Leadership shapes collaboration, team dynamics and decision-making – often influenced by unconscious patterns of perception and judgement. How can leaders become more aware of the impact of Unconscious Bias?
The 2023 employee survey provided a key impetus for addressing Unconscious Bias. The results highlighted a need to raise awareness among employees – and leaders in particular – of unconscious thought patterns (Unconscious Bias).
At the same time, various stakeholder groups, particularly HR managers and HR business partners, identified a specific need: to strengthen awareness of unconscious thought patterns in decision-making and assessment processes, both in recruitment and in leadership contexts.
Together, these findings led to the development of a targeted professional development programme focusing on unconscious thought patterns and Unconscious Bias.
The aim was to develop a professional development programme that would raise awareness of unconscious patterns of thought and decision-making while providing leaders and HR professionals with practical guidance they could apply in their day-to-day work.
The programme focused particularly on how these patterns influence recruitment and leadership. Which decision-making patterns tend to dominate? Where do we make assumptions too quickly, without having the facts to support them?
The workshops were developed in close collaboration with the Competence Center for Diversity, Disability & Inclusion (CCDI) at the University of St.Gallen.
A key consideration was the diversity of the target groups. The content was therefore designed around their respective contexts and challenges.
Training programmes are often designed in relatively general terms, with limited differentiation between target groups. Here, the approach was highly customised: from identifying needs through to implementation, the content was tailored to the specific decision-making situations participants encounter in their work.
“Implementing development initiatives in a targeted way is not always straightforward for us, as we have to take a range of specialist organisations into account. Our seven departments, the courts and the State Chancellery all have completely different responsibilities, areas of expertise and expectations – and they operate differently as a result. Who needs what, exactly?” says Thomas Köppel, Head of Personnel and Organisational Development at the Canton of St.Gallen.
The development process was iterative and strongly dialogue-based. Different target groups were involved in feedback rounds, the content was refined through several iterations, and the workshops were further developed using concrete examples and group exercises.
Involving different target groups required several rounds of coordination during the development process and consequently involved a greater investment of time.
When many people are involved and different perspectives need to be taken into account, additional coordination is required, which can extend the development process.
“When many people are involved and everyone contributes their perspective, implementation usually takes longer than you might ideally like,” says Thomas Köppel, Head of Personnel and Organisational Development at the Canton of St.Gallen.
This approach required flexibility in terms of timing, but enabled the content to be carefully aligned with the organisation’s diverse requirements, ultimately contributing to a higher-quality professional development programme.
Feedback on the workshops is in line with the Canton of St.Gallen’s overall seminar evaluations and is at the upper end of the scale, ranging from “good” to “very good”.
Qualitative feedback indicates that participants see practical benefits for their day-to-day work and are able to apply insights from the workshops. At the same time, the feedback underlines that this is a long-term area of development.
The next employee survey will therefore serve as an important reference point for assessing how the impact of the programme develops over time.
Unconscious thought patterns and Unconscious Bias are not addressed solely through one-off courses. They are also being integrated into existing professional development and leadership formats.
Questions relating to inclusive leadership, for example, are incorporated into leadership seminars and into the ongoing development of leadership guidelines.
The experience of the Canton of St.Gallen shows that addressing unconscious thought patterns and Unconscious Bias is less about individual training sessions and more about long-term organisational transformation and people development.
Identify needs systematically
Employee surveys and dialogue with key stakeholders provide the foundation for developing customised workshops and targeted measures.
Tailor the approach to different target groups
Content and exercises become relevant when they reflect participants’ specific roles and the decision-making situations they encounter.
Recognise leadership as a key lever for change
Change becomes particularly visible in the way leadership is understood and practised.
Take a long-term perspective
Sustainable impact requires continuous engagement with the topic over time.
Draw on external expertise
External perspectives can help organisations gain new insights and reflect critically on established patterns.
“It was a major advantage for us to be able to draw on the CCDI’s expertise and develop workshops that were genuinely tailored to the different target groups. Overall, this increased the value of the programme for all participants,” says Thomas Köppel of the collaboration with the CCDI.
Gudrun Sander adds: “At the CCDI, we also learn from this kind of close collaboration. It gives us a better understanding of the challenges faced by leaders and employees at the Canton of St.Gallen.”
¹ The Canton of St.Gallen uses the term “Rückenwind” (“tailwind”) for its values-based approach to cultural development.
