Interest in Unconscious Bias Modeling has skyrocketedover the past decade, and for good reason. As the globalworkforce become increasingly diversified and the speedof change becomes more volatile, our internal blinders tonew people, information and ideas have kicked intooverdrive. Almost non-existent before 2010, “UnconsciousBias” has now become one of the most searched forbusiness terms on the internet, and the number oforganizations training their employees to recognize andmanage their internal biases - as well as the consultanciesthat are creating unconscious bias tools and processes -are multiplying by the day. In a sea of approaches andmethods, how can businesses be sure that the training thatthey choose will have a long-lasting impact on theirworkforce and create a culture of diversity and open-mindedness?

Since the 1950’s, the field of Strategic Foresight hasemployed bias modeling as a means to exploring greaterproductivity, insight and creativity across all disciplines. Infact, an authentic application of foresight principles neverattempts to create strategy or facilitate change withoutfirst creating a mindset of openness and awareness. Just asfutures thinking is vital to building insightful action in thepresent, so bias modeling is a critical part of successfulstrategic thinking and foresight. For this reason, Kedge hasdeveloped a strong expertise around unconscious biasmodeling, using it as the starting place for dynamicdevelopment and action.

Long before the current craze around unconscious bias modeling, foresight professionals were using

assumption and bias discovery as a critical element in organizational, cultural and workforce development.

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Why is the practice of Futures Thinking and StrategicForesight the best means for uncovering unconsciousbiases and training individuals to recognize their blindspots?

Foresight allows both individuals and theorganizational overall to break free from the limitationsof present perspectives. When we approachunconscious bias modeling from the landscape oftoday, we tend to filter any new ideas through the lensof old perspectives. When we are given the tools tothink about the future in an immersive, transformativeand provocative fashion, we are able to break throughthe walls of the pasts built up through our present-dayperceptions. A new way of thinking first requires a freshway of seeing or measuring. Attempting to create adifferent perspective while operating from the confinesof old landscapes and definitions is akin to attemptingto travel across the globe using nothing but a horseand carriage.

Kedge has created a toolkit based on the principals ofStrategic Foresight that helps organizations to breakthrough hidden biases, broaden their perspectives,maximize creativity, discover disruptions, and see theworld through new eyes.

Foresight gives us the personal and collective tools to transport our thinking beyond the boundaries of today, and opens up new vistas of diversity, ability

and opportunity.

Most know that our assumptions and biases, if leftunchecked, can quickly become barriers to our diversityand inclusion efforts; however, many do not realize the rolethese unconscious blinders can play in thwartinginnovation efforts. Employing Strategic Foresight allows usto maximize and optimize creativity for more successfulunconscious bias work.

Similar to the constraints we face when we seek to free ourthinking when limited by our current knowledge, unlockingour creativity is impossible when all we know to be true iswhat we can presently hear, see, and touch. Alternatively,when we are allowed to play within the context of futureworlds and visions, we can imagine designs andexperiences much different form the ones we are familiarand comfortable with today. Strategic Foresight allows us toimmerse ourselves in these future worlds, transporting us tonew landscapes of creative thought and action. Rather thanattempting to maximize creativity by questioning biaseswithin the confines of our established settings - where ourunconscious beliefs have worn a deep and familiar trench -foresight allows us to uncover those biases by delving intounfamiliar futures. When we are thrust into stories of thefuture, we are less likely to attempt to hide or mask ourbiases that are supported by our present realities, even ifthose biases are subconscious.

Kedge has developed bias modeling tools that helporganizations to explore creative ideas and landscapesoutside of our comfort zones, releasing us from the biasesof our traditional viewpoints and granting us the freedom tocreate worlds that we have yet to imagine.

When we break past our biases, we open up to different ways of perceiving the world around us, When this happens, our creativity is unleashed.

