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Mindset. Objectives. Strategies. Tactics.
IDU Course
Unconscious bias is a tricky and touchy subject. The vast majority of organizations have an impressive array of interventions designed to tackle bias in the workplace.
Yet, as well-meaning as these interventions are, they run the risk of falling at the first hurdle if not implemented correctly.
M.O.S.T is a blueprint for implementing effective, measurable unconscious bias trainings and initiatives.
I Don't Understand
IDU Course
Bias happens everywhere. In the corporate world it is very often unconscious: the perpetrator does not really understand what he or she is doing and the effect of that behaviour.
Bias happens everywhere. In the corporate world it is very often unconscious: the perpetrator does not really understand what he or she is doing and the effect of that behavior.
The usual solutions (awareness and sensitivity training, etc.) are insufficient and often don’t work because they reinforce the old, tired, worthless tropes of "guilty perpetrator" and "hapless victim."
And they almost always focus their attention on the perpetrator, underscoring the idea that the power to change lies with the person who is exhibiting the bias, that progress depends on them agreeing or deciding to change.
– What if we turned all of this on its head?
– What if we turned our attention to the "victims," both traditional and untraditional?
– What if we focused on equipping them with the interpersonal skills to navigate bias "in the moment, when it happens?"
– What if the victims of unconscious bias in all its forms—racial, gender, age, etc.—were encouraged to call out such behavior when it happens, not defensively but rather by a question: “I don’t understand?”
A disarming enquiry that when posed correctly invokes explanation and elaboration from the perpetrator, that causes the bias to "call itself out" in the process.
Bias is part of the human condition and so can never be totally eradicated. This does not invalidate the fight against the structural causes of discrimination. But it does suggest that an approach that is oriented towards navigation, as opposed to eradication, is likely to be more productive.
As a result of attending these high-energy, interactive workshops, both traditional victims and unconscious "perpetrators" of workplace bias will:
- Learn what unconscious bias is
- Learn the difference between unconscious bias and unconscious workplace bias
- Be better equipped to deal with and navigate workplace bias in the moment
- Be better equipped to contribute to more harmonious, culturally-sensitive relationships between managers and peers
- Navigate simple "directional" workplace bias effortlessly
- Learn how to navigate and negate tension-building microaggressions
- Learn how to stop the accumulation of microaggressive behavior and subtle conscious bias
- Navigate complex career-stifling directional bias effectively and effortlessly
- Learn the power of "developmental enquiry" in resolving career-stifling bias issues
- Develop collaborative solutions with traditional perpetrators and move on harmoniously
- More readily illuminate "traditional victims'" own potential for "reverse bias" toward management and peers
- Be less reliant on "safe spaces" as outlets to address pent-up minority tensions
- Be less reliant on allies to support calling out bias
- Release emotional/psychological baggage related to the fear of unconscious bias
- Know (victims in particular) how to set themselves on a path towards losing a victim mentality and embracing a winning mentality
- Leverage numerous fringe benefits that come from self-determination and leadership as a result of mastering the IDU? Methodology
Management Open to Developmental Enquiry
IDU Course
Equipping staff with skills to navigate the inevitability of workplace bias enables them to remove the potential for bias being an obstacle to their career development and well-being at work. Equipping managers with these skills from a leadership perspective is essential to maintaining a fair, harmonious, and productive working environment in which there is equal opportunity for all team members to develop prosperous careers.
Equipping staff with skills to navigate the inevitability of workplace bias enables them to remove the potential for bias being an obstacle to their career development and well-being at work. Equipping managers with these skills from a leadership perspective is essential to maintaining a fair, harmonious, and productive working environment in which there is equal opportunity for all team members to develop prosperous careers.
This means management needs to acquire the necessary skills to:
- Be open to workplace bias "call out" when team members sense unconscious bias towards them
- Navigate reverse workplace bias when it is incorrectly directed towards them as leaders
- Measure the extent to which their team feel equipped to navigate the inevitability of workplace bias
Leaders also learn the prevalence and self-perpetuating nature of "directional" and "reverse" bias and the roles both forms of bias play in stifling the careers of minorities and marginalized groups, as well as in destabilizing team cohesion.
Leaders learn how to think, what to say and when to say it in order to:
- Respond correctly to directional bias "call out" without destabilizing their team
- Address "sensed" reverse bias and harmoniously "call it out" in the moment, to stop it in its tracks
- Negate the potential of directional and reverse bias to stifle career progression of minorities and marginalized groups
Only then can we truly navigate workplace bias effectively and over time dissipate it as a concern.
