In the quest to foster fairness in leadership selection, we’ve compiled insights from presidents, CEOs, and top executives. From aligning leadership on core values to standardizing interview scorecards, explore the ten strategies these leaders employ to mitigate bias and champion equitable decision-making.
- Align Leadership on Core Values
- Ensure Consistency in Interview Questions
- Adopt a Strategic Methodology
- Prevent Groupthink with Multiple Viewpoints
- Implement Diverse Interview Panels
- Establish Clear Performance Reviews
- Utilize Blind Resume Screening
- Incorporate Competency Assessments
- Remove Bias-Generating Information
- Standardize Interview Scorecards
Align Leadership on Core Values
Bias happens, even when we don’t realize it’s happening. Thus, we often hear it called unconscious bias. Good news: We can combat this by getting leadership aligned on values—not age, gender, race, etc.—to truly focus on culture fit and mitigate bias in recruitment. It’s time to do things differently—and we are leading the way with this.
Get creative and have fun doing it. Use our business tool to gamify your recruitment process. We created Cards for Culture to play a pivotal role in the selection process by introducing a structured and inclusive approach. This innovative tool facilitates conversations about values and leverages a standardized set of behavior-based interview questions that are tied to organizational values. The discussions build transparency throughout the selection process.
Why is this important? We want to ensure that candidates are evaluated fairly and provide consistent measures for culture fit, rather than just trusting our gut (which is what leaders usually do!). In fact, our research shows that 90% of leaders are ‘trusting their gut’ (winging it!) because they don’t operate with an intentional culture/people plan.
By leveraging new-era tools, companies can foster a culture of equity and create opportunities for all individuals to thrive in leadership roles. When we know better, we do better. Challenge the status quo—and bring some gamification into your workplace processes.
Melanie Booher
President & Chief Creative Officer, PEOPLEfirst Talent & Retention Consulting
Ensure Consistency in Interview Questions
I know it doesn’t sound fun, but hiring managers must focus on asking the exact same questions to all candidates. We aren’t looking for a personal connection so we can go to happy hour together. We are looking for the most qualified candidates for a specific role in our organization. Consistency in questions is a great place to start.
Kerri Roberts
Founder & CEO, Salt & Light Advisors
Adopt a Strategic Methodology
Selecting leaders goes beyond grading; it shapes the team’s future and influences organizational outcomes. To avoid unconscious biases and ensure fair evaluation, adopting a strategic methodology involving role alignment, assessments, and behavioral scrutiny is vital. Firstly, crafting job roles that accurately reflect duties helps to depersonalize the needs, and employing multiple criteria for assessing competencies helps counter biases.
For example, assessment centers, integrating simulations, offer a holistic evaluation of a candidate’s leadership behavior, vital for gauging potential job performance, whether in group or individual settings.
Additionally, Behavioral Event Interviewing within assessment centers utilizes structured interviews with predefined questions to gather objective details about past performance. The unique scoring system for key behavioral indicators, bolstered by qualitative data and overseen by assessors, separates assessment centers, guaranteeing fair and unbiased leadership selection.
Darsha Patel
Associate Consultant, NamanHR
Prevent Groupthink with Multiple Viewpoints
Be careful about hiring people who share your point of view 100% of the time. People who don’t always agree with you can offer critical insights that prevent groupthink, which is vital for making well-rounded decisions and ensuring that all aspects of a problem are considered.
A healthy leadership group dynamic is one in which all leaders feel comfortable questioning others’ assumptions and poking holes in the group’s thinking. A vital ingredient for this is leaders who bring different points of view to the table.
Scott Shrum
President & COO, Hennessey Digital
Implement Diverse Interview Panels
When I worked as Head of Talent for a major international airline, we implemented a number of interventions to help us mitigate bias in the selection process.
These included having at least one male and one female member on the interview panel, requiring Recruitment Partners to provide a shortlist containing a 50/50 gender split, working with business leaders to ensure that their Succession Plans would improve the diversity of candidates within the team; and in turn, across the wider business, and including someone from outside the particular business area on the interview panel to maintain an objective view and challenge assumptions.
