In our previous articles, we explored practical approaches to navigate diversity\u00a0and how to manage virtual cross-cultural teams. Today, we\u2019re going to tackle how internal drivers play out in micro-decisions and macro leadership systems. If we\u2019re going to tackle inclusivity thoroughly \u2013 and the cost of just ticking a box is too high\u00a0\u2013 we\u2019re going to need to go deep.<\/p>\n
Although we may name inclusivity as one of our values, the real crunch comes at the level of our core internal drivers. It is here where unconscious bias plays out \u2013 and our default patterns of behaviour are entrenched. Unless we address this psychological core, the decisions we make will be like compass bearings without a ship to take us there. And the tide of collective behaviour will cause us to drift away from inclusion \u2013 even we set our direction differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses are already trying to address some common biases,\u201d says Valeria Cardillo Piccolino<\/a>, a TPC Associate Partner. \u201cSuch as the stereotype that women are more emotional than men \u2013 and perhaps not suitable for the boardroom. These biases are talked about and are beginning to be addressed. But other unconscious biases escape unnoticed by businesses \u2013 particularly around introversion and extroversion.\u201d<\/p>\n Our interculturality affects how many internal drivers go unnoticed. When we only examine our biases with people of our own background, we miss the assumptions that are made invisible by our culture.<\/p>\n Catherine Bardwell<\/a>, an Associate Partner at TPC, recalls a time that she visited Japan on behalf of the CEO of a PWC client. She pitched to a room full of leaders and at the end she asked, \u201cAre you with me?\u201d She saw everyone nodding and went away satisfied. But upon her return to the UK, she discovered an email from the same people saying they completely disagreed with what she had said. \u201cIn Japan it is disrespectful to disagree with someone senior,\u201d says Catherine, \u201cI misread their respect as heartfelt agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChildhood lessons\u2026 imbued me with the assumption that being explicit is simply good communication,\u201d says Erin Meyer, in The Culture Map<\/i>. A Japanese HR executive Kenji Takaki, later informed her that,\u00a0 \u201cIn Japan, we implicitly learn, as we are growing up, to communicate between the lines and to listen between the lines when others are speaking. Communicating messages without saying them directly is a deep part of our culture, so deep that we do it without even realising it\u2026 In Japan if you can\u2019t read the air, you are not a good listener.\u201d<\/p>\n Unconscious assumption influences our decisions more than we would like to admit. But this can partly be mitigated by addressing the unconscious assumptions we have about ourselves.<\/p>\n In our last article we explored how the process communication tool<\/a> can be used to start leaders off on the path to inclusivity. It highlights six characteristics that are present across cultures but are valued differently in terms of appropriateness by each culture as revealed in the Global Disc model<\/a>.<\/p>\n Part of becoming more inclusive has to involve becoming more inclusive within yourself. If you have no tolerance for your own imaginings, you will struggle to give space to those who thrive on having time to dream and envision possibilities. Likewise, if you are afraid to concede on your opinions for fear of losing control, you might not notice the strengths of someone from a compliant people-orientated culture. How inclusive are you with different energies within yourself? Others will thank you for the peace you make here.<\/p>\n \u201cStart by accepting that our minds are stubborn beasts,\u201d says Iris Bohnet, author of What Works. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to eliminate our biases, but we can design organisations to make it easier for our biased minds to get things right.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what makes the shift from diversity to diversity and<\/i> inclusion. \u201cReal inclusion is not about quotas,\u201d says Valeria Cardillo Piccolino. \u201cIt\u2019s not about employing sixty deaf people. You need to go further \u2013 taking into account their grammar and syntax, creating an environment where they can express their talents.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReal inclusion is understanding a person\u2019s specific ways of working, reading and elaborating on a document,\u201d Valeria says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to be curious on an attitude level. To ask \u2018what specific support do you need to be at your best?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Curiosity is the starting point. It moves us from merely possessing an ethical value to creating concrete solutions. The kind of solutions that are felt in a meaningful way by those on our teams.<\/p>\n Inclusion starts with listening and moves towards systemic change. Senior leadership will no longer seem like a pipe dream to those in minority groups. Differently-abled people will be supported to bring innovation. And everyone will feel heard by the members of their team. This is the direction we said we were heading in \u2013 that we knew we wanted to travel to. And if we are prepared to address the internal drivers that affect our decision-making, we\u2019ll no longer just be wishing for a wind to take us there. We\u2019ll be the engine that makes the ship move.<\/p>\n Want more insight on how to move forward?<\/b> Get in touch with us<\/b> to find out how we can help.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In our previous articles, we explored practical approaches to navigate diversity\u00a0and how to manage virtual cross-cultural teams. Today, we\u2019re going to tackle how internal drivers play out in micro-decisions and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_title":"The internal drivers that impact decision making | Blog | TPC Leadership","rank_math_description":"This blog explores how to tackle how internal drivers play out in micro-decisions and macro leadership systems and how this impacts diversity & inclusion","rank_math_focus_keyword":"Internal Drivers, Unconscious Bias","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[95,96],"featured-blog-post":[],"page-type":[],"class_list":["post-4996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-developpement-des-leaders","tag-internal-drivers","tag-unconscious-bias"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8662,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996\/revisions\/8662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4996"},{"taxonomy":"featured-blog-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-blog-post?post=4996"},{"taxonomy":"page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/benelux-fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page-type?post=4996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Our cultural paradigms<\/b><\/h2>\n
The exclusions within yourself<\/b><\/h2>\n
Mitigating bias systemically<\/b><\/h2>\n