Unconscious Bias Training Course
Practical unconscious bias training helping staff recognise assumptions, understand their impact and make fairer, more inclusive workplace decisions.
Practical unconscious bias training helping staff recognise assumptions, understand their impact and make fairer, more inclusive workplace decisions.
Unconscious bias can influence our judgements, interactions and decisions without us necessarily recognising that it is happening. This practical and non-judgemental course helps delegates understand how bias develops, recognise where assumptions may influence workplace decisions and develop practical approaches for making fairer and more considered choices.
In‑house courses are private sessions delivered exclusively for a group of people from your organisation, on a date that suits you, with the option to tailor the content to your staff and setting.
Open courses are public Equality and Diversity UK training dates that anyone can book onto, ideal when you only need training for one or two people.
We all make rapid judgements. Our brains constantly process large amounts of information and use previous experiences, patterns and associations to help us interpret the world around us.
These processes can be useful, but they can also contribute to assumptions about people and situations. When those assumptions influence workplace decisions or behaviour without being examined, they can contribute to unfairness, exclusion and inequality.
This course provides a clear and non-judgemental introduction to unconscious bias. Rather than suggesting that people can simply eliminate bias, delegates explore how to become more aware of potential influences on their judgement and how practical safeguards can support fairer decisions and more inclusive behaviour.
Bias can potentially influence many aspects of organisational life — from recruitment and progression to performance decisions, workplace relationships, service delivery and whose ideas are heard or valued.
Assumptions may relate to characteristics such as race, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or to many other aspects of a person's identity, background or experience.
The aim is not to label people as “biased” or “unbiased”. It is to recognise that our judgement can be influenced by assumptions and to develop better ways of checking those assumptions before they affect our behaviour or decisions.
Unconscious bias can influence decisions and interactions at every level of an organisation, so this course can be adapted for a wide range of employees and roles.
It is particularly useful for:
Bias does not always appear as deliberate or obviously discriminatory behaviour. It may influence seemingly ordinary judgements about who appears capable, trustworthy, suitable, professional or a good “fit”.
Past experiences, stereotypes and learned associations can influence what we expect from other people before we have considered all the available information.
Those assumptions may affect how we interpret behaviour, assess performance, evaluate potential or make decisions about opportunities.
When unchecked assumptions repeatedly influence decisions, they can contribute to unequal experiences and reinforce existing patterns of disadvantage.
Awareness is useful, but awareness alone does not guarantee fair decisions. The course therefore focuses on practical ways of interrupting assumptions and introducing more considered approaches to judgement and decision-making.
Become more alert to assumptions, patterns of thinking and situations in which bias may be more likely to influence judgement.
Create space between an initial impression and a decision, giving yourself an opportunity to question the evidence behind your judgement.
Use clear criteria, evidence, alternative perspectives and structured processes to support fairer and more consistent decisions.
The course can explore how bias and assumptions may affect different aspects of organisational practice, including:
The course may use the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as one of a number of reflective activities to help delegates explore automatic associations and consider how our thinking can be influenced by experiences and learned patterns.
The IAT is used as a prompt for reflection and discussion rather than as a diagnostic assessment of an individual or a definitive measure of whether somebody is “biased”.
The training is participative and can include a mixture of:
Examples, scenarios and areas of emphasis can be adapted to reflect your organisation, sector, workforce and priorities. We will discuss your requirements with you before delivery so that the training is relevant to the situations delegates are likely to encounter.
By the end of the training, delegates should be better able to:
All our in-house courses are tailored to ensure the training reflects your organisation's goals, priorities and working environment.
The course can be delivered face to face or online via Zoom or Teams.
Please note: the half-day rate is not always available for face-to-face sessions.
We can tailor the examples, scenarios and discussion to reflect the decisions, relationships and challenges that matter most within your organisation.
Discuss Your Training RequirementsOver 25 years' experience delivering equality, diversity and inclusion training, consultancy and professional development.
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