Episode 015: Unconscious Bias

Diversity, inclusion, and acceptance are all hot topics these days, as is the conversation around Unconscious Bias. Truth be told, the subject I am talking about today is reason I started writing this podcasts.

In this episode, I talk about the McGurk Effect and the idea of Deliberate Practice, which you may have heard spoken about as the 10,000 hour rule made popular by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers. What do they have to do with each other and how does it relate to recruiting? You'll find out today on The Rebellious Recruiter with Daava Mills.

Daava's Rebellious Recruiting Notes:

• The McGurk effect is a perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception.
• The illusion occurs when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception of a third sound.
• Very few people approach interviews from the standpoint of the science behind them or deliberately dive into concepts during interviews.
• Interviewers take the first answer as the answer, but that first answer given, rarely has context, and any context it does have lies in the interviewer’s head caused by personal assumptions.
• The added difficulty is that candidates often try to manipulate the context, not because they want to lie, but because they have been coached to hide certain pieces of information.
• I'll talk to people over the phone and be very impressed by what they are saying, but when we meet fact to face, I can often feel let down.
• Turns out that we tend to favor people when we can only listen to them, and when we see them in person another first impression emerges.
• McGurk effect - where is your brain creating a third, and incorrect assumption based on competing, yet correct data points?
• Deliberate practice - accept that if it really takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to be a master interviewer, that you will retire around the time you master it. Focus on getting better.
• Unconscious bias - ask more questions, ask why, and don't rely on your assumptions. Get comfortable with challenging your assumptions in interviews.
• Look to hire people who are different than you, think differently, and come up with radically different solutions.
• Learn to have different managerial solutions and different communication solutions for those on your team. If you are a leader, that will only make you better.

As always, you can email me at daava@millsgroupllc.com with your thoughts or questions or check out The Mills Group website. I may use your subject matter in upcoming shows.

Episode Links:

The Mills Group

The McGurk Effect

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Joe Gerstandt

The McGurk Effect Video

Interview Questions That Suck

Nick Epley

Management Recruiters International

C.L.A.M.S.