Engage in self-reflection and introspection to observe your own thoughts, habits, and patterns of mind, especially those that violate your values. This practice, though challenging, helps you hold these patterns more loosely and pause before acting on immediate reactions.
Recognize that making mistakes is an inevitable part of working against bias and discrimination. The most crucial step is to persist after a misstep, moving through feelings of shame, guilt, or defensiveness towards acceptance and positive action.
Shift your perspective from seeing bias as only harming others to understanding how perpetuating unexamined prejudices also harms you. This includes creating disconnection, separation from reality, and a ‘heart hardening’ that leads to personal stress and a less authentic existence.
Delve into the history of racism and patriarchy to understand the origins and trajectory of these ’toxic lies.’ This historical knowledge can help you see present-day bias more clearly, understand its cultural invention, and reduce its grip on your own mind.
Seek out evidence-based bias intervention training that boosts awareness, increases motivation, and provides concrete strategies to combat bias. Such training has been shown to effectively change people’s behavior in real-world contexts.
When you catch yourself making an assumption about someone’s behavior based on a stereotype, actively look for alternative explanations for their actions. This strategy helps interrupt automatic biased thinking.
Regularly engage in mindfulness and meditation practices to improve emotional regulation, decrease stress, and reduce cognitive load. These benefits indirectly reduce the likelihood of acting on biases, which are exacerbated by stress and dysregulation.
Engage in loving-kindness meditation to foster more altruistic responses and potentially erode the strong distinction between self and other. Research suggests it can lead to more similar brain responses when viewing oneself versus others.
Intentionally seek opportunities to develop meaningful, cooperative relationships with people from different social identity groups. Ensure these interactions occur under conditions of equal status, shared goals, and institutional support to effectively decrease prejudice.
For organizations, develop and use structured, consistent, and transparent criteria for making decisions, such as hiring or promotions. This formal approach helps to decrease the influence of homophily and unconscious bias on outcomes.
Organizations should fundamentally believe that diverse perspectives are essential to their functioning and a source of wealth, rather than just for justice or business opportunities. This core motivation enables better conflict resolution, learning, and overall performance from diversity.
Cultivate an environment of psychological safety within teams and organizations where everyone feels willing and able to speak up and learn from one another. This is the crucial link that allows diversity to become a huge resource for better performance.