Speaker: Prof. Dr. Marion Festing |  Professor of Human Resource Management and Intercultural Leadership, ESCP

Insight

Date: 03.11.2022

Time: 11:00 – 12:30

Language: English

Location: online

Target group: For everyone who wants to become aware of unconscious biases and the detrimental effects of microaggressions

In our daily working lives, we try to make sense of situations and act according to how we perceive and interpret a given situation. Since it is impossible to grasp all available information, we simplify the world by drawing on our past experiences, also to protect our information processing capacities. More often than we think, this leads to so-called cognitive biases, which often occur unconsciously. These are, for example, automatic stereotypes and other faulty tendencies in memory, perception and evaluation. They unintentionally influence our decisions, attitudes, feelings and behaviors, especially when we need to make quick decisions in a fast paced work environment. 

Some of these cognitive biases lead to microaggressions: everyday brief verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities that bring negative or even hostile comments to a target person or an entire group. This can have serious consequences, as they lead to a feeling of exclusion and form a negative company culture. To prevent the negative effects of unconscious prejudice, we need to become aware of them on the one hand and develop coping strategies on the other.

The learning goals are:

• Understanding the mechanisms underlying cognitive biases
• Learn about strategies for raising awareness about cognitive biases
• Learn coping mechanisms to respond to micro aggressions
• Learn more about the positive effects of micro affirmations

About the format:

The participants will receive a profound overview of the topic and will be sensitized to its challenges with the help of practical examples. In a Q&A session, the presented contents will be reflected and discussed with own questions from the diverse corporate realities.

About the speaker:

Marion Festing is Professor of Human Resource Management and Intercultural Leadership at ESCP’s Berlin campus and holds the Renault Chair of Intercultural Management. She has contributed to ESCP’s development in recent years in many leading positions such as the Rector/Dean of the Berlin campus or the Associate Dean for Research. 

Marion has founded ESCP’s Talent Management Institute and the Excellence Centre for Intercultural Management, Diversity and Inclusion which both link academic and practitioner communities by creating new knowledge and building platforms for networking and exchange. She teaches courses on (international) human resource management, (female) leadership and intercultural management on graduate, post-graduate and Executive levels in various programmes and has developed award winning digital course elements such as the serious game Moving Tomorrow. She is also the academic director of the Women in Leadership Programme. 

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