Unconscious Bias

We all have unconscious biases and this is completely natural, but unless we consider where they might interfere with our decision making, we won’t be aware of when they can trip us up at work. The truth is, we aren’t as logical and rational as we think and on a  daily basis make decisions that are informed by those biases – without our even knowing it.

In this interactive session, we explore how unconscious biases manifest themselves. We will look at their impacts and draw up a plan to better our decision-making abilities.

Working towards equality via processes and procedures to address this is a focus in many businesses and despite this logical and rational approach, there are still areas where inequalities persist, despite best efforts. In fact, one large scale study has recently show hospitality industries are as biased as other industries – behind only construction and engineering!

Prior to the day: complete at least two IAT tests (click on ‘take a test’ on the top bar) https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/education.html

Results need not be shared with others, and are held only by you.

The aims for this session are that you will:

• Know what unconscious biases are
• Identify when unconscious biases are more likely to be activated
• Explore the effects of bias activation
• Identify when it is most important that you have a plan in place to mitigate unconscious biases (e.g. dealing with customers, recruitment, promotion opportunities, performance management situations etc)
• Plan adaptations when you notice it is driving behaviour
• Draw up an action plan to take back to the workplace