As an organization striving for excellence and success, it is important that the people that make the place are qualified, diverse, high performers, and great leaders. For this reason, identifying and selecting high-potential employees for leadership positions and succession should be based on objective data and not gut feelings. Talent decisions based on subjective judgments are prone to bias and undermine fairness and opportunities for qualified individuals who don’t “look the part”. Too often, women and minorities fall victim to this self-perpetuating cycle and it is one of the main reasons why we still see a diversity gap in leadership.
To investigate this issue, Pinsight Inc has partnered with researchers from Purdue University and George Mason university to conduct a study about bias in the leadership pipeline. Historically, the system and processes for selecting future leaders have been largely driven by management. Managers chose, based on their own subjective judgement, who they think would make a good future executive. However, most managers hold stereotypes they are unaware of (unconscious bias) influencing them to select and groom more White men for leadership roles. Inevitably, this leads to women and racial [RH1] minorities being prevented from accessing valuable developmental opportunities that would allow them the opportunity to compete at the time of promotion.
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Janice Caplan
© Janice Caplan 2020