Distinguishing Unconscious Leadership from Unconscious Bias
I recently had a conversation with a friend who made me realize that the popularity of the term "unconscious bias" may have a downside: dilution. We were talking about her company president and how he openly stated the personal qualities he wanted in a work colleague. And, if he found that those qualities were missing, he would find a way to not work with him/her. While my colleague explained away the president's behavior as unconscious bias, what I heard sounded like unconscious leadership.
Unconscious leadership is the lack of awareness of how our deliberate decisions are not motivating and inspiring others. This is subtly unlike unconscious bias, which are our hidden preferences that create blindspots in our interactions. You see, the president knew that he had biases but he didn't realize how they were impacting his ability to lead.The company president was aware that his likes and dislikes were harming the careers of those who fell on his bad side. What he didn't realize was that his personal and petty proclivities were not in pursuit of good leadership.
I explained to my friend that if we confuse unconscious leadership with unconscious bias, we could "jump the shark" in our conversations around bias. The reality of unconscious bias may become a farce if every overt and covert act of unfairness is excused as being unconscious bias.When we see "leaders" create divisions in teams, knowingly choose favorites, and purposefully erode the confidence of their reports, we need to call it what it is: bad leadership.
As the saying goes, "Leaders who do not create good leaders have not led."
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•The financial impact of exclusion in the workplace and the business case for removing the barriers to inclusion
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• Best practices and strategies for eliminating unconscious bias in the workplace, and much more!
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