Diversity Training in the Workplace

This article is part of a series on "Cross-cultural Relationships in the Workplace." It will provide useful information to apply strategies to facilitate intercultural relationships and to create a positive diversity climate in your organization.

What is Diversity Training?

Diversity training is understood as intentional professional training designed to develop skills needed to facilitate working and interacting with people from diverse cultural backgrounds (Noe, 2010; Hughes & Byrd, 2017). A diversity training program aims to boost participants' awareness about different types of diversity, appreciating differences among co-workers, and provide knowledge and strategies to enhance employees' interpersonal and communication skills across diversity to help build a positive work environment. (Hughes & Byrd, 2017) At the organization level, diversity training helps prevent civil rights violations, increases the inclusion of different identity groups, promotes better teamwork, and creates a more inclusive work environment.

According to Cocchiara, Connerley, and Bell (2010), there are several reasons why organizations need to provide diversity training for their employees among them the following:

• To attract talent and maximize organizations' profits.
• To comply with the organization's moral and legal standards.
• To develop leadership and essential skills to maximize organizational diversity.
• To disseminate information about diversity-related issues and organizational policies.
• To intensify leadership development and management effectiveness.

Essential Elements of Successful Diversity Training

The authors of "The Diversity Training Handbook" identified four critical aspects that need to take into consideration before and during diversity training planning, these are the following (Clements & Jones, 2008):

• The objective? of the diversity training is what we are trying to achieve (the purpose and goal), and a set of learning outcomes (aims)
• The diversity training acts allude to the trainer's ability to facilitate crucial acts within the learners. The key acts are the following:
    -- Active understanding of topics included in the training
    -- Be able to see things in a new way (change perspectives)
    -- Reflection about other's perspectives and experiences
    -- Realization is the manifestation of the reflection at the personal level by seeing it is meaning and understanding diversity training's importance.
    -- The process of the diversity training how is the program designed and implemented.

The following steps need to be considered:

• The training's design considers the methodology and the delivery format. Lindsey, King, Membere, & Cheung (2017) identified two effective methods, a) Diversity Setting with Perspective-taking, which is based on developing empathy with minority/diverse groups to improve pro-diversity attitudes and behavioral intentions toward these groups. b) Diversity training with goal setting is a flexible and adapted training to participants' specific, measurable, and challenging goals related to diversity in the workplace.
• Allow learners to be out of their comfort zone while at the same time maintaining an atmosphere of psychological safety. Diversity training needs to allow people to discuss conflictive topics, but at the same time, they need to feel that environment is supportive and appreciative of the disclosure.
• The analogy of the journey. Through guided activities and experiences, diversity training helps to adopt different perspectives about others. Training participants can compare their understanding of diversity issues at the beginning and the later stage of the training.
• The trainer's experience, skills, and attitudes. The trainer is crucial because he/she is the person who needs to manage and guide the participants' journey and provide opportunities to grow in a safe space.

Where to Start?

• Reflect on the need for a more inclusive work climate.
• Reflect on the diversity issues that exist in your organization. Ask what kind of diversity issues your organization has?
• What groups would you like to involve in diversity training? Think about race, religious groups, culture, generation, gender, or another diverse group.
• It is not recommended to include a large group of people in one training. You might create modules according to the organizational need or different topics in diversity training.
• Discuss, in your organization, the current diversity issue, and appropriate diversity training to address it. Explain the benefits of diversity training for all the people at your organization, including your team members and other leaders in your organization.
• Make a list of the topics you would like to develop and include in diversity training.

Resources

Clements, P., & Jones, J. (2008). The Diversity Training Handbook: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Changing Attitudes.

Cocchiara, F. K., Connerley, M. L., & Bell, M. P. (2010). "A GEM" for increasing the effectiveness of diversity training. Human Resource Management, 49(6), 1089-1106.

Hughes, C., & Byrd, M. (2017). Managing human resource development programs: Current issues and evolving trends. Springer.

Lindsey, A., King, E., Membere, A., & Cheung, H. K. (2017). Two types of diversity training that really work. Harvard Business Review, 7, 28.

Noe, Raymond A. 2010. Employee Training and Development. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.