DKA Toolkit - Courses

How To Deal With Unconscious Bias At Work

Is unconscious bias hurting you, your team or your organization? Is it negatively impacting your career or the careers of your colleagues? Do you even know? How do you address bias when you are unaware that you are biased or what you are biased about? The term “unconscious” implies behaviors we are not conscious of. So are we responsible for our unconscious thoughts, behaviors, actions and decisions? The fundamental step toward creating an inclusive work environment – where we do not relinquish personal responsibility - is developing self-awareness and understanding of biases that can unconsciously influence how we work and interact with people. 

We all have unconscious biases based on our E.N.R.I.C.H (Ethnicity, Nationality, Race, Identity, Culture and Heritage). At work, these biases are interactively displayed through microaggressions — frequently unnoticed subtle insults, slights and behaviors conveyed against BIPOC and other marginalized groups — which result in precisely the opposite of inclusion. 

Unconscious bias causes us to unintentionally favor some individuals—often ones that are like us—who we welcome into our “in-group.” This can skew who gets hired, fired, promoted, demoted, recruited, coached, listened to…and who gets the plush assignments. 

In this course we will move from awareness to action, understanding what unconscious bias is, and introduce you to the necessary skills to counter and correct its negative impact in your workplace. The course strikes a delicate balance between showing that we aren’t bad people for being biased and showing that we are responsible for behaving in a fair and respectful manner.

What you'll learn

• How Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives are impacted by Unconscious Bias
• Build Awareness to Understand What Unconscious Bias is, and Why it Matters 
• Understand how Schemas Lead to Stereotyping
• Understand Stereotypes vs. Generalizations
• Learn the Types of Unconscious Bias
• Learn to Overcome Your Unconscious Bias
• Understand and Respond to Unconscious Bias: Developed Patterns
• How to Stop Unconscious Bias if You’re the Victim of It
• Develop Strategies to Correct Unconscious Bias in 6 key areas
  • Hiring
  • Evaluating Performance
  • Receiving High-quality Assignments
  • Receiving Promotions
  • Receiving Coaching/Mentoring
  • Receiving Fair Compensation

P.S.: This course is best administered in an asynchronous online format because it reduces the anxiety the topic typically fosters. The moment we single out a demographic group within an organization, we are perceived to be saying, “You have a lot to do with our biased culture.” Managers can feel that they are being blamed for not upholding diversity and inclusion values and expectations. Privacy stimulates greater listening, self-awareness and less defensiveness.