Hiring Process.Cognitive Bias.Over-Optimistic?
This month, I thought these three sources were nicely linked together around the theme of successfully challenging assumptions and being overly optimistic. Creating a more diverse workforce in arts organizations requires examining our biases and checking with ourselves to see if we are being unrealistic about the outcomes we expect to achieve.
But first, a quick update about this website. I went through the learning resources and tried to update, replace or delete links that were no longer working correctly. Would you please let me know if you encounter any broken links by emailing me at mgtandthearts5e@gmail.com? Many thanks.
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Equitable Recruiting Success
The American Alliance of Museums shared an update last month about their progress in hiring a more diverse workforce. Katherine McNamee, Director of Human Resources at AAM, reported that now 30% of their thirty-six staff self-identify as BIPOC. However, AAM is continuing to evaluate and improve its recruiting processes. She points out they are asking themselves, “how can we adopt an equity-based mindset in recruiting, one that recognizes the merit of candidates who do not fit our typical narratives of successful or qualified applicants?” The article outlines questions they consider in recruiting and eight bullet points to help improve the hiring process.
Another Infographic
Last month I included a link to an infographic about mental models posted on the Visual Capitalist website. Recently, this same website posted an infographic showing 188 cognitive biases. The source for the graphic is designhacks.co. You can order your very own 18″ x 24″ print of the Cognitive Bias Codex if you like. You can also see a high-resolution version of the codex at the Visual Capitalist website. And last but not least, you can go to the Wikipedia site that was the source for the infographic. Regardless of where you go to view these lists, the point is that confronting and mitigating the effect biases have on how we interact with people is a good thing. The same applies to our tendency toward being unrealistically optimistic at times.
Slippery Slopes of Over-Optimism
This short article from the Pysche website reminds us to be wary of our default setting of thinking too optimistically. We may think, for example, that our arts organization’s effort to recruit a more diverse workforce will roll out successfully and thereby, we may find ourselves succumbing to optimism bias. Heather C. Lench walks us through two studies that demonstrate the high percentage of people who think they will do better than they actually do achieving an outcome. The good news is that error management theory can help us offset this tendency. The journal article at the link I provided might not be available to you, but here is some information about the theory at another site.
I hope you find these resources of some value. Next month, I’ll spend a little time sharing some of the insights from Ben Walmsley’s book on audience engagement in the performing arts. It is a timely subject since arts organizations are trying to develop more diverse audiences too.
Bill Byrnes
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What Does a Truly Equitable Recruiting Process Look Like?
By Katherine McNamee, August 25, 2021, AAM
A few years ago, AAM began a journey to re-evaluate our recruitment process and do more to encourage a diverse applicant pool for our job openings. As a result, we overhauled our expectations around job qualifications, working to ensure they were true criteria for success in a position, not biases or assumptions.
The changes resulted in a much more thoughtful hiring process. Implementing “blind hiring” practices and creating opportunities for candidates to demonstrate skills—rather than over-relying on credentials—has increased staff awareness of how our biases influence which candidates advance from the resume review stage to the interview. We continue to receive favorable comments from job applicants about their recruitment experience, with some saying they have felt “seen” for the first time in a hiring process. Our efforts even attracted interest from the Society for Human Resource Management and the Association for Talent Development, who featured AAM in articles about blind hiring and inclusive hiring.
Link to the full article:
Additional Guidance
In 2017 McNamee posted an article entitled 10 Things We’ve Learned About Unbiased Hiring Practices at AAM, which is also a valuable resource for an arts manager on a journey to improve their organization’s hiring practices. The article has a link to a website called Textio, which offers guidance about how to word job postings better.
Link: https://www.aam-us.org/2017/06/26/10-things-weve-learned-about-unbiased-hiring-practices-at-aam/
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There’s a way to avoid the slippery slopes of over-optimism
By Heather C. Lench, August 11, 2021, Psyche
These days, we hear a lot about the supposed benefits of positive thinking, with an ever-increasing number of apps and social media platforms claiming to help promote our happiness and optimism. This focus has partly arisen from decades of research showing that positive thinking benefits our physical and mental health. Promoting positivity and optimism sounds laudable, but you might have wondered if it’s overly simplistic – after all, what about the possible costs?
If people always expect to reach their goals and for the future to be bright, doesn’t that risk complacency as they sit back and wait for the good things to happen? And what if they fail to reach their goals? Won’t they feel intensely disappointed because they had such positive expectations? My colleagues and I sought to address these questions in our recent research. Together with work by others, our findings suggest ways you can benefit from being optimistic about your goals, while minimizing the costs.
Link to the full article: https://psyche.co/ideas/theres-a-way-to-avoid-the-slippery-slopes-of-over-optimism