5 Years of Must Reads from HBR: 2024 Edition (5 Books)

Unconscious Bias Training That Works

by Francesca Gino and Katherine Coffman

ACROSS THE GLOBE, IN RESPONSE to public outcry over racist incidents in the workplace and mounting evidence of the cost of employees’ feeling excluded, leaders are striving to make their companies more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Unconscious bias training has played a major role in their efforts. UB training seeks to raise awareness of the mental shortcuts that lead to snap judgments—often based on race and gender—about people’s talents or character. Its goal is to reduce bias in attitudes and behaviors at work, from hiring and promotion decisions to interactions with customers and colleagues.

But conventional UB training isn’t working, research suggests. In ...