Continuous Learning | Understanding and Resolving Biases

Learning Objectives

  • Recognizing actions that can and have lead to injustice.

  • Awareness of knowledge and ideas that obstruct the path to equity.


Instructions: Either as individuals or a group, view the linked content; then take 5-10 minutes to work through the associated thought exercise.

Thought Exercise

  1. Reflect on the people in your life whom you feel implicitly connected to? Recall the ways in which you developed these bonds?(ie. working on a project together, sharing a common hobby)

  2. In the next week or two begin to create an authentic relationship with someone outside of your personal or professional circle. Be intentional and mindful in your conversations, taking note of any biases and assumptions you may initially have.

Thought Exercise

  1. Think back to the last time you or someone you know may have internally disregarded or externally invalidated someone else's experience/ideas.

  2. Try and identify how social constructs or unconscious biases might have influenced this reaction.

Thought Exercise

  1. Identify beliefs, decisions, or roles that are deemed as "normal" or "just the way things are done" in your workplace.

  2. Could any of these "normal" things be marginalizing any one group of people?

Thought Exercise

  1. Recall a time when you strongly disagreed with someone, causing tension with that person/those around you.

  2. Use the skills described by Stevenson (Read, recast and resolve), to reenact how you might handle the situation today.

Key Terms: implicit association, bias, stereotypes, allies, advocates, racial literacy, inequality, statistics, knowledge, humanity, discrimination, corporate diversity, equal rights, equal opportunity, hiring, admission, read, recast, resolve, mindfulness