Commenting on HR Zone Unconscious Bias
19th February 2014
Kasmin Cooney, Managing Director of Righttrack Consultancy wrote recently in HR Zone about the creation of a learning environment that is free of discrimination and full of dignity.
She described the attributes of a discrimination-free training room and explained how it is possible to discriminate against one group, or individual, in favour of another without even realising you are doing it.
Read the HR Zone article in full.
We asked two members of the Marshall ACM team for their comments on Kasmin’s article. Vernal Scott our Principal Consultant said:
This is a timely reminder that trainers are themselves susceptible to unconscious bias and can deliver a much more compelling learning experience if they are self aware.
I have personally met trainers who appear more comfortable or fluent with one equality characteristic over another. This doesn’t mean they are less professional, but it does mean they have work to do on themselves before their trainees can truly benefit from unconscious bias learning.
While Jude-Martin Etuka, Marshall ACM Associate and Unconscious Bias specialist said:
Trainers, like all of us are ‘naturally biased’. Given the distinct responsibility of trainers is to impart learning and educate the mind of their learners who come from a variety of backgrounds and therefore have different learning styles, all trainers, regardless of their specialist areas, should learn the mechanics of bias and the potential negative impact it can have in the design, delivery, and assessment of training programs.
Taking the Implicit Bias Test should be the baseline requirement for ensuring learning outcomes.
Watch a 2-minute video on our Unconscious Bias course:
Find out more about our Unconscious Bias training.
