My affinity bias – do I use it for the good of the industry or is bias still bias?
Hannah Winstanley, General Manager, Brightly Software in the UK, talks about the dilemma of affinity bias and how she is using it to drive initiatives that empower women as they navigate their careers
Hannah Winstanley
A couple of years ago, our leadership team were planning who we would invite on our tables for the Chartered Institute of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) luncheon at Christmas time. I was going through the people I wanted to invite and realised I had a table full of women. It struck me then that this is what it’s like for my male colleagues – I had complete affinity bias.
Affinity bias is where we unconsciously (or, you could argue, consciously) gravitate to people who are similar to us in some way – be it physically, or be it sharing the same background, interests, beliefs or education. I know I have this, as I have hired someone with my exact birthday – the same day, month and year.
When I was looking through my network of who I wanted to invite to the luncheon, I realised I had selected the people that I enjoyed spending time with or who had faced similar struggles and challenges to me. Women typically network on a much more personal level; they seek commonalities and emotional connections, whereas men are more likely to network with others based on seniority and career opportunity. This means that a women’s network may be stronger, but smaller in comparison.
I was heartened when I asked my team if they minded if we had a women-only table. My male colleagues were fully supportive and thought it was a great idea. For anyone who has been to the CIHT luncheon, they know it is a predominately male-attended event and it always struck me that this is where connections are made which further careers and business decisions. I was then compelled to continue the tradition every year – we are now in our third year – and invite people who may be earlier in their careers so that they can network with senior leaders and be seen.
I have noticed that each year, the women’s table tends to leave earlier. They are either getting back to the family or pets, or are not as enthusiastic about carrying on the evening’s festivities beyond the end of the event. This is also a limitation to our networking capacity and I personally wince when people say “we’ll discuss it over a beer” as where I love a beer, it’s not always the most accessible way to network with a man – both parties feel that way.
This is one of the reasons why at Brightly, I’ve created a number of initiatives – safe spaces enabling women to share stories and network with others in a similar position:
1. FLARE Group: A virtual meeting place for women in local authorities to talk openly, connect and discuss topics on a regular basis
2. CIHT Luncheon: For those who don’t sit at the top, this women’s event enables them to have a place at the table – to network, share and learn
3. Brightly Women’s Day events bring everyone together, physically, to learn, discuss and network
These groups all have their own benefits. It’s not to go against the incredible work that men do; in fact, my male colleagues at Brightly are extremely supportive of our initiatives. It’s more about empowering women to be part of conversations that we once upon a time would have been excluded from, or didn’t feel confident contributing to.
Change isn’t going to appear overnight, but the more we champion each other and challenge ourselves and our own bias, the sooner it’ll happen!
[URL] Learn more about FLARE Group: https://www.flarehighwaysgroup.co.uk/
About Brightly
Brightly Software, a Siemens company, enables organisations to manage the entire lifecycle of their assets, facilities and infrastructure. As the global leader in intelligent asset management solutions for more than 25 years, Brightly’s sophisticated cloud-based platform is expertly designed to improve capital planning through smarter, data-driven decision making, empower technicians to predict, prioritise and manage preventative maintenance activities, and support organisations to achieve sustainability, compliance and efficiency goals. Combined with award-winning training, legendary support and managed services, more than 12,000 clients worldwide depend on Brightly to optimise their teams, operations and strategic planning initiatives. For more information, visit brightlysoftware.com.