Diversity Training in Top 10 Questions: Moving from Indifference to Mastery (Free PDF Attached)

Sorry To Bother You with this question-based blog on Diversity Training, but the matter requires your immediate attention. In an increasingly uniform and homogenized world, you, rather all of us, are moving towards a one-size fits all version of perceiving fellow humans. Diversity, given a lot of lip-service, is actually a concept that eludes real understanding. This is of particular concern when diversity is introduced in any group setting, especially in purpose-driven ones like businesses. Unfortunately, diversity is misunderstood for these three reasons:

1. Viewing diversity as only a compliance requirement or a check-box to be ticked on a list
2. Not paying enough attention to biases, prejudices and discriminatory behavior at the workplace; this is toxic and the cost of discrimination is crippling, as many businesses have found the hard way
3. The orthodox, unimaginative presumption that diversity and business success indicators are not correlated.

via GIPHY

In this blog, we will try and answer all your questions on diversity training. The blog will be your reference document that you may consult for everything that there is to know about diversity training.

By the way, ‘Sorry to Bother You’, is the title of a 2018 Hollywood movie. The flick is a resource for universities around the world, including the University of California, for its dark, pungent take on diversity. The movie’s most haunting dialogue, from a brown senior to a tele-caller of his own race, “Speak in Your White Voice;” rang and still continues to ring many alarm bells.

Here are the answers to all questions that business managers, CEOs, university professors, and others look for as they make their efforts at understanding and then introducing diversity at the workplace.

Please click on the question you want answered or read through as one comprehensive blog. Each answer has just 100-odd words. The answers are comprehensive, relatable, and lend themselves easily to group activities.

Please click here to download our comprehensive training curriculum on diversity, inclusion, and equity.

What is diversity training?

Please click here to download our comprehensive training curriculum on diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Diversity Training is about institutionalizing processes that bring about a significant positive change in the attitude of the workforce toward working and socializing with a diverse set of people. Diversity training is meant to encourage and motivate your workforce to move from indifference to active collaboration with people from varying religions, backgrounds, and cultural beliefs. A good diversity training program must have a large number of activities geared towards bias acknowledgment as its showcase element. Diversity training aims to foster an understanding of how people with diverse cultures and beliefs help build a team that is stronger than a bunch of people with similar characteristics bundled together. Diversity is our gift from nature; we need to treasure and cherish it.

What is one of the major goals of diversity training?

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A diversity training program has three major goals. The first is to generate a sense of understanding of how to create a workplace atmosphere where Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity are the key pillars of doing business. The second is acceptance of the rather difficult truth that biases are all-pervasive and cloud thinking, especially when organizations recruit. The third is to provide business leaders with the capability to build their own policies on diversity. Of these, biases and their acknowledgment remain the goal that paves the way for other milestones. The key result, of course, is to ensure complete and natural acceptance of diversity across organizations.

What are some of the different ways in which diversity training takes place?

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The style and substance of any diversity training program depend on its end goal. The structure, tone, and intent of diversity training need to be tailored to the ultimate objective of treating differences as natural and being more accepting of variety. The simplest way to conduct diversity training is to see it as conducting an awareness program. The second is to equip your workforce with the necessary skills to develop the skill of Inclusive Leadership through diversity training. A diversity training program also aims at conducting an audit of how diverse the company already is.

Does diversity training work?

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Of course, diversity training works. One of the best examples where it has been known to help corporations is the image correction it brought about for Starbucks after a racial incident at one of its outlets in April 2018. Alarmed at the incident, the Fortune 500 company started a training program to combat racial bias for its 175,000 workers and has not seen a repeat. Data shows that Fortune 500 companies that have at least three directors as women have reported a 53% increase in Return On Investment (ROI). In companies with above-average diversity, employee engagement is nearly 50% better than in other organizations.

What reason does an organization give for conducting diversity training?

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Conducting diversity training is not a choice anymore, as business CEOs see its benefits in productivity, employee morale, and the ability to bulldoze operational roadblocks. These are some of the reasons organizations are giving today for going full-steam on diversity training. In addition, most businesses need to conduct diversity training as a compliance requirement. The ideal situation will be when organizations will not need to give any explicit reason for conducting a diversity training program; it will become part of their calendar and become part of their DNA. You have to be culturally sensitive and diversity aware, just as computing skills are non-negotiable for today’s business world.

