3 Strategies To Make Diversity And Inclusion Training Successful

Importance of employee buy-in, actionable skills, and followup

Creating and maintaining a healthy and respectful workplace requires everyone working together. This rings as true today as it ever has. For a company to realize its full potential, individuals from every kind of background, with their varied skills and perspectives, are needed. 

The good news is, while it doesn’t solve every problem all at once, diversity and inclusion training sends a powerful signal to employees that these issues are important. And training is a great tool to guide workers toward the behavior that creates a positive office culture. 
 

In order to be successful, diversity and inclusion training needs three key components: employee buy-in, actionable skills, and followup. Let’s discuss these in more detail.

Employee Buy-in from the Start

Diversity training has a way of confronting people’s belief systems. Because of this, it’s important to find ways of getting your workforce onboard with the training before it starts. 

There are few ways to go about this, and each organization will have to take into account their unique situation and needs. But several things can help. 

One is a firm message from company leaders that diversity matters. More than just a company memo, seeing managers participate in initiatives and their own training before expanding these measures to general workers goes a long way in getting everyone invested. 

Managers should help coworkers understand how to stand up for themselves and bring attention to what they need while maintaining respect for their coworkers. 

Another strategy is to tout the benefits of diversity training. Individuals tend to act in their own self-interest, so showcasing how an inclusive environment will help the company bottom line, create opportunities for everyone, and make the workplace more favorable overall can only help.

Every situation is different, but in general, singling out individuals doesn’t produce as powerful of results as involving the entire team. The goal should be to develop strong relationships where honesty, openness, and respect can flourish.

Use training sessions as opportunities to highlight the core values of the organization. If everyone understands and agrees upon the desired culture, they can modify their actions to apply. 

Actionable Skills and Behaviors, Not Just Attitudes

Workers need to know what is expected of them. Presenting information is well and good, but it’s not the whole answer to creating an inclusive workplace. 

The best courses encourage specific behaviors and actions, instead of just presenting information. Diversity training needs to show learners how to celebrate people for who they are and recognize what everyone brings to the table. 

Examples should be as specific as possible. Digital training platforms allow fairly inexpensive and easy customization, so each business can tailor the course to fit their needs and apply to individual departments. 

Discussions should also provide examples of positive behaviors, not just long lists of off-limit terms or actions. It is often easier to replace bad habits with good ones than to quit cold-turkey. Show workers what they can do to make a difference. Give achievable benchmarks and show how you will measure them, just as you would in a business plan. 

This type of targeted training with actionable goals can help everyone feel confident that they are doing their part to form a more inclusive environment. 

Follow-up and Recognition of Change

Diversity and inclusion training isn’t just a one-and-done approach. You need to follow up, measure, and continue the process of training over time. 

The most effective programs use a combination of in-person or online courses followed by additional initiatives that show the company is taking the subject seriously. Put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.

Try different things - customize lessons to the teams who are taking them. Think of it like a marketing or recruitment campaign - the most effective sales tactics are highly individualized. 

Give people time to practice the methods you’ve introduced. Follow up after an appropriate amount of time has passed and find out how workers think they’re doing with inclusivity and encouraging diversity, and compare that with the measurements you’ve been able to observe. Then address gaps, one step at a time.

Throughout the follow-up regimen, it’s important to acknowledge progress and positive change. Public and private praise of constructive behaviors can help root that conduct in the long-term. 

Don’t shorten the process. It’s crucial that everyone learns together as a team until expectations for words and actions are crystal clear. Remember that some people have strongly held beliefs and opinions on this topic that may need to be addressed. 

Building a diverse and inclusive workplace begins with the right kind of training, but it doesn’t end there. Training is a valuable starting point to build up something better and lasting. With total buy-in, agreed-upon and actionable objectives, and followup through time - you’ll wind up with a team that is truly ready to work together. 

Trent Howell is the Vice President of Marketing at eLearning Brothers. He has over 25 years of experience in information technology, training & certification, and eLearning industries and is passionate about creating stellar customer experiences. Prior to eLearning Brothers, Trent led global marketing teams at leading companies in the training industry such as CompTIA, Certiport, and TestOut. Connect Trent Howell