How do you teach diversity awareness and sensitivity to your colleagues?

Prior to a group session, each member should conduct a private self-reflection of biases/experiences/reactions, whether it be via informal brainstorming or a formal questionnaire. These thoughts and ideas can then be brought to the larger group for an open and guided discussion where all can feel safe to contribute. Awareness, openness, honesty, and acceptance are critical. Beyond that, we all need to realize and promote empathy as one of the most important workplace (and life) skills. All people have the ability to recognize and improve their empathy for others, and in doing so, can help create a fulfilling feeling of authenticity and purpose, while promoting a positive, diverse workplace. Diversity should be viewed as empowering!

In my experience, colleagues need to feel safe - and the psychological safety of each person is paramount. People should be able to share their thoughts and lived experiences without judgment, ridicule or retaliation. I recommend working with an organisation's ethics and compliance team to learn how they create a safe space in an organisation that allows employees to raise concerns. Much of the same framework used by E&C professionals can be utilised by those supporting colleagues with diversity and sensitivity training.

In my opinion, mere teaching may not completely eliminate the diversity bias. It is important to integrate the values of being a diverse group and how it supports the growth of company. This could be achieved by setting a common annual goal for the team or even individual goals with due weightage which shall be evaluated during the year end performance appraisal. Other than this, I strongly feel that it would create a big impact among the team if the rewards and recognition are customised to assess how ally is an individual in work place. To systematise the above two recommendations, institution has to create required tools for assessing and support the individual to achieve the goal and rewards.

Diversity awareness and sensitivity is essentially an emotional cognitive process that requires a great deal of empathy. Some people do not find it easy to empathize with others because they lack the emotional development necessary to do so. Emotional development is still not an essential part of our educational or academic development. As a result, we as leaders rely on the people who will work in our teams to have developed this "soft skill" on their own. It is therefore important to train employees to be empathetic, and this can only work if you as a leader set a good example and are empathetic yourself. Empathetic and patient, especially when it comes to misbehavior and opinions that are far from the values you want to embody.

Learn from people who have direct experience Too often I have been in meetings regarding diversity where the people leading the discussion have no direct experience of what it’s like to be in a minority. I have had men at work, leading discussions on female advancement and inclusion “ticking a box” but with wives at home doing all the running around looking after the children. Invite people to meetings with direct experience: the (male or female) CEO’s who have to do the school run, who support their other halves by taking on the mental load of the family. Gender equality is just a part of the discussion!