I need to come clean and confess. I’ve been biased in my hiring practices over the years. Not the culture war DEI kind of bias that gets people worked up, but rather, the kind of bias that actually relates to how people work.
I’m talking about the diversity of geniuses and frustrations.
I took the Working Genius assessment and, no surprise, I have the genius of Invention and Wonder.
Using this model to reflect on the many people I’ve hired over the years, I realized I’ve inadvertently discriminated against Galvanizing and Tenacity. (G and T) It wasn’t a conscience bias. Some of my best friends are Gs and Ts.
Luckily, I’ve shown open-minded tolerance for Enablement and Discernment, my two working competencies, and always manage to have these geniuses on my team.
We’ve had a little Galvanizing competency, but not as much as our ideas deserve. The quality and quantity of our ideas exceed our capacity for enthusiasm.
There’s always enough T to get the work done and meet deadlines but more T is preferable.
When hiring, it’s easy to subconsciously favor those who are like us. So I tend to hire people with Wonder and Invention, even when it’s Galvanizing and Tenacity I need most.
To provide a fulfilling and productive working environment for everyone, we should foster acceptance and mutual respect for all of our working geniuses and frustrations.
We need to be aware of our implicit genius bias so we can right the wrongs of our past.
Do you have an implicit bias against your frustrations? If so, how do they show up at work?