I’m curious, what has your experience been with implicit bias training?

Having spent 15 years working as a professional recruiter and 11 years teaching hiring managers how to hire more effectively and efficiently I’ve always felt that implicit bias training was a waste of time.


There is more and more research now backing up my gut feel. Here are two articles that unpack this pretty nicely.

Even worse, there is consistent evidence that bias training done the “wrong way” (think lukewarm diversity training) can actually have the opposite impact, inducing anger and frustration among white employees. What this all means is that, despite the widespread calls for implicit bias training, it will likely be ineffective at best; at worst, it’s a poor use of limited resources that could cause more damage and exacerbate the very issues it is trying to solve.
Read More: https://www.igniteglobal.com/2020/08/the-problem-with-implicit-bias-training/

I love, love, love Korn Ferry‘s research, and the Future of Work Trends 2022: A New Era of Humanity report does not disappoint. One of the best quotes from page 6 is,

𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 “𝘨𝘪𝘨 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘺” 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴.

I talked about this very thing during last week’s masterclass, “Reimagine Talent Acquisition”. Here’s a snippet from the recording.
Read More: https://www.igniteglobal.com/2022/08/the-future-of-work-trends-2022/