Did you know some diversity training can make things worse? Research suggests that in particular you should avoid courses that aim to make the majority feel 'guilty' about inequalities as it can create an even deeper divide and increase their feelings of membership to the more powerful group.

More later about tips for the best type of training!

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Dr Stephanie Morgan
Crosslight Management
www.crosslight.co.uk

Have been looking further at the research about what works, and the problems that can arise with some of the courses that are run. I will prepare a proper white paper on it but I thought I would put up a short note now.

What does seem to work is certain tyhpes of training that teaches participants to avoid activating their stereotypes. Training that covers what is termed a 'father-son' exercise and intergroup attribution exercises are more likely to work because that is their main aim. In particular if these are combined with discussion explaining how we are all potentially prey to these biases.

However the studies also demonstrate the importance of the atmosphere or climate in the organization. It is pointless spending a lot of time and money training people to reduce stereotyping and enhance diversity if they go back into a situation where institutionalised pressures mean opportunities are not equal - the climate creates and reinforces the old situation. Work has to be done therefore to change the climate - that means you need support from the top and for everyone to be included in the training, and policies and procedures need changing to support.

kind regards
Stephanie

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Dr Stephanie Morgan
Crosslight Management
www.crosslight.co.uk

I agree with you Stephanie. I was prvileged to deliver a number of different diversity workshops in a major telecoms company. While the majority of people are happy to absorb the learning and apply it, there are always a small number of sceptics who, for one reason or amother, just don't get it. It might well be that they are under significant work pressure or perhaps even peer pressure. Or it might be that their upbringing and values just place blocks in the way of adopting reason. Or many other possibilities... I was even presented with, "We don't need diversity training - there's no 'coloured' people here" when presenting in Exeter.

The good news was that the people right at the top were behind the initiative and attended the workshops, sending good signals to one and all. The bad news is that the whole programme seems to have fallen by the wayside as 'downsizing' continues and workloads increase. Perhaps when things stabilise, the whole thing will be restarted.

For me, the benefits of having a diverse workforce are obvious. Without it any business must stagnate. Just for calrity, diversity to me is not just race, gender, religion and all the other well-published aspects, but also the differences between parts of a country, city, town, village, workplace, etc. Whether fat, thin, short, tall, red-haired, blonde, intellectual, manually skilled, artisitic, scientific, or all the myriad other facets of diversity, everybody has something to offer and we should put to use that multiplicity of talent, personality and experience.

All the best,
Simon