Meeting Three

1.Prework - For the Decision Meeting

In the final step of the search, the EDI moment is to focus on affinity and confirmation bias

Affinity bias - the unconscious human tendency to gravitate toward other people with similar backgrounds, interests, and beliefs.1

Confirmation bias - tendency of people to favor information that confirms or strengthens their beliefs or values and is difficult to dislodge once affirmed.2

Note: some search committees have the decision meeting immediately after the final interview. Understanding that scheduling a large committee is complicated it is best practice to allow the committee members time to evaluate all of the materials on each candidate and determine their ranking BEFORE a group discussion occurs. 

In preparation for the search committee making a recommendation please take the time to think through the experience, skills, abilities and interview responses of each candidate.  

We suggest writing down all of your thoughts and evaluating each candidate against the evaluation checklist. 

Having your thoughts somewhat solidified prior to the meeting is important in the mitigation of affinity and confirmation bias.  As humans we can be easily influenced by committee deliberation and discussion, especially if there are power dynamics within the committee. We want to ensure that any changes we make to our decisions are based on evidence provided during the discussion, not because we haven’t thought through our perspective robustly. 

You can challenge yourself to list aspects of each candidate that make them exemplary and a list of potential challenges. 

 2. Meeting Discussion - Tips for the Committee Chair

*Goals of Meeting Three

While making a decision the committee needs to be aware of affinity and confirmation bias. 

We have tried to transparently address affinity bias by having many diverse perspectives on the committee, using an evaluation checklist and a standardized interview process. 

We will address confirmation bias by focusing on all of the information we have learned about a candidate and ensure we hear from all committee members during the deliberation.

Operationally ensure all committee members have an opportunity to give feedback on the candidates.

Create an anonymous voting structure using ballots. Consider using an online voting (for example a google form to allow committee members to reflect and vote confidentially later).

*Discussion Questions relating to pre-work  

 How might bias show up at the decision phase of a search? 

4.A final note:

Thank you for using this FoMD resource. Embedding EDI Moments throughout the search process is a new initiative that will be expanded across FoMD. To help us refine the EDI Moments please take a few minutes to provide feedback.
The anonymous evaluation can be found below or at: https://forms.gle/YxnjiTPQGdLcKBpY9