5 Strategies for Improving Anti-Bias Training

Preventing biased and harassing behavior is the goal of mucheLearning—many companies require that managers or all employees complete someform of harassment-prevention training at regular intervals. Yet muchof this eLearning is ineffective. The following five strategiesdiscussed more deeply in The eLearning Guild’s free white paper, Trainingfor Diversity, can help designers and developers working on improvinganti-bias training and contributing to the broader goal of creating a moreinclusive workplace.

1. Stay on message

Corporate training is also presented with the company’sbottom line clearly in focus—meaning that the clearest message in much harassment-preventiontraining is that bad behavior is bad for business. Other companies emphasizetheir liability—and use harassment-prevention training to reduce their legalculpability for employees’ conduct.

Neither of these messages is compelling enough to engage thetypical learner or change behavior. Instead, try an appeal to the company’score values or to individuals’ desire for fair and respectful treatment.

2. Behavior change takes time

Shifting to a more respectful culture from an environmentwhere offensive behavior, such as sexist jokes, is tolerated takes time. Anyinitiative that aims to change behavior is better measured in weeks or monthsthan in hours of training. Julie Dirksen, an eLearning consultant who studiesbehavior change, cites a 12-week intervention as a “remarkableand rare” example of an intervention that showed success.“Traditional diversity classes often produce good intentions but littlebehavior change, and rarely address the deep level of unconscious bias,” shewrote. Participants in the study learned to recognize their own biases andconsciously applied strategies to change behavior that resulted from thesebiases; they also had opportunities to discuss their experience with otherparticipants.

3. Try personalization

Every learner comes to training with individual beliefs andexperiences; a blanket approach—particularly one that singles out individualsor groups, such as “white males” as responsible for bias—is unlikely to winhearts or change behavior. Elizabeth Tippett, an associate professor atUniversity of Oregon School of Law and author of a recent contentanalysis of harassment trainings, suggests personalize eLearningcontent so it reflects learners’ attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and experience.As a model, she cites a method used in public health training that gauges howopen a person is to changing his or her behavior before choosing a trainingapproach.

4. Educate learners on policies—and consequences

In addition to specific eLearning aimed at changinglearners’ behavior or reducing bias, ensure that all employees know thecompany’s policies—and are aware of penalties for violations. Provide eLearningduring onboarding and support all employees with microlearningthat communicates the company’s policies clearly. Where harassment-preventiontraining addresses a response, the tendency, Tippett said, is to advise peopleto turn to human resources. But that’s not always the appropriate response, andtraining should suggest additional responses, particularly for low-level behaviorsthat are offensive but not illegal.

5. Add performance support to training

In addition to a broad,long-term approach to behavior change, reinforce eLearning and otheranti-bias training with performancesupport tools. According to Joanne Lipman’s book That’s What SheSaid, Google and Royal Bank of Canada, use “bias cheat sheets” to guidemanagers who are hiring or evaluating employees, reminding them of commonbiases and how to avoid acting on them. Other support tools can suggest thatmanagers encourage all employees to lead meetings or speak up.

Google’s re:Workinitiative suggests using rubrics and other tools that spell outclear, objective criteria that all members of an interview or review committeecan use when evaluating interviewees or candidates for promotion.

Better anti-bias training leads to better results

Research overwhelmingly points to the benefits of a diverseworkforce and a workplace culture where people feel respected. It’s notnecessary to focus on the bottom line to motivate learners—but implementing asustained effort to eradicate bias—including improving anti-bias training—canshow unexpected benefits across the company.