Howard J Ross interacts with the audience at Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Future Fluent Global Summit about unconscious bias – tools and strategies to manage them.

During the Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Future Fluent Global Summit held today in the national capital, organised by Ask Insights and BW People, Howard J Ross, Founding Partner, Udarta talks about the ‘Unconscious Bias – Tools and Strategies to manage them’.

He presented various visuals to support his talk that, over time, ‘the books of rules gives schema framing mechanism to the things we see and to the things we don’t see’ and every individual has a different frame of reference known as ‘background’.

“Mechanism of the brain actually convinces us that what we are hearing is actually what is being said. Background creates context and context is everything in terms of how we see the world. We think we are rational but we are not, we are rationalising”, he said.

Furthermore he stresses on the need to break the myth that ‘bias’ is a negative term. He said, “Bias is simply a tendency or inclination that results in judgement about a question”. He also talks about the functions that bias behaviour serve i.e. fundamental ‘survival’ and it helps us to move quickly through the world.

He further claims that when we catalyse a person or circumstance we see through the background eyes and the background is formed in our brain. He categorises brain into two segment known as fast (emotional) and slow (thinking) brain. “Fast brain is the older sibling of the slow brain”, he said.

Furthermore he told six ways to develop more consciousness in decision making, listing them, he said, “Recognise and accept that you have bias, Develop the capacity to shine the flashlight on yourself, Practice constructive uncertainty, Explore awkwardness and discomfort, Enrage with people you consider ‘others’ and expose yourself to positive role models in that group, and practice feedbacks”.

Ross believes that interventions with unconscious biasness occurs in four domains known as education, priming, systems & structures and accountability.