Flipping the Double Standard

I saw this tweet last week, and I thought of job interviews:

“Imagine the media treatment of Kamala if she had five children by three different men. Then add in having sex with a porn star.”

Of course, on the surface, this is political commentary. But the argument it’s making is relevant to the workplace. 

This commentator’s bias is pretty conscious. But he’s using a technique that organizations can use to help them hire and retain more diverse employees. Kristen Pressner called it “flip it and test it” in her TED talk “Are You Biased? I Am.” 

It’s hard to see our own unconscious bias—that’s why it’s called unconscious. But we can run a simple thought experiment to spot double standards. 

As Pressner explains, the idea is to imagine someone with a different gender behaving in the same way, and ask yourself if you’d make the same judgment about them in that case. 

Whether you’re evaluating a candidate for president or a candidate for a job, it’s a useful test. 

When you’re preparing for an annual review and assessing an employee’s attitude, communication style, or leadership, flip it and test it. You might notice a tendency to judge men vs. employees with other genders differently for speaking assertively, or taking time off for family needs. 

When you’re considering someone for a raise, a promotion, or a stretch assignment, flip it and test it. Do you find it easier to imagine an employee with a particular gender playing certain roles or managing certain responsibilities on your team?

Flipping and testing works for any type of bias—not just gender, but also race, age, culture, and so on.

And it’s not a bad practice for election season either.