Unconscious bias training – what stops it making a difference?

It’s an exasperating charge laid at the door of much diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias training that it produces no measurable change. It's a charge that can be answered. 

It is true that this sort of training can’t change much if you do it as an isolated event without a wider strategy or culture commitment alongside. Say you wanted to change your company’s IT software...the new stuff's a game changer.  You get all staff into mandatory training on your whizzy new kit. The training is great, immersive, they try out the new software, they buy-in to its massive potential, they see that the old way can’t be sustained, and understand that - even though there’s a steep learning curve - there are huge benefits. They even commit to getting to grips with the new way of work. So far so good. But then they leave that training…

…and they go back to their desk and the old operating system. No-one puts their new knowledge and skills into action. They are busy with the day job and they know that the new way will take a bit of effort (change does), they will have to go slower before they can go faster - so they take the easier path. And then two months later you check their proficiency on the new kit. Of course, without practise, without putting the learning into action, they have forgotten what they learnt. You wouldn’t point to the training and say it was the problem. It wasn’t. It was just that the business didn’t provide sufficient opportunity or impetus for it to embed.

Impetus and embedding is the answer. You need the new way to be visible, with early adopters spreading the word, role modelling the approach. Inclusion isn’t a one-off event - it's an ongoing process.

I was privileged last week to facilitate one of the most transformative training sessions on diversity and inclusion I have ever run. It embedded earlier learning and will result in change. The feedback afterwards was unequivocally enthusiastic. Here’s what happened:

1. Before the session, participants completed a high quality, compulsory catalyst training course on the same subject matter.

2.The training was short (90 minutes) and participant numbers were carefully managed to encourage discussion (a good number that meant people did not feel too much in the spotlight; but not so many that everyone’s view wouldn't be heard).

3.The training wasn’t training. It was a facilitated open conversation. Participants reflected in turn on what they had learned from the catalyst course, challenged the elements of it they had found difficult (or, indeed, disliked), asked questions of one another, engaged in respectful disagreement, and found fervent areas of common ground.

4.There was honest reflection on what they could do next personally and organisationally, and they committed to doing it. They knew their organisation best, could identify the likely problem areas and the opportunities for change. Without prompting, as we drew to a close, one leader said to the participants “We need to be held to account”. Brilliant.

I have reflected a great deal on why this works so well. It is about each person feeling safe to share their views. It is also about skilfully building inclusion into the session itself so people actually increase their sense of belonging in that moment. It’s about listening, and feeling you are doing this together, it’s something you have agreed to as a team. People spoke honestly about the real anxieties they felt around diversity and inclusion, it was uncomfortable at times (“Sometimes I feel it’s not safe to say anything anymore”), but they listened and provided mutual support, there was increased understanding, and a conversation which is not going to end with the end of the session.