Why Changing Hearts & Minds Doesn’t Work When Promoting DE&I Efforts, but Checklists Do
Summary
Across the industry, design teams are focused on growing and supporting a diverse workforce. But current efforts are often unsuccessful —?and despite an increase in time, effort and money behind organization’s DE&I efforts, most teams remain unchanged (and very white). To truly address bias and support diversity efforts, teams need to stop focusing on feelings and instead create hiring and performance review systems that prevent individuals from acting on their bias. As a Design Enablement and Operations practice, we have worked with designers and their teams to build practices that standardize hiring criteria and reduce the impact of individuals’ bias and racism. In this workshop, we will work together to: Define tangible core competencies that define each job and the criteria hiring and performance are measured on Create a Portfolio Review “Cheat Sheet” that allows a team to review a candidate with an anti-bias approach Review examples of performance review and correct instances of bias
Key Insights
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Initial DEI efforts focused on changing hearts and minds often lead to burnout without measurable impact.
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Bias in hiring decisions can manifest as unequal standards for candidates based on race and gender.
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Creating a set of 12 core competencies helped objectively define key skills across multiple design roles.
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Focusing on action-oriented 'I can' competencies over subjective knowledge helped reduce bias.
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Hiring cheat sheets tied to competencies guide interview panels and reduce individual bias.
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Performance reviews are high-risk areas for bias due to confirmation bias and the halo/horn effect.
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Requiring three pieces of evidence for each feedback item reduces unsubstantiated biased comments.
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Managers auditing peer feedback enables identification and mitigation of bias during reviews.
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Evidence-based performance review workshops empowered teams to discuss and call out bias openly.
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Scaling equity efforts requires integrating objective criteria into organizational processes, not just discussions.
Notable Quotes
"We were literally doing the most and having no impact."
"When we focused on objective measurements, it really highlighted the inequity and moving the goalpost based on who it was applying."
"Scale is about doing less while having greater impact."
"We wanted to move from I know, which is subjective, to I can, which can be demonstrated."
"If a candidate meets the three non-negotiables, it’s a reason to move them forward no matter what."
"Performance reviews are petri dishes for bias, especially confirmation bias and halo/horn effects."
"Give three pieces of evidence for every piece of feedback you provide an individual."
"Managers need to audit the feedback their team receives, not just accept it at face value."
"We asked people to judge others’ feedback with an anti-bias lens instead of focusing on their own biases."
"Let the bird fly of hearts and minds. Don’t go chasing waterfalls; disrupt your organization with checklists."
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