The Associated Press stumbled into a very public conversation about diversity and inclusion when a photo made headlines for all the wrong reasons at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2020. An AP photographer took a group picture of five young climate change activists but cropped out one of them — a young African activist — from the final shot, leaving four white women in the photo. The AP, faced with immediate criticism and accusations of racism, issued an apology and promised to expand diversity and inclusion (D&I) training for its staff worldwide.
The AP is not alone in this type of struggle. Organizations in every industry around the globe still face unconscious biases within their teams that limit women and minority advancement. Even when they achieve satisfactory levels of diversity, leaders and managers still struggle to make everyone in the group feel included and valued.
The Workplace Inclusivity Challenge
Many companies implement training and development programs to advance workplace diversity, but they don’t always work. Because inclusivity can favorably impact a company’s bottom line, this disconnect presents new challenges. Companies with above-average diversity on their management teams profit more from innovation than companies with below-average leadership diversity, according to a 2018 report by BCG. It’s clear that diversity is now a corporate requirement.
In Mercer’s “Global Talent Trends 2019” survey, executives reported that inadequate diversity is a top human capital risk for high-growth companies as organizations ready themselves for the future of work. What’s more, a study by Glassdoor found that a diverse workforce is important to both job seekers and current employees, so creating a diverse and inclusive working environment could go a long way toward hiring and retaining employees.
Diversity Training Done Right
Why do so many bias training initiatives typically fail? Because organizations use the wrong methods. By shifting their approach, business leaders can make a difference and put their organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts on the right track. The following suggestions can help with that effort:
1. Create a More Transparent Culture
Leaders should establish a culture of inclusion at the top by leading with their own behavior. It’s not enough to hold others accountable; they must make diversity and inclusion a personal and company priority as well. Proactively engaging leaders in all diversity and inclusion initiatives will enable them to live and model the desired cultural norms.
Words don’t change culture. Transformation comes from concrete and noticeable changes in leadership behavior: what leaders and managers do, how they talk, whom they listen to, whom they hire, etc. If your company wants to become more diverse and inclusive, make sure that everyone, even the chief executive officer, actively participates in your diversity training programs. It not only shows others how serious your organization is about the issue but also demonstrates that everyone can benefit and improve themselves by taking part in ongoing training.
2. Foster Inclusive Conversations
Inclusion training should promote conversation and make support structures accessible within the organization. Everyone should feel comfortable asking and sharing in a judgment-free environment. Give everyone the opportunity to participate in setting the bar for inclusive dialogue. Listening and asking questions are the only way you’ll know how people feel.
Instead of dictating guidelines for interaction, ask people to work together to establish communication norms and protocols that resonate with them. Promote employee engagement by listening to team members’ input and acting on their suggestions for improving the organization.
3. Encourage User-generated Content to Spotlight Diverse Voices
Encourage team members to create content to share with the organization as part of your diversity initiative. This simple step will improve diversity training by highlighting individual employees, which helps leaders and individual contributors understand how women and minorities experience the workplace. It may even spark further peer dialogue.
Technology can play a big role here. For example, you can use social collaboration tools to facilitate and promote peer discussion groups for minority employees, even in a geographically dispersed workplace.
4. Gather Data and Track Progress
Before launching a D&I initiative, organizations must first work to understand the current attitudes of their workforce and their new hires. That information provides a foundation for measuring change after diversity training takes place. Human resources (HR) leaders should leverage surveys and use behavioral insights, such as completion and engagement, to track progress and connect directly with individuals who disengage from diversity initiatives.
Learning management systems (LMSs) and other modern technology platforms assist in these efforts by making it easy to track long-term data on individuals across the workforce. This way, organizations can better understand the impact of diversity training on employee behaviors.
5. Reinforce Training With Continuous Learning Opportunities
This step is one of the most important modifications organizations can make. Put simply, you can’t change a culture by doing something once. Human behavior does not often change overnight; it takes time to hardwire new habits. Research shows that habit formation occurs when someone practices a new action over and over.
It is easy to see why annual or even biannual programs aren’t enough. Achieving real results requires organizations to continually educate employees on the benefits of working with people with diverse identities and perspectives.
An LMS can provide the tools and systems necessary for the type of ongoing, day-to-day training needed to interrupt bias. These tools improve training by delivering follow-up microlearning content that employees receive within the context of their daily work. In other words, training doesn’t happen in a separate application; instead, customized experiences take place automatically and seamlessly in the flow of work.
Inclusivity Is a Business Imperative
We live in a diverse world, and today’s workforce reflects that diversity. Diversity and inclusion initiatives are about making sure all employees feel they can bring their whole self to work, which enables them to do their best work. It’s now a documented reality that diverse groups perform better, which is why diversity and inclusion training has become a priority across just about every industry. Unfortunately, time and again, leaders are doing it wrong.
Creating true, lasting change within your organization is an achievable goal, but it’s a journey, not a destination. While there’s no panacea or surefire one-size-fits-all approach, progress starts by implementing effective learning technologies that meet the needs of modern employees. Then, adopting these strategies will enable you to model, manage, measure and promote ongoing improvement to ensure long-term success for diversity and inclusion efforts — empowering your business to grow and flourish in ways it never could before.
