Here's a statement I think most of us will agree with. Even though most organizations are growing more diverse everyday, meaning they probably can point to some success as they relates to a diversity, recruitment and retention effort. They probably have some struggles as it relates to managing a diverse workforce. What do I mean by that? Once an organization has moved past the one person of color on the third floor tokenism approach to truly having a culturally diverse workforce, you begin to have some issues surrounding how those employees relate to one another. That's where DE&I initiatives come in and blast off like a rocket ship to the stars. If that is the metaphor that we're using for DE&I initiatives, the platform or the launchpad for this rocket ship must be the diversity training. DE&I trainings are designed to remove work-related obstacles such as bias and equip your employees with the tools to do their best work. That work is at its best when their cross-cultural interactions inspires an infusion of innovation and ideas, which oftentimes wins today. As I have said in Modules one and two, in order for diversity training to win the day, it must enhance your employees knowledge, skills, and abilities, or KSAs. For it to be a launchpad you intended to be, it must deliver a solid, measurable learning objective that maps directly back to the job. They must be seen as tactics to better manage a diverse workforce. But as we know all too well, even if the training is beneficial and well done, cynicism and antipathy towards DE&I is certain, and the reasons are multiple. Such as there's no need for it because we don't have issues or maybe we have adopted a colorblind mindset, or it's too time-consuming, politically polarizing, or it's anti blank, and you can insert the targeted group of choice in the blank. Yes, some employees loathe it and have a visceral reaction diversity training. But others really, really welcome it and we can't forget that. We also can't forget that because employees come into DE&I training with work experiences that's different that they've interpreted through their own cultural lens. They confront the challenges of workplace diversity differently. We should expect them to be motivated to learn and receive strategies for managing workplace diversity differently. The challenge for DE&I practitioners is making sure that before the training is even delivered, employees are ready for it and that they understand how we'll be practical and valuable to them. Employees that are aware of the need for training are more motivated to learn it. While there is no magic pill for this thing to guarantee a successful training effort. Step number one is to make sure you're getting your organization ready for it before you deliver. The first thing I would do to get my team ready is to present it with the problem. The problem could be discrimination, it could be the lack of a skill set or whenever you feel it needs to be, but you need to have a real problem that needs to be fixed. No one is motivated to take a training if there's nothing to be fixed or anything to gain from it. When you described the problem, don't point the finger at the trainee as being the problem. That immediately turns his effort into a punishment. If you want to build enthusiasm and motivation, the training has to be seen as an enhancement. It has to say, when you're done with this, you'll be better equipped to fix or prevent the problem, that issue. But, while you are priming your team to take the training, I also want you to collect some data so that you can address some other issues that may be affecting readiness. One thing I want you to assess prior to delivering the training is the trainees desire to learn the content. Consider a pre-test survey where a cross-section of employees can share their motivation or enthusiasm to learn and perhaps the specific skill set they're hoping to develop. Then make sure that you inform them that the training intends to do exactly what they hoped it would and make sure that it does. The next thing I want you to do, is remove any potential barriers that may be negatively impacting their learning. Do a pre-training survey to learn where the trainee is feeling confident, about how they can apply the training content or what's making them discouraged and unready to apply it. As a way to address this makes sure that the training is easy to access and simple as possible to complete and sell that way before the training. Also, while you may have content that is uncomfortable, realize that shock in all trainings are a barrier. You want to stress that the trainee can come as they are, and as they are, they will be enhanced and not torn down. Lastly, before you deliver the training, I want you to assess their intention to use the material. Diversity training has been criticized because it does not do a good job of transferring the KSA learned into something tactical. Before they take the training, makes sure that they understand that it is intended to give them something useful which should increase their willingness to learn and apply the concept being taught to them. With the pre-training assessments out of the way, let's talk about the training itself. I have a list of five things you should consider as the best practices in delivering a DE&I training. First, do a good job defining the problem under review and the skills that training intends to develop to solve that problem. While I'm repeating myself, this is a big deal. While it should be obvious that DE&I training should address a range of issues including unconscious bias, micro-aggressions, and cross-cultural communications. You have to take those things and connect them directly to the job in a tactical way for everyone. What I mean by this is you're going to have to connect those dots for your employees and that takes serious thought and effort. Number two, please, in the Annual Diversity checking that once a year, check the compliance box lecture or anything that is overly committal or exhaustive that just makes everyone, even the allies, more dissolution than before they had it. Instead, make it a message about sharpening skills that must be done regularly. Also, consider incentivizing it so that there is a value to completing the assignment rather than a punishment. That way becomes more about enhancing a skill set and a reward versus an annual lecture that just talks about all the things organization doesn't want you to do. Number three, deliver a training that fits your organization's culture. Even if you decide to hire an external DE&I consultant, the training must feel tailor-made to the organization. Stay away from off the rack pre-package one size fits all programs. Like I mentioned earlier, your organization needs to define a problem that is unique to it and your training has to address that problem. Make the training relevant by making it as real for them as possible. Number four, plan to deliver training in multiple formats, like deliver one live and in person and the other one online or have a hybrid approach. Also, instead of making folk commit to trainings that are days or weeks long, consider using a micro learning strategy, which allows you to break trainings into small useful bytes just like this training that I'm delivering for you today. Also consider using technologies such as virtual reality or gamification. Both allow for a more immersive experience that can also be challenging and entertaining. Last but not least, number five, do a post-training assessment. You did this training to enhance a skill. Now you have to know if the skill was actually enhanced. For instance, if the training is on creating diverse applicant pools, you now have to measure to see if the pools are more diverse than they were before the training and if so, is it a result of the training? Another one, if you deliver the training to reduce discrimination, you need to know if there are less reports of discrimination than before the training. You need to know if you've had a return on your investment, get as much as possible out of your investment then report it out. I hope you learned as much as possible and received the good return on your investment in me. Thanks for listening.
