There are many resources available for unconscious bias training. Some of the most popular ones include the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which can be found on Harvard's website, and the Unconscious Bias Workshop from Google. There are also many other online resources and courses that are available for free or for a small fee. One important thing to note is that these resources generally only provide a starting point for learning about unconscious bias. It's important to remember that everyone has unconscious biases, and it's important to be aware of them so that we can work to minimize their effects in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
Harvard Business Review looked at many approaches to unconscious bias training and discovered that the University of Wisconsin has a successful program called "prejudice habit-breaking." It has some traditional UB training involved but it also includes an Implicit Association Test Then, participants are taught strategies to overcome bias. Participants must then identify ways to use the various strategies in their lives.
Catalyst, a nonprofit set up in 1962 works to ensure inclusive workplaces for women. The company has extensive, research-based resources for unconscious bias training. Teams and individuals can access interactive, virtual, self-paced, or instructor-led learning opportunities. There are also learning tools on related topics around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
Look different is a campaign that helps individuals stop discriminating or judgemental towards different groups. The campaign helps people be open with family and friends and get support to fight for what's right without being biased. Look different offers resources that offer guidelines and actions to be taken to stop the bias.
Unstructured, "free talk" job interviews are prone to bias, but still, they continue to be the most commonly used selection method. Instead of focusing on job-related skills, we are unconsciously influenced by superficial factors such as the candidate's attractiveness, handshake, scent, name of their school, sense of humor, or other factors that usually shouldn't play a role in hiring decisions. Unconscious bias training is one thing people can do to start being more aware of the forces impacting their judgment in social situations, but a simpler starting point is to adopt a more reliable interview methodology. Using structured interviews has been proven to over double the predictive validity and almost halve the unconscious discriminative behavior of job interviews. Using structured interviews takes some preparation, but the results speak for themselves, and candidates commonly prefer the structured approach as well, so there really is no reason to stick with the old ways.
One of the best resources for unconscious bias training is DECIDE The Neuroscience of Breaking Bias. The Neuroleaderhip institute spent years understanding how the human brain works while making decisions. Starting from the premise of “if you have a brain, you’re biased,” they corroborated all the different biases people leverage in decision making and how to overpower them. You can go through the training basics and reach out to them directly for more valid information and a quote for training for your company. This resource of unconscious bias training gives people the tools to accept that they have bias.
Digital Marketing & Asst. HR Manager at Great People Search
Answered 4 years ago
The Project Implicit Social Attitudes test, developed by Project Implicit, is a well-respected and frequently-cited tool for identifying people's implicit or unconsciously held prejudices. Scientists' research into attitudes, prejudices, and other implicit biases that affect how people perceive, judge, and act has led to the creation of Project Implicit.
Real behavior change, particularly when wrangling with something you aren't conscious of, can't be done in a one-off fashion. Trainings that circle back to the same topics, promote new concepts and facts as well as prompts for action tend to perform better for behavior change and combatting the "forgetting curve." These components of behavior science are why many organizations rely on microlearning for lasting DEI-related behavior change.
Research shows that people are less empathetic towards people who are different from them. Since they are less empathetic towards this group, they end up being unconsciously biased against them. You could use Developing Empathy: Learning for Justice to train employees and anybody else to avoid unconscious bias.