Natasha Wallace’s talk on unconscious bias at our Workforce Conference gave a lot of food for thought about how important it as leaders that we learn about ourselves as this is a key element to wellbeing and inclusion. Here are some of the key takeaways from Natasha’s talk:
- ‘Th[e] sense of belonging is crucial to wellbeing’.
- ‘When we’re rejected and kept out of conversations, the pain is the same as physical pain’.
- ‘If you’re not paying attention to the ideas of the whole group, you’re excluding them’.
- ‘As a leader, every day you’re making decisions about who you spend your time with and where you direct your attention’.
- ‘You need to open up your understanding of yourself so that you know the shadow that you cast’.
In order to tackle unconscious bias you need:
- To be awake and learn more about yourself. Don’t be in auto pilot – generally 95% of what we do and think is the same as yesterday.
- Growth – believe in others – Diversity isn’t easy. Diversity makes leaders’ jobs harder. What the most enlightened leaders know is that that’s important for the overall success of the business.
- To work together and make it safe – ‘We need to create environments where people are able to feel psychologically safe’.