#BreaktheBias

2 min read

Regardless of gender, International Women's Day (IWD) 2022 on 8 March is an appropriate moment for all of us to reflect on and celebrate the strides made in women empowerment globally. But while we can celebrate some of the successes, we can, and must, make more progress in support of women's rights socially, economically, culturally, and politically. 

It may not always be obvious or noticeable to many of us, but biases and stereotypes have been deeply ingrained into our working norms, influencing the way we work - from our hiring processes to our daily environment, workplace, interactions. One of the biggest growth areas in training globally has been in the area of unconscious bias. Worldwide, companies are spending over US$3 billion on unconscious bias training every year, according to data from McKinsey. However, there is mounting criticism and supporting data that says this training is not working.

As a training professional and Executive Coach, I strongly believe that training can be an effective tool to change any type of behavior, but the challenge is to deliver training that is both effective and long lasting. In my experience, many organizations fail to invest enough time and resources into this type of training and try to incorporate it into the much larger area of diversity and inclusion.

To really live up to the challenge of breaking the bias, I believe that a multi-pronged approach is necessary, starting with bias training offered 3 to 4 times per year and be facilitated by external experts who can challenge the organizations preconceived biases in their culture. To this mix we need to embed the concept of diversity coaching in the workplace, across the spectrum of age, race, disabilities and gender. 

Why? Because effective diversity coaching enables people to work in a bias-free workplace (conscious or unconscious), it brings awareness of the various drivers of motivation and self-limiting factors that impede staff and organizations in decision making when embracing workplace diversity. It supports employees needs 1:1 as they explore and resolve challenges in a confidential and judgment free learning zone, and it facilitates permanent and profound shifts in the client and team as they approach their goals and challenges, to achieve a diversified and inclusive workforce.

A diverse and inclusive workplace where employees are treated with respect, employees are valued for their strengths, leaders lead by example to create an environment genuinely committed to diversity and where there is a real awareness of what is not what you think is.

#BreakTheBias