Sondra Thiederman
About Sondra Thiederman
Speech topics
Defeating Unconscious Bias: Your Workplace Advantage
Unconscious bias not only short-circuits the ability to create an inclusive workplace, but it also compromises business success. Provide your team members with the skills needed to identify and defeat the biases that compromise their ability to work and lead effectively.
PROGRAM CONTENT
The following will be customized to meet your needs and program format. Points are made through a mixture of audience interaction, commentary, respectful humor, anecdotes, and client-specific examples.
- The definition of “bias” and an interactive discussion of how biases work in the brain to distort our perceptions of others
- Examples of how unconscious bias negatively impacts your organization, the object of the bias, and the holder of the bias
- Two interactive techniques for becoming aware of and identifying unconscious bias
- Questions to ask to distinguish a bias from a flexible generality
- Three research based and immediately-applicable tools for defeating unconscious bias
THE PRINCIPLES THAT SHAPE THIS PRESENTATION
- True learning is always enhanced by participant interaction.
- Anecdotes, examples, and a light-hearted approach are powerful tools for reducing resistance, overcoming discomfort, and enhancing retention of the material.
- Although all human beings have biases to some degree, biases do not make us bad people. It is what we do about them that matters.
- Blame and guilt are poor tools for bringing about change.
- It is possible to become aware of many of our biases through skill, alertness, commitment, and habit.
- Most biases can be defeated through the consistent application of specific skills and tools.
SUPPORT MATERIALS FOR YOUR PARTICIPANTS
Sondra’s book, "3 Keys to Defeating Unconscious Bias," is a natural companion to this presentation. Purchase for all attendees is recommended. Discount rates are available.
PROGRAM CUSTOMIZATION
This program can be customized to meet your needs. Sondra will work closely with you to assure that the presentation speaks directly to your audience and to your goals.
Speaking videos
Books by Sondra Thiederman
“3 Keys to Defeating Unconscious Bias: Watch, Think, Act” (2015)
Have you ever had a biased thought? If the answer is “yes,” join the club. Everybody has biases and, although that doesn’t make us bad people, it does mean we compromise our ability to get along with people who are different from us. The good news is, there’s a lot we can do to defeat bias. Calling on Dr. Sondra Thiederman’s twenty-five years of experience in the diversity/inclusion field, the book lays out an innovative WATCH, THINK, ACT strategy that each of us can immediately apply to the task. Easy-to-read and filled with anecdotes and activities, 3 Keys shows the reader: • How to WATCH their thoughts, experiences, and actions to identify unconscious biases and target them for extinction. • How to THINK in such a way as to weaken and control our biases. • How to ACT to defeat our biases and cultivate the kind of common ground that we know to be inhospitable to the survival of bias. Designed to motivate real change, the answer to defeating our biases is in these pages. The rest is up to you. “Simplicity at its finest. We all have those moments of truth when we recognize a bias in our thinking. Sondra’s book gives us a refreshingly practical way to call bias out and change our behavior to defeat it.” — Grace Figueredo, Vice President, Workplace Culture, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Aetna, Inc.
“The Diversity and Inclusion Handbook” (2013)
“Making Diversity Work: 7 Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace” (2008)
“Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace” (2003)
“Profiting in America's Multicultural Marketplace” (1992)
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