Jane Ferré
Talent Management Strategist, Jane Ferré Coaching
Establish Clear Performance Reviews
As someone in a leadership position, I ensure that proper performance analysis and reviews are in place within the organization so that the right individuals are given the proper recognition when the time for promotions comes along.
Results, teamwork-orientation, and the ability to boost team morale in the best way possible are some factors considered when choosing someone during this process. Such methods vary from company to company, depending on the work culture, but for a start-up such as Carepatron, where we allow employees to have full autonomy over their work as quickly as week one, these factors become easily glaring, which helps our discernment.
Jamie Frew
CEO, Carepatron
Utilize Blind Resume Screening
Organizations can implement blind-resume-screening processes to reduce bias in the initial stages of the selection process. By removing identifying information such as name, gender, age, and educational background from resumes before they are reviewed by hiring managers, organizations can prevent unconscious biases from influencing decisions about which candidates to interview. This allows hiring managers to focus solely on the qualifications and relevant experience of each candidate, rather than being swayed by factors such as name recognition or alma mater.
I also suggest utilizing structured interviews with standardized questions and evaluation criteria. By establishing a set list of questions that all candidates are asked during the interview process, and using predetermined criteria to evaluate their responses, organizations can ensure that each candidate is assessed consistently and objectively. This helps to minimize the influence of unconscious bias by focusing on the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and experience rather than subjective factors such as personal characteristics or demographic information.
For example, interviewers could ask candidates to provide specific examples of their leadership experience and accomplishments, and then evaluate their responses based on predetermined criteria such as demonstrated leadership abilities, problem-solving skills, and team management capabilities.
Michael Hurwitz
CEO and Co-Founder, Careers in Government
Incorporate Competency Assessments
One way we mitigate bias in the selection process for leadership roles is to incorporate competency assessments into our hiring process. Competency assessments contribute to fair and equitable decision-making when recruiting. They offer a standardized evaluation framework based on specific skills, knowledge, and behaviors essential for leadership roles. This ensures consistency and objectivity in the assessment process.
By focusing on objective measures rather than subjective impressions, competency assessments mitigate the risk of unconscious bias and discrimination, allowing candidates to be evaluated solely on their ability to perform the job. They help to level the playing field by providing all candidates with an equal opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities, regardless of personal biases, education, or experience.
Overall, competency assessments contribute to fair and equitable decision-making by emphasizing meritocracy and ensuring that leadership roles are filled by individuals best suited to drive organizational success, fostering diversity, inclusion, and excellence in leadership teams.
Linda Scorzo
CEO, Hiring Indicators
Remove Bias-Generating Information
It depends on the stage of the selection. First, acknowledge that humans have biases, and for a while, we will continue to have them. Once aware, and with the light bulb on, the selection already improves.
Now, suppose you can use selection tools that remove important bias-generating aspects from the applicant, like age, gender, specific school names, and associations, while concentrating on the history, wording, and personality aspects that make a good leader. In that case, you can have a selection that will exceed previously label-based selections.
Cristina Imre
Founder Tech Leadership Lab & Quantum Wins Consultant, Tech Leadership Lab
Standardize Interview Scorecards
One tip for mitigating bias in the selection process for leadership roles is to have a standardized interview scorecard to ensure fair and equitable decision-making. The interview scorecard establishes a method of consistent and objective assessments across the interview process.
Each candidate should be asked the same number of questions that align with the organization’s leadership competencies and have a direct impact on performance. Everyone involved in the interview process can grade the candidates on a scale of 1-5 based on the questions that were asked. When I was creating interview questions for a leadership position at my company, I implemented a REDCap tool for efficiency and effectiveness.
The scorecard and questions were in REDCap, and everyone could input their unique scores. Interview scorecards provide an opportunity to analyze and measure the success of each candidate. If your interview questions are effective and coordinated, you should expect a correlation between the candidates’ scores on their interview scorecards and their future performance as employees.
Christina G. Hall
Career & Leadership Coach, CGH Careers, LLC
