Despite decades of effort and major investment dedicated to reducing bias in organizational settings, it persists.
The central challenge in removing bias from decisions is that most biases operate unconsciously. While raising awareness can help people to realize that they might be biased, it does not enable them to recognize bias in their own thinking–we simply do not have conscious access to the operations of bias in the brain.
In this paper, we propose an alternative solution to mitigating bias, derived from a brain-based perspective. We identify processes that can interrupted and redirect unconsciously biased thinking. We provide The SEEDS Model® for designing and guiding the use of such processes. The SEEDS Model® simplifies the roughly 150 identified cognitive biases and recognizes five categories of bias, each category responsive to a different set of actions that will help mitigate them.
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Imagine that you are hiring an employee for a position in which a new perspective would be valuable. But while reviewing resumes, you find yourself drawn to a candidate who is similar in age and background to your current staff. You remind yourself that it’s important to build a cohesive team, and offer her the job.
Ms. Or suppose that you’re planning to vote against a significant new investment. This is the second time it’s come up, and you voted no before. A colleague argues that conditions have changed, the project would now be highly profitable, and you can’t afford to lose this opportunity. Upon closer examination, you see that his data is convincing, but you vote no again. Something about his new information just doesn’t feel relevant.
These are examples of common, everyday biases. Biases are nonconscious drivers — cognitive quirks — that influence how people see the world. They appear to be universal in most of humanity, perhaps hardwired into the brain as part of our genetic or cultural heritage, and they exert their influence outside conscious awareness. You cannot go shopping, enter a conversation, or make a decision without your biases kicking in.
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