What is it?

This workshop helps teams identify and address unconscious bias in decision-making, collaboration, and workplace culture. It is interactive, fostering self-awareness and actionable strategies for reducing bias (designed around the insights from the book Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt PhD).

Why is it useful?

Unconscious bias affects workplace decisions, team dynamics, and opportunities, and only by recognising and addressing it can we create a fairer, more inclusive, and high-performing organisation.

Objectives

• Understand unconscious bias and its impact.
• Identify personal and organisational biases.
• Develop strategies to mitigate bias in everyday work.

Resources Required

• Time: 2.5 hours
• Number of People: 4-20
• Slide deck
• Flipcharts or whiteboard
• Markers
• Printed case studies (Step 3)
• Printed Workplace Decision Scenarios (Step 4)
• Bias awareness self-assessment sheets
• Laptop and projector (if using slides or videos)

Process

Step 1: Opening & Icebreaker (15 minutes)

1. Facilitator Introduction: Explain the purpose of the workshop.
2. Activity – Implicit Associations: Ask participants to quickly associate words with images (e.g., leader, success, criminal, intelligence) and reflect on their instinctive responses.

Step 2: Understanding Unconscious Bias (25 minutes)

1. Brief Presentation: Define unconscious bias, using examples from Biased (e.g., biases in policing, hiring, and education).
2. Discussion Questions:
   • How might bias show up in our organisation?
   • Can you think of a time when bias influenced a decision at work?

Step 3: Case Study Analysis (30 minutes)

1. Scenario Groups: Provide real-world case studies (or organisation-specific scenarios). Examples:
   • A hiring panel prefers candidates with similar backgrounds.
   • A manager assumes a quiet team member is disengaged rather than introverted.
   • Customer interactions are influenced by unconscious stereotypes.
2. Discussion: Groups identify biases and propose ways to mitigate them.

Step 4: Bias in Decision-Making (25 minutes)

1. Interactive Activity – Decision Walk:
   • Present a workplace decision (e.g., promotion, team assignment).
   • Ask participants to role-play decision-makers and spot where bias could arise.
   • Debrief: What patterns emerged? How can we reduce bias in decision-making?

Step 5: Strategies for Reducing Bias (20 minutes)

1. Developing Organisational Commitments:
   • Introduce bias-reduction strategies (e.g., structured decision-making, diverse interview panels, active bystander techniques).
   • In small groups, brainstorm three actions the organisation can take.
   • Come back together and compile a Master List.

Step 6: Reflection & Closing (20 minutes)

1. Reflection Activity:
   • Each participant writes down one bias they now recognise in themselves.
   • Create a personal action plan to challenge this bias in their daily work.
2. Group Sharing:
   • Volunteers share their commitments, reinforcing accountability.
3. Final Discussion:
   • What is one insight you’re taking away from this session?
   • How can we hold ourselves accountable?