Behavioral Design For Positive Impact: Fostering Diversity And Inclusion In Organizations

Julia Lundberg, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Peab

In the complex ecosystem of a modern organization, even the most well-intentioned structures can sometimes fall short when it comes to encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Often, underlying unconscious biases can steer decision-making processes astray. However, by leaning into behavioral design — inspired by thought leaders such as Iris Bohnet, Daniel Kahneman, and Cass Sunstein — we can cultivate environments that not only value but actively promote meritocracy and DEI.

Understanding Unconscious Bias

At its core, unconscious bias refers to the implicit associations we hold outside our conscious awareness and control. The term is mostly linked with stereotypes and prejudices about different groups of people. These biases, embedded within societal norms, affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unintentional manner. Given that they operate below the level of consciousness, they can be particularly challenging to address.

Many organizations on the higher end of the diversity and inclusion maturity spectrum offer unconscious bias training. These initiatives strive to enlighten individuals about their biases and catalyze behavioral change. Yet, empirical studies suggest achieving this objective is extremely difficult on a large scale. An emerging and increasingly celebrated approach is the promise of behavioral design to mitigate the impact of our biases.

Behavioral Design:

 A Catalyst for Change Behavioral design delves deep into understanding human psychology and behavioral economics to design systems and processes that guide positive behaviors. It offers a practical approach to overcoming hurdles posed by our unconscious biases. A few areas merit emphasis as potential focal points that companies can address to advance the DEI agenda. 1. Designing Recruitment: Iris Bohnet, in her acclaimed work “What Works: Gender Equality by Design,” highlights the importance of reimagining recruitment processes. For instance, orchestras increased the proportion of women musicians from around 5 percent to 40 percent by using blind auditions where candidates performed behind a screen. Similarly, anonymizing applications and using structured interview questions can minimize the impact of bias in hiring. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit in this area – another example: we see in multiple studies that recruiters and managers spend more time reviewing men’s applications than those of women. A simple design hack that could offset this discriminatory tendency we all have could be to simply use a timer to make sure you spend an equal amount of time on each application.

    “Researchers also agree that women generally tend to understate their competency and work contributions while men overestimate theirs”

  Another structural tweak you can start with right away: our biases disappear if we compare at least two applications at once when reviewing candidates instead of looking at one at a time. Here is another one: many studies have shown how companies have dramatically increased their number of female applicants by simply switching a few male-coded words in their job ads. For example, the word ‘leader’ attracts a more equal candidate pool than the word ‘manager’ does. Many of these insights are available to implement in your recruitment processes and guidelines today and often cost nothing.

2. Role Models and Designing the Physical Space: Designing exteriors and interiors to be fully accessible for all individuals, regardless of their physical shape and abilities, is undoubtedly a priority on the DEI agenda. This article aims to highlight how companies, using simple design means, can better retain and improve the performance of people from minority groups. There are studies that show how the performance of females in male-dominated workspaces goes up when these spaces are furnished with pictures of women. In another study, the researcher found that students reported being more likely to apply for college programs within STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) if they were in a room with neutral or female-coded interior design (say a room with plants as décor instead of one with Star Wars details). At this point, quite a few companies and institutions have scrutinized their spaces, evening out gendered choices. Harvard Kennedy School realized they solely had pictures of men hanging on their walls; they now added equally many women in their corridors.

3. Nudging Towards Inclusion: When it comes to yearly performance reviews, researchers have identified several biases and pitfalls managers fall prey to. For instance, female employees often receive more feedback on their personality than their performance. Researchers also agree that women generally tend to understate their competency and work contributions while men overestimate theirs. Coupling these insights with the phenomenon of anchoring bias, which all humans regularly succumb to, we can rightly assume that this leads to males receiving better evaluations than their female counterparts of equal performance. By recognizing and understanding these biases, adjustments can be made in processes to promote meritocracy. What might this look like in practice? - Make sure in your performance review process that leaders make their own evaluations before getting access to those of their employees. A simple design nudge like that will go a long way on big numbers if we are to trust the science.

4. Curbing minority effects: The phenomena of minority effects—where individuals in the minority are perceived and treated in accordance with assigned stereotypes based on their minority identity—permeate many organizational settings. For instance, a sole woman in a team of men might find herself designated as the note-taker during meetings, a man in a room of women might be expected to resolve technical issues with the projector, or a black individual may feel the need to be cautious when expressing emotion due to colleagues coding them as extra aggressive. The significance of addressing company culture, psychological safety, and awareness in organizations cannot be overstated. While these are fundamental, focusing on the additional impact that design can have offers further avenues for improvement. Here are a few suggestions in this domain.

 Simple yet effective interventions like rotating administrative tasks among all team members or employing anonymous contribution platforms can mitigate the impact of such social structures. To take the load off the minority individuals in your organization, another good move is to design teams to minimize these effects. Research has noted that minority effects disappear when the minority makes up at least 30 percent. If it is difficult for you to achieve this when designing teams and you need an absolute number of individuals of a certain group in a team, three would be the smallest figure researchers recommend.

  A Journey, Not a Destination

In conclusion, promoting diversity and inclusion through behavioral design is not a one-off task. As societal norms evolve and organizations grow, there will always be new challenges to address. However, by committing to behavioral design principles, regularly iterating on strategies, and analyzing data, we pave the way for a more diverse, fair, and merit-based work landscape, breaking free from the shackles of unconscious bias.

 

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