The trouble with unconscious bias training
So you want to invest in Unconscious Bias training …
If you are one of the folx who makes new year’s resolutions — committing to doing something different than you’ve done before, or giving something up, or starting something new — I’m sure you’ll agree with me on this: It’s hard.
Sticking with your resolutions and actually sustaining new habits and behaviors is really difficult. Reading a ton of books on the power of morning routines or the perfect way to start your daily meditation habit does not, in fact, make you a morning person or magically lead you to stick with a daily meditation routine. Believe me. I’ve tried …
That is because gaining knowledge about something, becoming informed about something, isn’t enough for us to change our behavior. Especially if you’ve done it a certain way for a really long period of time. Right?
But what does my continued failure to maintain a meditation habit have to do with your quest for the perfect UB training for your company? Stay with me — it’ll soon become clear.
If you are like most folx from companies who approach us with these requests, you’re doing so out of a wish for employees to learn how the biases that we as humans all have and tend to fall prey to create experiences of exclusion and discrimination. And create barriers for more inclusivity, equity, and diversity inside of teams and organizations.
You want to raise awareness. You want people to recognize and learn about their unconscious biases. You want them to learn how to make conscious choices about these unconscious cognitive shortcuts that we all have. Sound about right?
Now, in my experience, companies that request UB trainings often start with UB trainings as the very first learning program they offer in the DEI space.
To make matters worse, they often plan to kick off the training without a clear strategy in place as to what it is that they want to accomplish. Or how they will be tracking progress, i.e. implementing metrics such as whether people are able to create behavior change based on these trainings. Or if UB training is even their best path forward to creating a more inclusive culture and diverse representation inside of their company. (Spoiler alert: it often isn’t. Read on for other solutions to tackling biases.)
Awareness is one thing, but behavior change is the crux of the matter.
Behavior change is one of the issues that are most challenging for us humans to tackle. As any psychologist, or anybody who has ever had to implement a change management initiative will tell you. Or anyone, who has ever made a new year’s resolution (remember that failed daily meditation habit we spoke about?).
It turns out, what is actually needed for us to learn new habits and behaviors, is a safe space in which to try things out. To Practice. To make mistakes. In a group that is supportive. Right?
Becoming aware of how our words, actions, and thoughts are causing experiences of exclusion, othering and discrimination is important. Of course, it is. But so is the step of moving from awareness into action.
In the case of unconscious biases, this means learning how to translate the knowledge about our perceptual systems and our implicit, cognitive judgments into action. Gaining new tools and skills to achieve that. Learning how we can do things differently. On a daily basis. In a very tangible, hands-on way. And practicing that. Again, and again.
“The most effective UB training does more than increase awareness of bias and its impact. It teaches attendees to manage their biases, change their behavior, and track their progress.” — Francesca Gino & Katherine Coffman, in: Unconscious Bias Training That Works
So, unless you are set up in a way, where you were unconscious bias training isn’t just one three-hour, but it’s actually a learning journey that is embedded and a longer-term strategy that is rooted in your values, that is communicated in a way that your employees, your team, your company knows why it is that you are running this kind of training, you are unfortunately setting yourself up to fail.
It is where most companies run into (at least) one of two effects:
Diversity Fatigue and/or Backlash
Diversity fatigue is an effect, which is increasingly showing up in companies of all sectors and sizes. It means that when you implement diversity initiatives based on short-lived bursts of motivation, without embedding them into sustainable change strategies, people will hesitate to join the next training.
They will be even more mistrustful (see: belonging uncertainty). And you will have an even bigger barrier to overcome, to get people to sign up for your next training program or volunteer for your next D&I project. Or to get people to self-report truthful, vulnerable data on your next employee survey.
Because they feel like you, as a company, raised expectations that were then disappointed. (This also shows up as survey fatigue.)
Most people who join these types of training are motivated to make changes. So they sign up. They show up. Maybe they hear a lot of stuff that they’ve already heard before. But they don’t get much hands-on guidance on how to actually do things differently, in their day-to-day work and lives.
They are already overwhelmed. They are already overworked. They are already at the limit of their energetic reserves.
Today, in 2022, that is the reality for the majority of people. And it’s one of the drivers of the “Great Resignation”.
This kind of disappointment can be detrimental to change initiatives — including diversity equity and inclusion change initiatives.
Worse still, unless UB trainings are implemented as a long-term effort instead of superficial, one-shot trainings, they can backfire and produce the opposite, adverse effect to the one desired.
Studies show that finding out that biases are involuntary and widespread can lead to more discrimination, not less. In a 2006 review of more than 700 companies, Alexandra Kalev, Frank Dobbin, and Erin Kelly showed that the likelihood that Black men and women would advance in organizations often decreased after UB training.
We need to be very conscious of these effects.
Other solutions for tackling biases at work
It also pays to look outside of the proverbial box, to open ourselves up to seeing possibilities beyond the conventional or the “best practice” trends that everyone is jumping on.
There are many other important avenues to consider when tackling biases at work. These include (but are not limited to):
- Recruiting and hiring policies
- Onboarding manuals
- Communication & feedback practices
- Survey Tools (Read: using people analytics to build an equitable workplace)
- Equitable company policies
To name just a few
A great, tangible way of conquering biases is to get intentional about co-creating belonging. (Read on for a list of 14 ways to co-create belonging inside your company)
If we really are interested in raising awareness, we need to make sure that we embed the awareness in a larger strategy for sustainable change. That includes:
- Being intentional and accountable with internal communication
- Making sure that we have practical hands-on training and not just a one-hour lunch & learn webinar
- Ensuring that our training and upskilling efforts are embedded into a larger, sustainable DEIB strategy.
I hope these insights help you make an informed and skillful choice on UB trainings, as you continue the mission for a more equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplace!
If you want to learn how we can support you in building and implementing a sustainable strategy, head on over to our website or directly view our strategy packages.
If you want to get insights you can start putting into action *today*, watch the replay of our DEIB strategy webinar.
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