Bias Begins With Self-Identity

Identity bias — individuals’ tendencies to identify with people like them — can shape how a workforce evolves without leaders intending it to do so.

No matter what leaders think they are saying when they speak, their facial expressions, tone of voice, hand gestures, choice of words and questions may communicate something entirely different because of their identity bias. Individuals may be biased at an unconscious level to identify with people like them, which influences decision making in ways of which they are unaware. To a certain extent, it is ordinary to have these sentiments, but stereotyping results in discrimination when leaders rely on preconceived notions in making decisions that impact their diverse workforces.

Natalie Holder-Winfield, founder and president of QUEST Diversity Initiatives, a compliance and talent management training consultancy, and author of Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce: New Rules for a New Generation, said that co-workers with inherent similarities and connections are much more inclined to establish richer relationships and help each other. “This is an identity bias that occurs because we want to have conversations that are much more comfortable and common to us,” she said.

While this is expected, it’s destructive, according to Holder-Winfield. Because of it, many women and minorities are pushed away as white men continue to get better access to informal and formal mentoring. Senior while male executives may identify with junior-level white men because they are reminders of their more youthful days or their children. For this reason, they choose to develop the portion of the subordinate staff that mirrors their experiences, stifling diversity.

As evidence for her argument, Holder-Winfield points to an article titled “Common Ground and Cultural Prominence: How Conversation Reinforces Culture” by Nathanael J. Fast, Chip Heath and George Wu. In their research, conducted in 2009, the authors found people are most likely to talk about things they think they have in common with others, rather than topics or ideas that are more unusual or striking. To investigate their hypothesis that conversations between people seeking common ground can influence which ideas and people gain cultural prominence, the authors performed studies centered on professional baseball.