisdom and deeper truth to surface if we don’t answer them out of the ‘I know’ mindset.
Question 3 allows us to ponder all aspects of our experienced reality when we believe the judgment. We educate ourselves to our thinking, our emotional states, and resultant actions. We investigate how we treat ourselves and others and find out how this judgment has influenced our lives up to this point. By witnessing the physical manifestations of resultant emotion we bring the learnings of inquiry into physical reality. We learn experientially.
Question 4 invites us to imagine and experience a different reality free of that judgment. We teach ourselves a different way of responding and interpreting.
After the questions the judgment is literally turned around to its opposites. We find some examples of how this ‘turnaround’ can be as true in the situation we investigate. The turnarounds allow us to see different aspects of reality – they broaden our minds.
When we see and understand our judgments we can work towards true inclusion.
Once a judgment about the other is investigated with this process we begin to experience a deep connection with the other person or persons whom we had judged. As our minds open to different possibilities we are less likely to be caught in the mind trap of narrow interpretation. Instead, we become aware of the many possibilities of interpretation that could be applied to each situation. We get to take true responsibility because we are aware of our internal processes.
If we are serious about moving bias in our workplaces, we have to do this work on an individual basis. The key to moving bias is to become aware of our judgments. We have to release ourselves from shame and guilt, and rather work with those limiting and subversive ways of interpreting our world. If colleagues share this work in a workplace the resulting freedom and connection will lead to true inclusiveness.
To read an example of inquiry at work consider this article https://theleaderswork.com/uncategorized/im-not-valued-is-it-true/
