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Training Diversity: The Path to Inclusion
May 01, 2008
Most Diversity Training Ineffective, Study Finds
By Holly Dolezalek
This January 20, 2008, headline in the Washington Post probably depressed most trainers everywhere. The article described the research of a University of Arizona sociologist named Alexandra Kalev, who analyzed data from 830 workplaces over a 31-year period. Kalev found that at most of these firms, after diversity training exercises, there was a 7.5 percent drop in the number of women in management. Worse yet, the number of black female managers fell by 10 percent, and the number of black men in top positions fell by 12 percent.
Ouch.
But here's the money quote from the article. "'When attendance is voluntary, diversity training is followed by an increase in managerial diversity,' said Alexandra Kalev, a sociologist at the University of Arizona, who led the research. 'Most employers, however, force their managers and workers to go through training, and this is the least effective option in terms of increasing diversity…Forcing people to go through training creates a backlash against diversity.'"
There's no doubt that diversity training has gotten more sophisticated since the early days. But Kalev's research suggests that while much diversity training is ineffective, there are more effective options that many companies just aren’t choosing. That's where the idea of diversity leadership comes in.
Well-Intentioned but Ineffective
Part of the problem with diversity training has always been its limitations. "In the early days, in the 1970s and 1980s, much of the emphasis in diversity training was on race relations and gender equity, and it ended up being about making someone white feel bad," says Mike Hyter, president and CEO of Boston-based consulting firm Novations Group.
Given those circumstances, it's not surprising that diversity has become such a delicate topic that even the idea of diversity training, never mind leadership, makes people tired and frustrated. The good news is that the right approach to diversity leadership can be effective. But that means abandoning some core concepts that have attached themselves to diversity training like burrs. One of those concepts, although it’s a diminishing one, is the idea that diversity can be created out of thin air by training.
"Even training professionals today try to create diversity in an event-based way," says Mary-Frances Winters, president and CEO of the Winters Group, an organizational development and diversity consulting firm in Cheltenham, MD. "They try to sprinkle people with diversity dust or send them through a diversity car wash." Instead, Winters says, it's about building new skills. But it's also about giving people opportunities to practice those skills before they need them. Some of the frustration about diversity training stems from a lack of understanding about what it is supposed to accomplish. "Diversity training hasn't increased the representation of people of color and women in organizations, but that's because affirmative action is supposed to do that," Winters says. "Diversity training is for the purpose of enhancing productivity and helping people of different backgrounds to work together."
In this context, the Washington Post article is a little less depressing. It's not that diversity can't be valued or encouraged; it's just that it wasn't done right for a long time. But still, a certain malaise has settled into many people's thinking about whether diversity training is worth anything at all, or even whether it's actively undermining the organization's efforts to be more inclusive.
"The problem isn't that diversity training is ineffective, it's that ineffective diversity training is ineffective," says Melanie Harrington, president of the American Institute for Managing Diversity (AIMD), an Atlanta-based nonprofit think tank to promote diversity management. "Effective diversity training is connected to the strategy of the diversity effort, which, in turn, has to be connected to the strategy of the organization."
That's the gap that has separated diversity training from its goal. The solution? Diversity leadership. Diversity leadership is not just a fancy new word for diversity training. It's leading others to a more inclusive mind-set so that everyone in the organization, regardless of their background, is contributing up to their full potential. Real diversity leadership means using training as just one of the many tools that help create leaders and followers in the organization who understand how inclusiveness fits with the company's strategy, whatever that is.
"When diversity training is seen as not helpful, it's seen that way often because of a preoccupation with activities and reaction, as opposed to the organizational strategy, the process by which diversity and inclusion will help that process, and the desired outcomes," says Hyter, who wrote "The Power of Inclusion" (Wiley, 2005).
A New Definition
Unfortunately, the old definitions of diversity limited what diversity training could do. Without an expanded definition of diversity that more employees can live with, diversity leadership really isn’t possible. That's because the old definitions of diversity tended to be just as exclusionary as the exclusion that created them.
Because women and people of color historically had been oppressed, diversity training often involved teaching white men that they (or their forebears) had done bad things in the past and that they themselves must do better in the future. Sadly, the training often stopped there, leaving almost everyone aware that there was a problem but with no concrete ideas for what to do about it.
"Real diversity leadership is about having decision-making skills that help you to make decisions that align with the mission, values, or strategy of the company when individuals and groups have points of view that are at odds with each other," says Juan Johnson, a senior fellow at the Richard W. Riley Institute, a nonpartisan think tank affiliated with the department of political science at Furman University in Greenville, SC. Johnson was vice president of diversity strategies at Coca-Cola, and formulated opinions during that time that the definition of diversity has to be broadened before organizations will commit to it. Some recommendations include:
• Make inclusiveness more inclusive. "For a long time, the definition of diversity was fairness and equality for people of color and women," Johnson says. "But that made the definition exclusionary. If you didn't fit in those definitions, what was in it for you?"
