Implicit Bias Webinar

The Reach For The Stars Implicit Bias Training took place on February 20th at 2:00 PM EST.  The session was divided into four sections: What Is Implicit Bias, Activities, Case Studies, and How To Deal With Implicit Bias.

The HR team initiated the training by defining implicit bias. The audience was asked questions to gauge their understanding of what it actually was.  Throughout the entirety of the training, the speakers used a platform called Pear Deck. After a concept was taught, a question would appear on the screen for the audience to answer. The audience was more engaged as a result of using this platform.

In the Activities Section, the presenters utilized various unique activities to demonstrate the idea that brains do have conscious behaviors all of the time.

In section 3 of the session, we delved deeper into case studies such as applying for a job, college or disciplining a child. The speakers  explained the presence of implicit bias in the majority of the activities people experience. The audience was also presented with multiple statistics. For example, the speakers showed how male names are 40% more likely to have an interview or job than female names.

Lastly, the fourth section dealt with how to handle Implicit Bias and ultimately, eliminate it. Some important points of this section were that taking the IAT helps assess your personal implicit attitudes, practicing things can contribute to improving your cognitive control, interacting with different people can be beneficial!

Overall, the HR team did an amazing job clearing explaining implicit bias and its effects/how to deal with it. Reach for the Stars met their objective of training people on how to avoid unconscious bias. Based on the feedback form, everyone who participated learned a lot and enjoyed the session.