The Search Advocate for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Access (SA-IDEA) is designed to build the cultural competence capacity of the GTRI workforce by training employees to serve on searches who are non-judgmental facilitators of inclusive practices and promote inclusive excellence in the search and hiring process. This program will develop employees ready to integrate evidence-based strategies to mitigate bias. The soft launch of this program was earlier this year on April 19th-20th. Our Level 1 training included a two-day workshop that included the following:
- Day 1: Attendees experienced the “Breaking the Bias Habit” virtual workshop facilitated by Dr. William T.L. Cox (he/him/his). Dr. Cox is a scientist-practitioner with research in the areas of neural, cognitive, and cultural processes related to stereotyping and bias. This virtual workshop is the only intervention that has been shown experimentally to produce long-term changes to reduce bias. We had around 25 attendees for Day 2.
- Day 2: This session was an introduction and pilot to the Search Advocate for IDEA. Attendees learned the basics of using a nationally recognized program with evidence-based strategies to support mitigating bias real-time in a non-judgmental way during the search and selection process. This session taught them to recognize and understand how bias shows up in the search process to fill positions at GTRI as it builds upon the information learned on Day 1. Additionally, this session covers the next steps for utilizing this training to advance inclusive excellence at GTRI. We had around 15 attendees for Day 2.