Everyone has biases. It is impossible to go through life and face situations without them. Generally speaking, a bias is a tendency, outlook or belief which fuels a judgment. These are built over time based on a number of factors; like personal and professional experiences, education, family and things shaping your environment. Something happens, you process it and a bias is created. Interestingly enough, even if someone does not have a bias on a particular topic or at least an obvious one, three things may happen.
1. They may do their own research about the topic.
2. They may rely on the input or insight of a trusted friend or group of friends about the topic.
3. They may simply go with the flow and trust the loudest, most reasonable or most popular.
Each will impact not only the moment, but also how things take shape in the future when facing these topics. Now why speak to this? One might immediately think this is political in nature, or perhaps based on some societal issue, or maybe some faith-based spiritual debate. No, it is about training.
Training is created using biases. The learners will have biases about the training. So what to do? Well first, know having a bias is not innately bad; it is necessary. In fact, having them (or a having a need for them) shapes your overall learning and development process. Second, knowing they exist provide a better relational context for both facilitator and learner. This suggests both parties embracing the possibilities of impacting and influencing biases in the learning experience. Lastly, when training has ended, it is a targeted bias which is expected to be performed. It is the bias which promotes action. Therefore the training must align with these desired results.
To learn more about this concept and others, contact Create.
For more information about this curriculum, contact Create and explore a sample one-pager from the program Filter.