Trish Driver, founder and CEO, A New Normal Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. Go with your gut… Or not? Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

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What will we cover today?
The science - What is unconscious bias and how does it work?
Why is it important at work? How might it impact our roles?
How can we manage bias?
ACTION

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What will we cover today?
The science - What is unconscious bias and how does it work?
Why is it important at work? How might it impact our roles?
How can we manage bias?
ACTION

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What is unconscious bias?

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What is unconscious bias?
Unconscious bias refers to a bias of which we are unaware, and which
happens outside of our control.
It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making
quick judgements and assessments of people and situations, influenced by
our background, cultural environment and personal experiences

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How does bias work? What’s the science behind it?
11 million
40
pieces of information every
minute.
Our brains receive
The human brain can process
pieces of information a minute

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What kinds of biases might people have?
Gender identity
Sexual
Orientation Name
Disability
Weight
Gender
Religion
Appearance
Accent
Skin Tone
Political beliefs
Age
Race
Educational
background
Where people
live Class

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What will we cover today?
The science - What is unconscious bias and how does it work?
Why is it important at work? How might it impact our roles?
How can we manage bias?
ACTION

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Why is bias an important consideration at work?
Where might individual biases have an impact at
work?
In your roles, where are the risks for bias?
What are the consequences of unconscious bias
on culture at work?
What might exacerbate our biases?

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Factors which exacerbate bias
• Ambiguous evidence
• Emotional overload; stress, anger, frustration
• Cognitive overload; complex decision
• Fear of threat
• Emotional and cognitive resources are depleted;
tired, low blood sugar
• Short on time

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What will we cover today?
The science - What is unconscious bias and how does it work?
Why is it important at work? How might it impact our roles?
How can we manage bias?
ACTION

14. What things might help us to manage bias?

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How to overcome Bias
Openness
Slow down and suspend judgement
Think about ways to be objective
Awareness of Bias
Challenge yourself and others

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Awareness of bias and openness
1. Understand
2. Check
3. Remind

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Slow down and suspend judgement
Pay attention to what’s happening beneath
the judgement (Event vs Interpretation)
Acknowledge or identify your reaction /
interpretation / judgements
Understand other possible reactions /
interpretations / judgements
Search for the most constructive / productive
way to deal with the situation
Execute your action plan (Act consistently
with what makes the most sense)
P
A
U
S
E
Find
ways to
help
yourself be
objective

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Challenge yourself and others
“What are the criteria we’re using to
make this decision?”
“I noticed you said XXX, and I wondered
what you’d seen and heard that led you
to that conclusion?”
“What kind of evidence do
we have documented for
this?”
“How reliable is the
evidence we’re using
here?”
“I noticed you mentioned using ’gut
instinct’ here – I wonder what led you to
that instinct?”

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What will we cover today?
The science - What is unconscious bias and how does it work?
Why is it important at work? How might it impact our roles?
How can we manage bias?
ACTION

20. Time to act: tackling diversity
and inclusion in charity
communications
4 December 2018
Seminar
London
#InclusiveComms

21. Visit the CharityComms website
to view slides from past events,
see what events we have
coming up and to check out
what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk