The Best of the Best, Avtar’s flagship year conference, witnessed thought-provoking conversations from leaders across industries. One such discussion, Unbundling the building blocks of goodness at the workplace, a breakout session, comprised Akanksha Sane, Senior Director, PTC Software, Jyoti Menon, APAC HR Advisory and India Head HR, UBS, and Rajeev Bhardwaj, CHRO, Sunlife Asia Service Centres. The discussion was moderated by Anju G Parvathy, Assistant Vice President, Research & Solutions, Avtar Group.
Companies spend millions on creating awareness of biases through training each year, aiming to create more inclusive and thereby, innovative and effective workforces. While regular interventions enable organizations to minimize biases in workplaces, frequent checks and balances will ensure that organization’s culture and norms aren’t derailed.
The discussion deliberated how organizations can create effective systems and efficient processes that eliminate bias, stereotyping, and oppression.
Akanksha began the conversation by stating that bias played out in every organization because conditioning began right after employees get hired. Jyothi continued stating that change started when they created adequate awareness of biases. Rajeev believed that denial fed biases. He pointed out that addressing biases was a work in progress.
Some key takeaways from their conversation are:
– People must openly talk about biases.
– Having role models makes a lot of difference.
– It is best to tackle biases right at the campus hiring stage.
– ERGs and communities with organizations can help carry the vision forward.
The discussion was followed by a Q&A session that elicited insights into the process.
Questions for Akanksha:
How do you self-regulate and role-model your behaviors?
Biases are also blindspots. The more self-awareness we create within ourselves, the better we become. We have 360-degree feedback to address biases within our organizations. We encourage open dialogue instead of using the policing approach. Our leaders talk about the things that they have experienced. We used the Psycho Metric Index program during covid.
What are some of the awareness programs that you run?
A part of their module is delivered by their leaders and this has created an impact. They execute a quarterly survey to keep a check on their biases. They also started doing programs around psychological safety.
Questions for Rajeev:
How can leaders cascade and reinforce anti-bias initiatives?
- Acknowledging that biases exist
- By being vulnerable and when leaders display it, it becomes even more powerful
- By amplifying it across the strata
- Constantly performing a self-check to address biases within
How do you manage biases with growth and advancement?
- By putting metrics in place
- By understanding how leaders can contribute
- By gathering data insights on whether we are growing year on year or not
- By “internationalizing” hiring
- By investing in leadership development and by paying adequate attention to their diverse talent
- By investing in workshops and coaching
- By being comfortable with zone red
Questions for Jyothi:
How do you take care of the communication aspect?
Culture is important. Digital channels and ERG play a key part.
How are biases tackled around different points in an employee lifecycle?
By creating gender-agnostic job descriptions and addressing biases that can come in. By partnering with various forms and NGOs. They use the term “Super Days” instead of “Diversity Hiring” for their hiring initiatives.
