It can be intimidating to look at a topic as big as gender parity and believe that your actions will have an impact. The headline of a previous McKinsey report on Women in the Workplace reminds us that “women fall behind early and continue to lose ground with every step.” Oof. It’s a heavy reality to confront, and while systemic improvements are extremely important, so too are the actions that each one of us takes in our day-to-day work.

An important step is to acknowledge that all of us, regardless of gender, make assumptions throughout the day that uphold the status quo. Psychologically speaking, assumptions are useful in helping us process information, but they’re limited by our perceptions and vulnerable to any number of cognitive biases. So rather than accept your educated guesses as fact, wouldn’t it be better to take a moment to ask yourself: am I sure if that’s really true?

This bite-sized bit of analysis is a great way to put the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day—#ChooseToChallenge—into practice. Taking a moment to ask some additional questions will help you to challenge your assumptions about the motivation, values and needs of your colleagues, and in doing so open your mind up to a world of possibilities that you may never have considered before. If we want to do better for women at work, we need to remain open and curious. And when we ask better questions—and listen to the answers—we empower ourselves to act more equitably.

A lot has been written about the impact that stereotypes and gender bias can have in the workplace—from the words we use to describe job applicants to how we rate performance—but since this is the Attuned blog, let’s focus on assumptions about intrinsic motivation.

Here are 4 ways you can leverage Attuned to ask curious questions:

1 - Improve your self-knowledge

Over the years I’ve spoken with many job seekers who outline their ideal job one way, then apply to—or even accept—opportunities that are completely different. In most cases, the person wasn’t trying to misrepresent themselves, they just didn’t have the tools to understand or describe their key drivers. The same goes for managing people or communicating with colleagues. When we try to guess what is motivating others, or expect that what motivates us will work for everyone else, the risk is not only that we are wasting time, but also that this could be a cause of alienation.

Take a few moments to reflect on your own intrinsic motivators* and, if you don’t already know, consider what the top motivators might be for your team members. Then check if your guesses were correct. Were there any surprises? What assumptions were you making about other people’s motivation? What impact could that have on your decisions? And on your relationships?

(*If you haven’t used Attuned before, you can take this quick 5 minute product tour!)

2 - Establish a shared vocabulary

I love to use Attuned as a conversation starter. Although everyone’s motivator report is composed of the same 11 motivators, each person I speak with identifies with those motivators through a unique lens. For example, my top motivator is Status, and I connect with the desire to work at a reputable company and take pride in the work I do. Another person might share the same intrinsic motivator, but find that their drive comes from the desire to hit promotion targets and step up in title.

In your next one-on-one or team meeting, ask each person to review the explanation of their top motivator and then describe in their own words how they align with it. You can go even deeper by asking which part of the description, if any, feels out of step with their personal values. Why does that motivator resonate with them?

3 - Ask more insightful interview questions

If you’re already using a structured interview process to help reduce bias in hiring, consider adding some questions from Attuned as a jumping-off point for discussing the work environment. At Attuned’s (formerly) sister company, tech recruitment specialists Wahl+Case, we ask interviewees to complete the motivator assessment and make time during the interview process to discuss the results. It’s a great way to help candidates articulate what they find fulfilling in the workplace, as well as what they’re missing in their current role.

Assumptions may lead you in the wrong direction but if you know what a person’s top motivators are, you can save time by zooming in on the most important things. You can stick with a structured format by asking the same questions to each person, such as: What does [that motivator] mean to you? Can you tell me about a time your need for [top motivator] was fully satisfied at work and what made it so? You can also share your motivator report or the team’s Dynamic and explain what steps you are taking to engage [that motivator] within your organization.

4 - Develop an awareness of your blindspots

Don’t assume that what works for you will work for your colleagues. Use the Blindspot view to compare your motivators side-by-side with someone else’s, highlighting the areas where you may be viewing the same situation through different lenses. Having the data can help provide the awareness you need to choose a more effective course of action.

One example I’ve seen is a manager who is highly motivated by Competition trying to rally the team with a contest, leaderboard and all! This might be just the thing for people who are similarly attracted to measure their performance against others but could fall flat with Progress-motivated team members who are more engaged when developing new skills. It can be challenging to think outside your own intrinsic motivators, so if you’re not sure how to overcome the gap, ask your team for ideas.

Maximize your impact by focusing on the individual

As part of my research for this post, I reviewed the Attuned motivator data, organized by gender. I thought about challenging biases by presenting facts and figures with all the ways that intrinsic motivators defied stereotypes (there’s some interesting data there!), but I didn’t want to tell another story about men being like this and women being like that. Statistics have their place, but when you design for the average person, you risk creating an environment that isn’t a good fit for anyone.

Instead, challenge yourself to learn something new about each person you work with. Rather than grouping people together—whether by gender, background, education, or even their top motivator—take the time to ask a few extra questions and customize your approach. See them as an individual, with a unique perspective, and get curious about what inspires them. When you are sincerely interested in understanding what makes people motivated at work, you’re much more likely to hit on something meaningful. And whatever steps you take, keep them consistent and follow through with all members of your team.

Incorporating an objective resource like Attuned can help to reduce bias, but at the end of the day, it’s really up to us to bring humanity to the data.

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