Strategic Foresight serves as a powerful vehicle inUnconscious Bias Modeling by first unveiling anddeveloping the narratives hidden within an organization.Since the dawn of man, stories have been a fundamentaltool for understanding people, conveying new ideas, oraccepting change. In today’s environment oftransformation, leaders are increasingly realizing thatbusinesses are driven by their organization’s overarchingstories but they are also noting that these stories are buriedunderneath layers of well-meaning but over-prescribed,antiquated processes. In this era of exponential change it isimperative that organizations purposefully strive to unleashtheir stories, so that they may build a culture of intentionaldevelopment and growth.

When an organization does not fully employ the story thatis defining its culture, strategy and processes, it is nearlyimpossible to enact any deep or lasting change. Withoutknowing the dynamics and direction of our story, wecannot possibly hope to successfully implement newthinking or action into the organization.

Strategic Foresight reveals the dynamics of an organization’sdriving narrative by going far beyond the surface levelactions and systems that characterize the everydayoperations. Through uncovering the deeper values andunconscious metaphors within an organization, foresightcreates a pathway into intentional story development,enabling every individual to understand why things workthe way they do, how change can be successfullyimplemented, and what aspirational goals will take thebusiness into future.

The hidden biases and assumptions of our guiding narrative will overpower any change that we desire to make, and new initiatives

will be met with frustration and failure.

Few would argue that today’s environment of acceleratingvolatility and exponential change is disrupting paradigms inevery domain. However, our deeply engrained biases andassumptions prevent us from recognizing these disruptionsand taking action to capitalize on them. Throw in the factthat the majority of disturbances to our present businessmodels will come from outside of our industry, and wequickly realize that Unconscious Bias Modeling mustbecome our number one priority.

Strategic Foresight helps us to look past our present-daymodels and ideas, acting as the most effective way torecognize disruptors on the horizon of business and society.The very heart of foresight is centered around uncoveringemerging ideas, experiences and environments that willmake our present strategies and models obsolete. When wetry to identify these disruptors from our present positions, itis impossible to break free from linear and incrementalthinking. For this reason, traditional approaches tounconscious bias modeling do not help participants to thinkand act disruptively - a critical skill in this age of radicalchange.

Leaders often mistakenly believe that stories about thefuture that stretch us beyond the probable and plausible area waste of time, choosing instead to create a linear, “official”future that serves only as a blinder to the change that iscertain to come. Ignoring the provocative future stops usfrom exploring unfamiliar territories and concepts that willultimately disrupt our traditional ways of doing business. Inprovocative visions of the future, our biases and comfortzones have nowhere to hide, and we are forced to examinethe “emerging unknown.”

One of the best ways to uncover our biases around disruptive change is to immerse ourselves into

provocative visions of the future.

Futures Thinking

tools develop present-day awareness.

Kedge is a minority-owned foresight, innovation, creativity, andstrategic design consultancy. We help our clients to thrive in aworld of complex ideas and practices, uncover emergingtrends on the horizon that will impact their business, anddiscover unseen opportunities for strategic advantage anddevelopment.

• iSee: A Game of Facts and Perceptions - leverages images, ideas and information ripped from today’s headlines to demonstrate how we unconsciously filter the data around us.

• Ripples of Change: Cultivate, Expand and Transform –reframes conversations about change by exploring the power of natural growth curves.

• Narrative Transformation – uncovers an organization’s current story (inclusive of themes and images) before providing a map to brand new narratives.

• Headlines from the Future – allows individuals and teams to craft creative scenarios of the future based on the unconscious interpretation of today’s trends.

• Design Fiction – demonstrates the power of provocative futures in revealing blind spots.

Unconscious Bias Modeling: Tools and Offerings

Kedge offerings are customized based on client objectivesand desired workshop length. All sessions are interactive andinclude reusable tools and templates.

A sampling of Kedge Unconscious Bias Modeling offeringsincludes:

Please contact us for more details on any of our tools andworkshops or to request a proposal.

info@kedgefutures.comwww.kedgefutures.com

407.973.1172