Giving Compass' Take:
- Chris Jarvis argues that implicit bias training is insufficient to address deeply ingrained racial biases and that transformative volunteering is a more effective way to reduce racial bias.
- How can philanthropy catalyze transformative volunteering?
- Find out how corporations can do more to address racial bias.
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Implicit bias training does not meaningfully influence the part of the brain largely responsible for implicit bias and our instinctive reactions others who we do not consider to be our in-group, our mPFC. In the HBR article Why Diversity Programs Fail the authors Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev conclude, “The positive effects of diversity training rarely last beyond a day or two, and a number of studies suggest that it can activate bias or spark a backlash.”
The solution may be more apparent and accessible than meets the eye. Most large companies already have an effective method of addressing implicit bias via employee volunteering programs. Employee volunteering represents opportunities to create non-threatening space in which to challenge preconceived notions about people and issues that may seem “different.” It enables contact between in-groups and out-groups.
When volunteer opportunities are provided appropriately and with respect for the sensitive backgrounds and situations of participants, it becomes possible to eliminate the historically dangerous mindset of us versus them. In non-threatening contact with out-groups, previously formed conclusions are challenged by interactions, which soon line up with faces followed by names. This is empathy. And empathy is essential to survival.
Read the full article about transformative volunteering by Chris Jarvis at TriplePundit.