At the core of making progress in tackling unconscious bias is our ability to reflect. Only when we can detach ourselves to some extent from situations and ultimately acquire the ability to review our own thoughts that lead to our actions do we achieve the kinds of insights that motivate us to really want to change?
Change flows as a consequence of seeing things differently through various forms of reflection. It allows us to pinpoint more accurately the cause of many of our automatic responses that do not align with who we want to be. Unconscious bias eLearning stimulates reflection by providing the right knowledge and understanding of our “as is” selves combined with the opportunity to shift towards our “to-be” aspirations over time.
The interesting thing about reflection is that to be really skillful at it; one must learn to be fairly clinical and ruthless in our evaluation of our own strengths and vulnerabilities. We need to make it impossible for ourselves to dodge the hard truths of reality that demand us to draw on our inner strength to be courageous about confronting what we do not like about ourselves. With unconscious bias eLearning, we come to accept that we are very flawed as individuals with our propensity to stereotype and categorize, leading to all sorts of negative and/or unfair results.
However, as with many things in life, unconscious bias eLearning presents us with the paradox that the more we learn about our flawed nature, the more we come to see our potential to be entirely different and harness this knowledge to create ever-increasing opportunities.
Unconscious bias eLearning, combined with online diversity and inclusion training, makes it very clear that we all have significant work to do not only in terms of reflection but also, importantly, in terms of change. When we seek to change aspects of our perceptions, this requires considerable maturity as unmasking takes place. Even harder yet is committing to doing the hard work required to recreate ourselves after years and years of mental conditioning.
For this reason, it is important to acknowledge that if we want to be successful at overcoming the harmful aspects of unconscious bias and truly become people who prize diversity and inclusion, we cannot be mediocre people. We will need to stretch ourselves to perform beyond the norm, with a pledge to reflection being fundamental to our transformation process. Unconscious bias eLearning teaches us the pitfalls of habits, but it also unmasks the salvation derived from deep reflection. During unconscious bias eLearning we spend time alone. Sitting with ourselves is a unique aspect of the discipline of reflective thinking.
John Dewey said, “We do not learn from experience…..we learn from reflecting on experience”. In fact, the more we actively reflect the more probability there is that we will discover more and more unique aspects about ourselves whilst concurrently developing and expanding our range of soft skills that make us more adept at human relations.
Reinventing the Self
Online diversity and inclusion training will bring us face to face with the consequences of unconscious bias as well as our deeply rooted values, ethics, principles, and beliefs that may require adjustment to move forward on our newly chosen path. If we want to reflect powerfully, we need to do so with empathy, emotional intelligence, and compassion. This is the process that breaks down the barriers to a new way forward in the first instance within ourselves and thereafter outwardly.
Reflection is the qualitative process of extricating, at the deepest level, our true selves. We can then engage meaningfully with it and facilitate its meaningful embrace with our future. We should never expect this to be easy or quick. We should expect it to be complicated, requiring dedication to our vision of ourselves as we grow.
Online diversity and inclusion training will present participants with many real-life challenges, barriers, and obstacles that will need to be overcome to make sustainable progress toward a better world for all. When we look at where reflection comes into its own, it is often in situations of frustration, failure, or setbacks. When we are shocked or have any type of chaos arise, reflection is often a saving grace that leads to answers and alternative ways of thinking about things or tackling problems.
It is, in many senses, the fail-safe to redirect our efforts. It is through reflection that we learn to preserve and become resilient in the face of disappointing or unexpected events in life. Unconscious bias, if not addressed, will give rise to many of these unforeseen blockages to our success that need to be resolved if we hold ourselves to a higher purpose.
Naturally, we want to be able to have power over, predict, and explain most aspects of life. When we are confounded by unconscious bias, we need the power of reflection to energize and ignite our willpower to reinvent ourselves in terms of our potential. Symmetra, a leading advocate in unconscious bias training, aligns its strategies with this vision, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and inclusivity.
