Diversity training: Different strokes for different folks
How to create diversity training programmes: Gone are the days when diversity training was just about challenging stereotypical prejudices. Now, it must encompass a wider range of issues.
More and more organisations in the public and private sectors face the challenge of how best to deliver diversity training to their employees.
This goes beyond ensuring relevant staff members know their duties under race relations and discrimination legislation. Diversity training must deal with many aspects of a complex issue. From making staff aware of the issues that may arise because of the ethnic and social backgrounds of their colleagues, to ones pertinent to the customers they serve.
Phil Clements, co-author of The Diversity Training Handbook, says to be fully effective, diversity training should be part of an organisation-wide approach. This should include forming a diversity strategy and reviewing policies governing areas such as recruitment.
Clements recently worked with conservation charity English Nature, which wants to attract more members from ethnic communities.
Only by understanding the membership make-up and what is already being done to consult ethnic groups could a suitable training programme be devised.
Diversity training can also be incorporated into other training programmes. For example, a leadership development course should include modules looking at working with diverse, multicultural teams (see below ).
Different approaches
Approaches to diversity training have matured in recent years, says Clements. In the past, the tactic was to convince people they had to change their racial views, whereas today, the onus is on delivering training that opens people's views to different perspectives.
Clements uses work-based simulations to show the wide range of issues that may impact working lives. How will a project team on a tight deadline cope when a Hindu colleague takes time off for Diwali, for example? What measures should be put in place to accommodate someone with caring responsibilities who may require leave at short notice?
Creating a forum where people from different ethnic backgrounds can discuss work-based issues is another approach to increasing diversity awareness.
An alternative method is to show how organisations that have embraced diversity have benefited. Both HSBC, which promotes the importance of regional perspectives, and B&Q, which encourages the recruitment of older workers, are well-documented case studies.
When diversity training is set in such contexts, it helps people see there are sound commercial reasons for addressing diversity, and that it is an issue which can affect many people in an organisation.
Measuring diversity training outcomes can be achieved in several ways, according to Diane Worman, a diversity adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
In the case of English Nature, the acid test is whether more people from ethnic groups join as members.
Other measures could be a questionnaire on discrimination law, or a general knowledge test on different cultures and religions. Just seeing that people behave differently may suffice, she says.
Worman also suggests the following when planning diversity training:
- Understand the purpose of the exercise: is diversity training required because an organisation wants to ensure its policies are understood, or is it in response to harassment cases?
- Get the content right: research the information that must be imparted; find out what others are doing; interview relevant colleagues about requirements.
- Get the delivery tone right: the style must suit the delegates.
- Consider a blended approach: mediums such as e-learning can raise general awareness or reinforce learning points.
- Measure outcomes: devise questionnaires to test whether delegates understand the issue better.
As for who should receive diversity training, certain groups, such as HR and middle managers, may need more in-depth learning than others.
Putting the whole workforce through intensive diversity training is expensive and probably unnecessary but, because diversity is an issue that affects everyone, some organisations may decide to include a general diversity module at induction to raise awareness.
Learning and communications company Easyi's managing director Iain McLeod says diversity training is increasingly seen as a subset of an organisation's code of conduct.
Easyi specialises in regulatory and compliance training and has developed some e-learning modules that deal with areas such as discrimination, stereotyping and prejudice - suitable for "getting the base message across at the cost of a few pounds per head".
Neslyn Watson-Duree, managing director of consultancy Beacon Organisational Development and chairwoman of Kingston Primary NHS Care Trust, says diversity training is a fundamental part of the leadership development courses she has been running for various health authorities since 1993.
Because the NHS employs people with varied backgrounds and serves a widely assorted population, diversity awareness comes into play in every aspect of leadership training, she says.
"To get the best out of their people and make the best judgements, managers need to be able to take into account the full range of opinions and views offered by staff and customers," she says.
Leadership and diversity overlap in areas such as negotiation, where the ability to see things from different standpoints and understand cultural nuances are vital. Acknowledging diversity is also important when developing team-building skills, as managers who appreciate different people should be more effective when creating teams.
