Gütersloh, 12/13/2018

"Unconscious Bias Training": Exploring The Blind Spots

Performance reviews, recruiting, and even strategic investment decisions can be influenced by unconscious bias. But they don't have to be: Unconscious bias training can help you develop strategies for dealing with involuntary preferences and making better, more objective decisions.

Are decisions really made in a purely rational way? Studies show that our perception is influenced by cognitive patterns. These unconscious ways of thinking and stereotypes provide us with orientation and reduce complex information – which makes them helpful for quick decision-making. But if these thought patterns are not sufficiently reflected upon, their influence can have a negative impact on daily working relationships, the evaluation of proposals, on recruiting or business decisions. A training course jointly developed by the Corporate Responsibility & Diversity Management department and Bertelsmann University can help you develop strategies for dealing with these “blind spots,” enabling you to make more objective, better decisions.

Examples of unconscious bias 

“Unconscious bias can have very different effects,” says Nora Müller from the Corporate Responsibility & Diversity Management department. “Every person has different unconscious bias within them. One typical effect is similarity bias: people who are similar to themselves unconsciously get a more positive assessment than those who are dissimilar.” According to Müller, this can have an effect on recruitment procedures, for example when an applicant has a similar educational or training background to the recruiter. “Similarity bias makes the recruiter unconsciously evaluate the candidate more favorably, which can lead to distorted judgement in the recruitment process.” 

According to experts, unconscious bias in strategic decision-making processes can also lead to distortions. “The anchoring effect, for example, causes a particular piece of information to be perceived as crucial to solving a problem. As a result, other, possibly equally relevant, information is ignored,” adds Müller. Even within groups, unconscious bias leads to distortions. For instance, individuals often orient themselves to the prevailing group opinion to feel a sense of belonging and to be part of the consensus. This “conformity bias” can inhibit fruitful discussions and prevent better decisions and results.

The Corporate Responsibility & Diversity Management department and Bertelsmann University have now jointly developed a training course that builds awareness for the influence of such unconscious bias and teaches strategies for dealing with them. The training concepts are based on flexible modules that take into account the training objectives, different work contexts, and individual needs of participants. 

‘Avoiding judgmental phrases’ 

As part of this, Bertelsmann conducted two cross-divisional pilot training courses with around 30 international managers in Berlin – in English and German. Following the successful pilot, unconscious bias training was anchored in Arvato's Management Associate Program. “The feedback from past participants shows that the training is seen as very worthwhile and can create significant added value for day-to-day work and collaboration,” says Gabriele Becker of Bertelsmann University. 

Niklas Darijtschuk, CEO Print International of the Bertelsmann Printing Group and a participant of a pilot training course, sees further advantages beyond positive influences on decision-making: “One important learning effect for me was that we managers should try to create a safe environment in which all team members can naturally be themselves and can make a contribution. We can achieve this, for example, by avoiding the use of judgmental phrases.” 

It became clear in the training sessions that not only the participants themselves, but all team members benefit from a climate in which unconscious prejudices are reflected on and dismantled. This is particularly important for Yasemin Bingöl, CHRO at Arvato CRM Turkey. She sees the training and the “conscious handling of unconscious bias” as a basis for more diversity in the company.