We’re unconscious bias trainers – the government was quite right to drop the tokenistic programme

The UK government announced this week that, following in the footsteps of the Trump administration, it will cease unconscious bias training for government employees.

As unconscious bias trainers, we understand why: most unconscious bias training doesn’t work, as it makes people feel bad about something they have no control over. Shame is never a good motivator for real behaviour change. 

Rather than throw the baby out with the bath water, governments and corporations should craft effective diversity training (that delivers for their employees and bottom lines) and really commit to it – not just pay lip service for PR value.

That PR value – as well as the potential PR damage of not being ‘seen to act’ – is huge.  Organisations of all sizes want to protect against so-called cancel culture and public shaming if they are seen as ignoring an anti-racism movement that has only now become fashionable.

At one end of the scale, brands like Ben and Jerry’s have made social justice an integral part of their identity, describing themselves as a “social justice organisation that sells ice cream to be able to fuel its advocacy work”. They have made social mission work a condition of the company’s sale to the multinational Unilever. They have also created cultural exchanges for employees (for example with refugees) and have even made a flavour of ice cream to highlight racism. They have also acknowledged that their workforce is 94 per cent white and have committed to change that.

At the other extreme, there are countless organisations who feel they must do something, but are not sure what to do. Often this takes the form of superficial ‘diversity afternoons’ that, as the Government realised this week, achieve nothing or are sometimes even counter-productive. 

There are a few reasons for this.

First, there is often no strategic drive behind the training. No one at the top wants to change how an organisation functions in order to create a happier, more meritocratic place, which can transform the working culture and the profitability of the organisation. If it’s seen by management as a box-tick exercise, it will inevitably be seen the same by participants.

Second, it is judgemental. If the starting point is ‘you are secretly racist/ sexist/ homophobic and it’s time you confessed,’ no one is going to get on board. We should remember that this is about unconscious bias. Morally and legally, we are not responsible for what happens in our minds unconsciously. What is (morally and legally) problematic though – both individually and collectively – is not doing anything to become conscious of our biases, and correct them.

Third, it is sometimes about making one group (men, white people, straight people) feel ostracized. We all have bias; to have bias is to be human. And we all, at one time or another, benefit from our privilege or from favourable stereotypes (eg. South Asians excel at IT, East Asians are good at maths, Germans are efficient, etc.) 

Academic research has shown that pro-diversity messaging can in fact make white men feel threatened, further entrenching any negative biases they may have. There’s also research to suggest that the mere presence of a diversity programme can make people assume the problem cannot exist within their organisation.

But diversity training isn’t going anywhere – many corporate lawyers insist on it, after Walmart beat a gender discrimination case with the help of its mere existence of a diversity policy. At the same time, behavioural economist Daniel Kahnemann has repeatedly expressed his doubts about whether it is possible to change biases at all.

Even if we can’t change biases (and we believe we can because we have seen it with our own eyes) we can all agree that having a diversity programme attracts talent from more diverse backgrounds. And there is a wealth of evidence that more diverse leadership makes better decisions.

All this makes it essential that governments and businesses turn their back on PR-driven, tokenistic diversity training and do more strategic, meaningful training. Training that is simply about finding the talent and value in people wherever it comes from, and helping us all make better judgements about colleagues, clients, and superiors. 

Training that creates a true, colour-blind meritocracy and brings people together – rather than turns them against each other – to create more effective teams, and ultimately, a stronger society. Programmes that focus not on blame, but on openness, dialogue, and microprogressions – small action steps that lead to big impact over time – are more likely to work.

This takes longer than a few days of training and workshops. 

Civil servants make decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. If anyone can benefit from the improved decision-making ability and effectiveness of a diverse workforce, it is them. 

Kiran Rai and Ashish Kaushal are Co-Founders of Consciously Unbiased.