Third Spaces to Combat Bias
“We need one person in your table group to facilitate the conversation and one person to take notes,” instructed the leader of a working group. I sat at a table of a dozen men as the only female, and several eyes came towards me. Finally, one of them said, “Christy, do you mind taking notes for us?” I lightheartedly teased, “So you’re going to ask the one female in the group to take notes?!” Admittedly, many of the men in the group probably would have been poor at notetaking. I wasn’t offended by their request for me to take notes, but I acknowledged to the group that it meant I wouldn’t be able to give my full contribution to the conversation as a notetaker.
Why was I asked to take notes? Likely because of unconscious bias in the group. In The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams, Pamela Fuller explains that our brains have a capacity problem, and bias is our brain’s shortcut to handle massive amounts of information. [1] Without bias, we’d be crippled by the 11 million pieces of information that come to us every minute because we can only consciously process about 40 of them [2].
This isn’t entirely new information to the DLGP, although it does build upon previous material. Daniel Kahneman describes the difference between system 1 and system 2 thinking in our brains. “System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little effort and no sense of voluntary control.”[3] System 2, however, “allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. The operations of system 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration.” [4] As a result, system 1 can be prone to bias and it takes intentional effort from system 2 to change system 1 thinking. Furthermore, we know from Dr. David Rock that our prefrontal cortex is a limited resource (which is where our system 2 thinking generally occurs). Rock explains that if our prefrontal cortex is likened to the capacity of a cubic foot, then the rest of our brain power is more like the Milky Way galaxy.[5] To cope with the 11 million pieces of information every minute, we rely on bias to preserve our limited pre-frontal cortex and system 2 thinking for things we determine to be more complex.
Ironically, the same group that asked me to take notes would later be led through conversations around “third spaces” in missional leadership by Dr. Kirk Franklin. In cross-cultural work, there are often power dynamics in which those from dominant or majority groups hold power, often unconsciously, that leaves those with less power few opportunities to bridge the gap. Franklin describes third spaces as neutral, safe spaces where these power dynamics are flattened and both compromise.
“Third Spaces—Deliberately creating safe spaces that enable different groups…to come together to acknowledge, explore, discuss, understand, celebrate, reconcile and create new friendships, ideas and concepts in and for God’s mission. Each part of the body is needed, and our role has been to ensure that the body is healthy, growing and effective. Rather than approaching a conflict or decision in a binary sense: a ‘right’ way or a ‘wrong’ way, a preferred method is to negotiate a third way. This creates interdependent cooperation of giving and receiving and serving together across the global Bible translation movement. In this way, all parties demonstrate respect and dignity in authentic partnerships that are based on genuine friendships in mission.” [6] This week, I had the privilege of interacting with several deaf colleagues who are involved in Sign language Bible translation and had an opportunity to practice creating a third space. Amongst hearing people, spoken conversation progresses rapidly, especially in group settings. Even where there are deaf interpreters, the conversation can progress without making space for a deaf participant to contribute. Hearing people are often uncomfortable with silence and lag time between communication, likely due to bias that lag or silence in a conversation is an indicator of a poor conversation.
Conversing with a deaf person automatically means there will be silence and lag time as interpretation catches up. I felt convicted to become comfortable in silence and lag time in order to meet in a third space where we can both bring our contributions to the table.
How are biases holding your organization back from receiving the full contribution of all of its participants?
PS: As I was uploading my post for the week only hours before the submission deadline, I was confused when I saw the hashtag instructions for the week (#Agarwal). To my dismay, I learned that I had purchased the wrong book for the week! So while my post isn’t related to Agarwal, I did enjoy learning about unconscious bias by Pamela Fuller and I pray that this post will be helpful to my cohort.
References
[1 ] Fuller, Pamela. The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020.
[2] Ibid, 2.
[3] Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. 1st pbk. ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013, 20.
[4] Ibid, 19
[5] Rock, David. “Your Brain at Work.” November 12, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeJSXfXep4M.
[6] Franklin, Kirk. “A Case Study: A Journey of Leading in Polycentric Theory and Practice in Mission.” Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies 38, no. 3 (July 2021): 254–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/02653788211026330.
About the Author
Christy
8 responses to “Third Spaces to Combat Bias”
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Hi Christy, If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve assumed you were simply weaving Pamela Fuller’s work syntopically with Agarwal’s. I also really appreciated your mention of “third spaces.” Are you familiar with any literature on that topic?
One more thing I’ve been wondering—did you have any personal takeaways from your conversation with someone who is deaf? For example, did the experience of silence or lag time reveal anything you think hearing people could intentionally incorporate into meetings or conversations?
Keep an eye out for a book by Kirk Franklin, which is coming out soon. Here’s a link to an article in the meantime https://wycliffe.org.au/building-capacity-through-the-third-space/
When you are engaging with a group of deaf people, you have to be visually observant – to ensure that people are tracking the conversation and to allow for space for someone to speak since they can’t interject like we do in spoken conversation. However, this can be applied to spoken conversation since we can be socially hospitable (especially to a person with a quieter demeanor) by looking for cues that someone may want to speak.
Hi Christy, While you say you read the wrong book, the conversation you brought us into seemed very pertinent to our conversation on biases. Specifically when you talked about creating safe places at work and really listening to learn from those coming to receive something from the turtle resonated with me. I think listening to others opens doors to reduce biases and resistance. Since your time with the person with hearing difficulties, have the changes you made well with her been implimented in other settings?
Christy, Julie also mentioned that book, so I assumed you were weaving it into the discussion around Sway. 🙂
You mentioned your experience of being in a meeting where it was assumed that you would be the notetaker. Have you had other similar experiences? How often? What steps do you believe can be taken to mitigate such biases in group settings?
Hi Debbie, I have had many other experiences like this – multiple just in the last week. When I lightheartedly teased the men in my group, they were all very quick to realize the bias that had been present. It’s a learning process for all of us, so I appreciated their recognition of the bias.
Hi Christy, Thanks for bringing up third spaces in conversation with unconscious bias. I am imagining the conflict which occurs when the bias some people have for past ways is confronted by others who want to move forward. I t could be in a family or an organization. Have you found other examples of third way frameworks helping you navigate bias (unconscious or otherwise?)
Hi, Christy, thank you for your post which is relevant regardless of the different readings. You mentioned ‘third space’ which is something new to me, I would love to read more about it. You were contrasting ‘decision in a binary sense’ against the ‘negotiated third way’ which you alluded to as God’s mission. I am assuming you are talking about mission work. Thank you, Christy.
Hi Noel, keep your eye out for a book by Kirk Franklin. He is a professor at a seminary in Australia. I think his book on third spaces will be out in a few months.