What is a cultural diversity training course?

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A cultural diversity training course sees culture as part of a person’s identity and helps businesses appreciate the much wider and more diverse world. This is a sensitive domain that individuals designing a diversity program need to be mindful of. The model that is used as the bedrock of this training is Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory. Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede gave this theory in 1980. Hofstede’s model views cultural diversity in the workplace on six parameters, one of which is Power Distance.

Another model that Derald Wing Sue has collated is based on a 3x3x3 matrix where we study an organization’s functional focus, barriers, and competencies.

Which of the following is the main objective of diversity training programs that focus on behavior?

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Diversity training programs that focus on behavior, and then change it, have to work on a four-pronged strategy. The objective of such targeted diversity training is to ensure that bias formation is kept to a minimum. It also has to showcase strategies and demonstrate simple, hands-on activities to shun stereotypes and prejudice before these crystallize into emotions. If a diversity training program can break the cycle of biases turning into stereotypes, which fester into prejudices, and then manifest in discriminatory behavior, the training is worth its weight in gold.

What does inclusivity or diversity training look like?

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An inclusive or diversity training workshop has to be a cogent exercise in self-realization, mixed with intellectually stimulating activities. Group exercises are the best way to start a diversity training program. To ensure there is an element of surprise, the trainer needs to let biases emerge and help individuals dissect these notions and toxic presumptions. Diversity training has to be a fun-filled exercise filled with anecdotes; often, humor can do what mere knowledge cannot. The aim of any diversity training is to bring about change in attitude and behavior in an interactive and natural way. Seeking and respecting diverse opinions is critical, even from people who do discriminate.

How workforce diversity is directly affected by recruitment, selection, and orientation and training?

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Recruitment is one of the key gateways where organizations have the opportunity to give a boost to or stall their efforts to be more diverse and inclusive. For instance, if the recruitment process does not ask standardized, skill-based questions during an interview, there is a chance that it may fall into the trap of Confirmation Bias. This bias means you reject a candidate because you worked hard to find evidence to reject and found it. Such flaws in recruitment design will mean that your diversity requirements will never be met. In orientation and training before onboarding, candidates need to be advised to see diversity as an advantage. They must also be advised to collaborate with people from all racial groups, sexual orientations, and political views.

How to get through diversity training?

Please click here to download our comprehensive training curriculum on diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Diversity training is not meant to be collected as an ornamental trophy or certificate. Diversity is a living, growing entity that needs nurturing and care to fructify into business success. If you are part of a diversity training program at the workplace, see it as an opportunity to learn a key skill that will help advance your career. Having an open mind that loves to interact with diverse people is the mantra to remember. Participate in all interactive activities and the self-introspection that diversity training allows you to indulge in. Enjoy and assimilate the learnings from diversity training and reap huge rewards, both personally and professionally.

What is the advantage to a business of obtaining diversity training for its workers?

Please click here to download our comprehensive training curriculum on diversity, inclusion, and equity.

With a well-curated, researched diversity training program, businesses gain access to a bigger talent pool. In addition, studies have documented that a diverse workplace sees increased employee engagement and trust. With diversity a key ingredient, new perspectives and innovation are also available in-house. There is better decision-making and improved performance. Finally, a diverse workplace imbues businesses with key competencies of diversity, inclusive leadership, and equity that lead to stronger business results and profits.

OF Q&As, AND THE WIDER WORLD

Even as Diversity, Inclusion and Equity continue to be the buzz words of today, businesses will do well to get it right the first time. At the end of the day, acceptance of diversity is as much an attitude, as it is a skill that you can learn. A good, positive attitude from colleagues at the workplace is a huge advantage for your diversity training efforts.

As we bid adieu, you may learn more about another such domain, Customer Service, of critical importance to businesses here; and sink your teeth into the juicy world of biases and how to eliminate these here.

If you would like to share your thoughts, please do so through the Comment Section below.

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