Diversity Training

I would like to state a few points on the issue of diversity training derived from an article named Don’t derail your diversity training  by Jack Conrad  published in Employee Benefit News January 2009 p.15-16).

The previously mentioned article describes seven common traps that we should avoid when conducting diversity training.

7 Traps:

1. Focusing too little on emotions: Any kind of training that does not acknowledge/identify the emotional framework under training issues is considered to be almost useless.

2. Failing to engage white males:  Some diversity trainers do either consciously or subconsciously the mistake to present diversity as something other than white and male, such as women and racial/ethnic minorities.

3. Lacking a compelling business case: Undoubtedly diversity training does not guarantee superior business results. However, managing to attaining and most importantly retaining a diverse workforce can make an organization stronger

4. Not being compliance driven: Unless training efforts are compliance-driven, employees will miss incredible opportunities to explore creative and innovative approaches beyond what they are usually directed to do in the workplace.

5. Focusing on “fixing” white people: The conscious or subconscious approach toward diversity training is the idea of “fixing” white people; however all groups have difficulties understanding other groups and they often try hard to understand the diversity within their own groups.

6. Failing to engage senior management: This is the team that will influence the attitudes and commitment of managers that make the decisions around hiring, training and career development.

7. Conducting reactive, not proactive, initiatives: In most cases organization proceed with diversity training after employees have made complaints about discrimination against them. Being proactive with diversity training and careful with its implementation seems to be the best path to gain a competitive advantage.

Of course this is a narrow aspect of the issue but there are some interesting thoughts included