Instead, Johnson defines diversity as any dimension that differentiates a person or group from others. That could include anyone or everyone, but that's the very strength of true diversity. Diversity leadership involves teaching employees—managers, supervisors, frontline employees—how to use differences in the organization to propel everyone to more success and get better results. "That's a definition of diversity that can engage anyone, whether they're gay or black or white or whatever," he says.
Winters points out that diversity training used to de-emphasize what participants believed, insisting only that people behave in a certain way. But today, more forward thinkers on diversity believe in paying more attention to how people feel because the way someone feels is connected to how they behave. "Now it's more about shifting mind-sets instead of values so we all can coexist," Winters says. "You don't have to agree, but you can respect the individual as someone who brings value to the organization."
• Be ethnorelative, not ethnocentric no more. One aspect of diversity leadership is the movement of individuals from the ethnocentric to the ethnorelative. This concept was articulated by Dr. Milton Bennett, co-editor of the "Handbook of Intercultural Training" (Sage Publications, 2003). His Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity emphasizes teaching people to adapt to other cultures rather than seeing their own as the only real culture.
Thinking in a more ethnorelative way is more than just liking everybody. It's seeing value both in people who look like you and those who don’t. That's why another aspect of diversity leadership is to encourage promotion and development for those who show promise, and understanding that promise looks different in different people. It's easy to recognize high potential and encourage it in people whose behavior resembles your own. "In the absence of a system that identifies a standard, people are always going to favor someone who reminds them of themselves," Hyter says.
• Fit with the organizational strategy. Defining the reasons for embracing diversity is important so as to encourage all parts of the organization to embrace it. "It's important to know the motivation for the organization, as in: Why are we doing this?" Winters says. "Is it for reasons of compliance? Is there a business case for it? Are we trying to leverage our talent better, respond to our customer base, or retain talent? Whatever the true motivation is, you have to be realistic and have everyone on the same page, because when there are mixed signals, you’re bound to have resistance."
• Keep in mind that inclusion is a skilled response to diversity. For many people, it's not that they don't value diversity; it's that they don't know how to encourage it or meaningfully value it. The Novations Group conducted a survey in 2007 that asked senior human resources and training professionals how their organization's management felt about diversity. Of those who responded, 72 percent said management accepted the business case for diversity, but nearly one-quarter (24 percent) said management did not know how to leverage it.
For true diversity leadership, you have to think of training as a process of activities, not events, Hyter says. "It's essential to expand the mind-set of training as building training moments within day-to-day activities. Training can't just be a series of classes people have to attend, because learning doesn't happen that way. Learning happens with context for the ideas learners are exposed to that they then execute back on the job, with accountability and tracking systems." For example, no training program in diversity leadership will be successful without integrating elements of it in the performance management system, job aids, and rotational assignments with targeted objectives associated with diversity.
That means clear standards for how employees can lead diversity in their own way or encourage others to do so. Diversity leadership works better when clear standards tell managers what behaviors are expected, and tracking or performance management systems encourage them to implement them.
Whatever else a helpful definition of diversity is, it's not about being color- or gender- or difference-blind. Diversity leadership doesn't work that way. Being unaware or dismissive of differences might seem like the road to letting everyone advance on their own merits, but Hyter says it's not a healthy approach. "You can't deny the uniqueness of a person and still affirm who they really are," he says. "On the contrary, affirmation of people as they really are is how you motivate them to do their best, while being blind to their differences creates a higher probability of alienation."
Real Diversity Leadership
Just like leadership, diversity leadership can't be created by a class. Instead, Winters says, organizations understand that leaders need to go to a series of classes to refresh their skills and build new ones. "There's a relationship there to diversity, in that a commitment to diversity requires revisiting it and occasionally developing new skills, so it's worth it to include diversity topics in leadership training like teambuilding or emotional intelligence," she says.
E-learning, of course, is probably not the best choice for this kind of work. An off-the-shelf e-learning solution won't be tailored to the specific kinds of diversity in any company.
At all levels, training by itself will never help people to value diversity. Whether it's a CEO or a line worker, training can teach a lesson but can't give the learner a way to practice what has been learned. That's why the successful organizations Winters has worked with have created opportunities after training for learners to practice the decision-making or sensitivity skills they've learned. "Learning communities of leaders along with some kind of monthly lesson in diversity or inclusion is one way to help raise awareness and build skills so people can navigate better in cross-cultural situations," Winters says. "At one organization I worked with, they use learning communities of eight to 10 leaders to discuss what they've learned and apply it. They also pair leaders with someone who is culturally different from them and let them get together to discuss an online lesson they've reviewed."
