Let’s talk about training…again
Written by Harar Hall
QuakeLab has very loudly and proudly spoken about how we don't conduct unconscious bias training. Our reasons are laid out pretty substantially in this article. But the tldr is:
People of colour, women, LGBTQ2I+, disabled folks and other equity seeking individuals are forced to sit in a room and listen to all of the ways their coworkers discriminate against them - this creates an uncomfortable work environment for the people that the training is supposed to be helping the most.
People with long-held biases are highly likely to have their views reinforced by a training that talks about them as commonly-held.
It enforces the idea that the most harmful biases present in the workplace are unconscious instead of consciously held, thereby removing any onus on the
It can establish a culture of moral licensing, where folks feel that, because they’ve received training, their actions are inherently moral moving forward.
Despite structural change being at the forefront of our mandate, we still get asked to conduct unconscious bias training, a lot. So we wanted to talk about training, because - not all training is created equal. And unfortunately “training" has become shorthand for unconscious bias training or any training that is focused on behavioral change. The goal of this type of training is to inform participants of the oppression that exists in the world and hopefully through awareness, individuals change how they interact with equity deserving people.
At work, we have many competing priorities, and it can seem like putting a small section of our limited budget towards an annual unconscious bias training can be a small action moving us in the right direction. But we promise, it’s not. The truth is that substantial changes to behavior and biases do not occur because of a mandatory learning session once a year. Change in behavior often requires a lot more commitment to sustained learning than most workplaces can commit to or are equipped to deliver.
We know that behavioral change training in the workplace is hyper focused on the individual and does not directly lead to larger structural outcomes. And so, we often see little or no changes to the conditions that make workplaces unsafe or inequitable. A lot of the research that supports the continued use of these types of training measure their success in two ways. Either through: self reported feelings of awareness and inclusion; or new knowledge about unconscious/implicit bias, people’s cultures or the lived experience of people who face oppression gained following training sessions. When searching for outcomes to the workplace such as: sustained changed behavior, workplace practices, organizational makeup, or policy shifts - at best training has no significant impact, at worst, some research has shown a reduction in upward mobility for marginalized groups.
If you have advocated for unconscious bias training in the past, or are maybe in the midst of getting budgetary approval for training at this very moment - we don't want you to start the year off despairing about the insurmountable task of changing the attitudes of the people in your workplace. And we don’t think it’s as simple as dismissing all training as being ineffective. We know there are a lot of interesting discussions happening about how to improve unconscious bias training - but that’s not what we’re talking about. Training focused on implementing and creating specific policies and processes can be really effective. If we build policies and processes with equitable practices embedded into them, and our employees are well trained in carrying them out, we have created work environments where behavior is more equitable and rooted in anti-oppression and inclusion. And best of all, we didn’t depend on anyone checking their unconscious biases to do it - we’ve built it into the structures of our workplaces.
And because we’re so passionate about everyone being able to do this at their workplaces, whether or not they are QuakeLab clients, we’ve built a tool to help you through the process of deciding what kind of training you need in response to four of the most common reasons we have people ask for unconscious bias training:
Issues of diversity within the workplace
Responding to instances of hurt or harm
Following through on commitments made to the community or clients
and our personal favourite:
There’s no problem, BUT there’s a strong desire to ensure that staff/board/volunteers are more knowledgeable and culturally conscious
It takes you through decision maps on all of the ways you can better respond to each of these scenarios within your workplace AND what types of training actually would be effective in solving these problems.
to get access to this tool and more.