As a result of attending this workshop senior management, managers and team leaders will:
- Become more open to "developmental enquiry" for harmonious resolution of unconscious "directional" and "reverse" bias
- Release emotional/psychological baggage related to unconscious bias guilt, which stifles their own productivity and their relationships with employees
- Develop more harmonious working relationships with team members
- Understand and learn to reject guilt-driven remedies/strategies that do more harm than good in the short and long term
- Develop more harmonious working relationships with team members
- Naturally improve career development opportunities of minorities and marginalized groups
- Build greater trust between colleagues and drive measurable group-wide productivity increases
- Be motivated for real and lasting change
IDU Coaching
Are you having trouble navigating unconscious bias in your organization?
Do you have the right Mindset, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics to negate career-stifling bias and navigate your way to your target career destination?
Regardless of your position, status or seniority, our expert coaching can help you achieve your desired goals and equip you and/or your colleagues with the skills to navigate the inevitability of bias in the process.
Click here for a confidential chat.
X Factor
IDU Course
Exponential Growth for Diverse Teams
The objective of this program is to maximize the potential of teams and multiply their results exponentially regardless of actual, sensed or perceived obstacles. The customizable program is designed to provide diverse teams with a mindset conducive to quantum shifts in performance.
The objective of this program is to maximize the potential of teams and multiply their results exponentially regardless of actual, sensed or perceived obstacles. The customizable program is designed to provide diverse teams with a mindset conducive to quantum shifts in performance.
The training and coaching is structured to identify and eradicate limiting and conditioned thinking patterns that stunt success generally and in diverse teams, minorities and marginalized groups. It will teach the skill of effective goal setting, increase goal orientation, and provide the individual, team and company with a high-energy environment and mindset conducive to EVERYONE exceeding objectives regardless of circumstances, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age and so on.
Having attended this webinar(s) participants will:
- Understand the three parts of their personality and how to get them working in harmony to raise their performance levels
- Increase self-belief and self-determination
- Understand how to use the power of EFFECTIVE goal setting
- Create a healthy sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo
- Ensure they meet and exceed business, sales, and operational targets
- Be provided with the “X” Factor in personal and group-wide success
- Develop an attitude conducive to exceeding targets and performing better
- Identify how to multiply their productivity immediately
- Learn how to improve their effectiveness in less than a week’s time
- Embrace habits of highly-effective people while remaining congruent with who they are
- Be motivated to make positive measurable changes that contribute to high performance and group cohesiveness in diverse teams
Navigating Bias in Recruitment
IDU Course
The objective of this interactive, high-energy workshop is to increase awareness of how unconscious bias is a contributing factor in our decision-making when we hire staff.
The objective of this interactive, high-energy workshop is to increase awareness of how unconscious bias is a contributing factor in our decision-making when we hire staff.
The goal of the program is to identify and define the most prevalent biases that frequently impact hiring decisions and to reduce and mitigate their impact and influence on hiring at your firm. Participants will also learn how biases can impact their decision-making based on unchallenged industry and sector norms and then how to mitigate and combat the influence of unconscious bias when recruiting and hiring qualified candidates in their specific sector.
The session begins by introducing, defining, and explaining unconscious bias from the perspective of unconscious perpetrators and victims. It will also provide a step-by-step approach to defining and understanding several common types of unconscious bias prevalent in the recruitment process, including confirmation bias and affinity bias. Participants learn how unconscious bias and specific biases affect all of our thinking patterns and in turn influence decision-making.
Finally, participants learn strategies to minimize bias in the recruiting and interview process, including leveraging multiple channels to attract and fill positions with diverse candidates, alternative interview structures, and proven tools to maximize fairness and mitigate bias in recruiting.
As a result of attending this workshop participants will learn:
- What unconscious bias is
- The common unconscious biases in recruitment and interviewing
- The purpose and benefits of a panel interview
- Benefits of an interview scorecard in the recruiting and interviewing process
- To apply steps that minimize confirmation bias
- To interpret the use of bias in recruiting and interviewing
- How to apply appropriate actions to minimize bias used in recruiting and interviewing
- To distinguish the impact different biases have on the recruiting and the interviewing process
- To determine the key factor for negating bias in decision-making
- To identify the most prevalent unconscious biases in recruitment
- Strategies to minimize bias in the recruitment process