The Benefits of Conflict
It might seem that the ideally inclusive organization has many different types of people who get along beautifully despite their differences. But at a truly inclusive organization, everyone doesn't get along beautifully. And aiming for a conflict-free environment only buries people's real feelings about their differences.
Instead, diversity leadership involves teaching others how to deal with conflict or tension in a productive way. "Often, people tend to interpret behavior rather than asking about it, and those assumptions are what can lead to misunderstandings," Winters says. She gives the example of a manager who does not give an Asian woman further opportunities to develop her skills because he believes her tendency to avoid eye contact means she is too submissive to be a real leader.
AIMD's Harrington agrees it's about asking the awkward questions, not learning which situations to avoid. "No matter how enlightened you are, you're going to have moments that require you to bridge a gap and deal with an uncomfortable cross-cultural moment," she says. "Tension isn't always bad; it's a question of whether you can work through it. Being able to have an uncomfortable conversation goes a long way toward diversity maturity."
The Diversity Leadership Academy, offered by AIMD, is intended to develop leaders who then can strengthen the case for diversity in their own communities. "The program uses the lens, tools, and architecture of diversity to teach leaders how to make better decisions," says Harrington.
A Case in Point
At Sodexho USA, Rohini Anand is the chief diversity officer. She partners with Sodexho University to create training that encourages diversity at the company. "Our learning strategy is phased, starting with a foundational training event that explains the business case for diversity and how it fits with the company strategy," Anand says. "It then moves to a mandatory one-day event for compliance and the spirit of diversity or an inclusive strategy. After that, skill-based learning labs teach about gender, cross-cultural differences, sexual orientation, and micro-iniquities. They look to include diversity content in all of the training department's offerings, and have train-the-trainer programs to build an internal capacity for inclusion in the organization.
But, she emphasizes, that isn-t the only aspect of inclusion. Sodexho has a diversity scorecard for managers, and its various components include the manager's success in recruitment, retention, promotion, and development of all employees. A substantial portion of managers' bonuses is determined by their success in these areas. "It's both qualitative and quantitative, including behaviors they have to show such as participating in training, mentoring, doing community outreach, and so on," Anand explains.
When diversity and inclusion fit into the company strategy the way it does at Sodexho, business results aren’t far behind. The indicators of diversity—such as recruitment, retention, and promotion of diverse populations—have inched up since the scorecard was implemented. And the commitment to inclusion and success in leading it has led to revenue opportunities for Sodexho. "Having a good story for what we've done in diversity and inclusion and how we've done it has become a competitive advantage," Anand says. "Our business is increasingly commoditized, and standing out in what started as an internal effort has become an external advantage, in that we’ve gotten clients based on what we've done."
Sidebar: Definitions
Diversity: Diversity used to mean "variety." In this context, it tends to mean a wide variety of racial, gender, physical, and other types. According to Juan Johnson, a senior fellow at the Richard W. Riley Institute, a nonpartisan think tank affiliated with the department of political science at Furman University in Greenville, SC, diversity is any dimension that differentiates one person or group from others.
Inclusion: While diversity involves the variety of types of people who work at an organization, inclusion is how you mobilize, enhance, or "operationalize" diversity. It's how you value and use the talents and strengths of diverse populations.
Cultural competency: The skills that allow an individual to appreciate and use the talents and cultural differences in people.
Sidebar: Diversity Leadership Consulting Firms
The National Multicultural Institute, Washington, D.C., www.nmci.org
The American Institute for Diversity Management, Atlanta, www.aimd.org
The Winters Group, Cheltenham, MD, www.wintersgroup.com
Hanamura Consulting, Beaverton, OR, www.hanamuraconsulting.com
The Robins Group, Beverly Hills, CA, www.kikanzanurirobins.com
Virtcom Consulting, New York, www.virtcomconsulting.com
Sidebar: Diversity Leadership Reading
"Cultural Proficiency," by Randall Lindsey, Kikanza Nuri Robins, and Raymond Terrell (Corwin Press, 2003)
"Driving Change Through Diversity and Globalization," by James Anderson and Ronald Crutcher (Stylus Publishing, 2007)
"Leadership and Diversity: Challenging Theory and Practice in Education," by Jacky Lumby and Marianne Coleman (Sage Publications, 2007)
"Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment: Developing Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills," by Mary L. Connerley and Paul Bodholdt Pedersen (Sage Publications, 2005)
"Leadership, Character and Strategy: Exploring Diversity," by Keith Patching (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007)
"Putting Diversity to Work: How to Successfully Lead a Diverse Workforce," by Simma Lieberman, Simons George, and Berardo Kate (Crisp Learning, 2003)
"Salsa, Soul, and Spirit," by Juana Bordas (Berrett-Koehler, 2007)
"The Power of Inclusion," by Mike Hyter and Judith Turnock (Wiley, 2005)
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