Biases are shortcuts that our brain creates to make sense of the world around. Our brains have the capacity to process only 40 bits of data at any point in time, as against 11 billion bits of data it is exposed to.

Over the past several decades, social science research has proven, bias is normal part of human beings. While some of the biases are explicit or conscious, implicit bias (also known as unconscious bias) are not in the realm of our conscious, hence unknown to the person who holds it.

Implicit bias is created by our experiences, education and environment in which we were brought up and of which we continue to be part of.

There is enough empirical evidence to prove that our unconscious bias often impacts the people decisions we take in our organisations. This may include decisions about individuals when it concerns

The good news is, when we identify and acknowledge these biases the impact of implicit biases is minimised. The awareness and willingness to navigate our implicit biases, itself is opening up of the path to ensure our decisions are led by our conscious minds. As part of diversity and inclusion training, understanding and navigating our biases become a crucial step.

Interventions include:

• Awareness program
• Long term intervention to create sustainable change