Unlocking Potential: Overcoming Unconscious Bias in the Workplace with Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt

Embark on a transformative journey with "Jennifer Eberhardt on Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do," an insightful course from Diversity and Inclusion ProSkills.training. Authored by the acclaimed social psychologist and Stanford University professor, Dr. Jennifer L. Eberhardt, and based on her bestselling book Biased, this programme delves into the silent yet powerful forces of implicit bias. Discover how our brains, wired for efficiency, unconsciously attribute qualities to social groups, leading to pervasive stereotypes and discrimination that can undermine productivity, morale, and retention in any professional environment.

Why This Course is Indispensable for Your Organisation: Our brains constantly process and sort information, creating shortcuts that, while efficient, can lead to hidden assumptions and stereotypes when applied to people based on surface traits. Unexamined biases can have profound and harmful consequences, influencing everything from the homes we buy to the people we hire and how we treat our colleagues. Such biases can result in fixed recruiting and hiring practices, leading to homogeneous teams, stifled creativity, unfair performance evaluations, unequal opportunities, and arbitrary career growth. This course provides the critical awareness and actionable strategies needed to interrupt these patterns, fostering a truly engaging, productive, and inclusive workplace.

What You Will Master: This comprehensive programme will equip you with vital skills to navigate and neutralise unconscious bias:

• Understanding the Brain's Role in Bias: Explore how brain functions, including the natural tendency to categorise information, can lead to quick, but often inaccurate, associations and reveal hidden assumptions.
• Identifying Key Bias Manifestations: Gain insights into how different forms of bias emerge and impact daily interactions and decisions, including:
  • The Other-Race Effect: Learn why people are often better at recognising faces of their own race and how this preference develops from early childhood.
  • The Dangers of Stereotypes: Understand how culturally generated stereotypes, from seemingly harmless notions like "Blondes Have More Fun" to deeply damaging associations like race and criminality, can lead to discrimination and real-world consequences.
  • Selective Attention: Discover how our brains narrow focus, potentially leading to systems built on discrimination, and how procedural justice can offer a broader perspective.
  • The Risks of Color Blindness: Learn why adopting a "colour-blind" approach can actively harm people of colour by impeding the ability to recognise and address discrimination.
• Strategic Overcoming Techniques: Acquire practical methods to challenge and reduce your own biases, based on Dr. Eberhardt's research and real-world applications:
  • Embrace Reflection and Specificity: Learn how taking a step back and asking specific questions about behaviours, rather than making broad assumptions, can prevent biases from turning into harmful actions.
  • Leverage Brain Plasticity: Understand that our brains can be "remolded" by new experiences, giving us the power to change our ways of thinking and "scrub away the residue of ancient demons".
  • Harness the Power of Context: Discover how environmental factors, such as fostering cooperation and shared goals among diverse groups, can significantly reduce prejudice and encourage positive interactions.

Conclusion: While unconscious bias is an inherent human characteristic, acting on it is a choice. By actively challenging your assumptions and embracing these practical, research-backed strategies, you can prevent biases from controlling your decisions. This course empowers you to foster an environment of diversity, inclusion, and belonging, leading to outstanding outcomes that benefit every individual and enhance overall company performance. Step forward to transform your workplace into a truly equitable and thriving community.