THE LIMITATIONS OF UNCONSCIOUS BIAS 

Inequality, injustice and oppression occur at all levels of organisational functioning and processes. This means that, invariably, unconscious forces are going to be central to their reproduction and the preservation of the status quo.

The overwhelming majority of ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ training courses frame unconscious bias (UB) as stereotypes, pre-conceived, or automatic/unintentional beliefs which fall outside of our conscious awareness. These are considered as implicit knowledge or cognitive shortcuts that influence our behaviour, decision making and attitudes, despite us.

Such a framing fails to truly engage with psychoanalytic thinking and the more radical conceptualisations of the unconscious as a reservoir of unacceptable urges, impulses and traumatic memories stored away from our conscious awareness, as individuals and as groups, primarily to avoid pain, tension or conflict. Further, challenges to traditional ‘framing’ of unconscious bias exist on various grounds including on methodological and political grounds.

FULL COURSE AIMS

The Unconscious at Work seminar essentially aims to engage with 1) challenges to Unconscious Bias 2) key psychoanalytic concepts of the ‘unconscious’ and 3) their relevance to inequality, injustice and oppression in the workplace. It will make use of psychoanalytic and group analytic core concepts to illuminate mechanisms of Othering, exclusion, injustice and structural violence within organisations in a way standard unconscious bias training simply does not.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completing the seminar participants will;

*Gain an understanding of ‘Unconscious Bias’ including how to mitigate bias but also challenge to the frame

*Understand basic unconscious mechanisms and dynamics and how they differ from UB ‘implicit’/cognitive processes

*Link key unconscious dynamics to inequality in the workplace

*Understand the impact of the unconscious on work processes and organisational cultures and, how to mitigate it

THE FREE WEBINAR

In this FREE webinar, we’ll get a chance to learn more about the limitations of standard Unconscious Bias Training courses, our offering and our methods.

BOOKING YOUR PLACE

Please use the form below to register your interest. Places are limited. So tell us a bit about why you’d like to attend and about your role.