Asking people what they could do: When DEI Training promotes Inclusion
Deanna Singh
Inclusion Leader Expert Speaker & Consultant, Chief Change Agent of Four Purpose Driven Enterprises, Author of Actions Speak Louder ??
Welcome to June 2023! We're glad you're here! Justin Ponder , co-founder of Uplifting Impact is the contributing author of today's Uplifting Conversations LinkedIn Newsletter article. Thanks for your valuable insights, Justin!
“JUST TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO”
A few years ago, I was facilitating a session on inclusion at a company we’ll call Generic Industries. I used best practices. Open-ended discussion questions. Individual, small-group, and whole-room brainstorming. But after the session, leaders stayed beyond. They claimed the last 90 minutes was “a waste of time.” They argued they did a lot of brainstorming but didn’t learn anything. According to them, good training happened when trainers had the courage to “just tell people what to do.”
While this argument is attractive, evidence suggests the opposite. Sociology Professors Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev looked at DEI programs that “just tell people what to do.” They reviewed thousands of studies stretching back decades and found the benefits of diversity training last a few days and eventually inspire backlash*. In forceful contexts, trainees actually recruit, hire, or promote diverse managers less. Why? Those who attend DEI training where they are just told what to do actually end up doing worse than they’ve always done.
So, what are some ways out? Here are three.
Despite these statistics, many organizations seek to build more inclusive workplaces through DEI training. To teach participants how to be inclusive, many use lectures, statistics, instructions, and tests. They measure success by how well audiences have actionable items they can use to replicate tasks. At its worst, training sounds like something we do to pets–give commands for others to repeat for treats.?
But inclusion does something different. It honors differences, requires collaboration, and acknowledges diverse perspectives. These things are so different from training, we have to wonder if “DEI training” is an oxymoron. Whatever the case, if people are going to learn about inclusion, we must use methods that are inclusive. As a topic, inclusion runs counter to the status quo. It will disrupt racism, sexism, and xenophobia. But inclusive pedagogy will also upset traditional training models. It means we have to do a lot of things training doesn’t. It even means we have to do a lot of things people think are “a waste of time.” Ultimately, we have to stop “training” where trainers train trainees. In its place, we must start creating “experiences” where people have opportunities to learn for themselves.
2. REDEFINE “ACTION”
The starkest difference between training and educational experiences emerges when it comes to defining “action.” Most favor “actionable items,” “key takeaways,” and “next steps.” At face value, these popular buzzwords seem like moral virtues. They suggest the ultimate goal of training is observable results and the only way to prove learning is if audiences can do the things they’ve been told to do.
But DEI is different. Creating inclusion requires more than upskilling. Organizations that become inclusive achieve culture change. And how do you change a culture? By changing hearts and minds. But how do you change hearts and minds? Not by telling people what to think and feel. Instead, you give them occasion to reflect on what they already think and feel. Only when they are trusted with this opportunity do people begin considering how to improve their thoughts and feelings.
Training tells people what to do at work after the session. Experiences have people do creative work within the session. Instead of giving you steps for being inclusive, they practice inclusion by making room for participants to create, brainstorm, ask, try, fail, and revise their own strategies for practicing inclusivity. Instead of just telling people what to do, it gives them 90 minutes to create things on their own they could do. And with those self-generated ideas, they are much more likely to actually enact them over time.
3. CREATE CO-CREATORS
A third goal of inclusive teachings is to help participants become co-creators in the educational experience. Many have been turned into passive trainees, students, and audiences. When invited to become more, most feel discomfort. Open-ended discussion questions, unmonitored breakout rooms, and broad conversations about what inclusion is are met by demands to just “tell people what to do.”?
But inclusive pedagogy creates the space for them to act inclusively, to brainstorm with each other, to be inclusive enough to leave room for “trainees, students, and audiences” to actually lead the session. True inclusion means allowing people to become co-creators of the learning experience. The organizations that become more inclusive are those that have sessions where they spend time uncomfortably, confusingly, and frustratingly stumbling along. Rather than being told, “This is what inclusion is,” they are asked, “What is inclusion for you?”?
Training turns inclusion into something that is done to passive trainees. But experiences turn inclusion into something participants create. Because they create definitions, benefits, and strategies that are particular to their skills, context, and organizational mission, they are more likely to go beyond thinking about inclusion to start acting inclusively.?
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..."real change comes when we have the courage to just ask people what they could do"
JUST ASK PEOPLE WHAT THEY COULD DO
Three weeks after my discussion with Generic Industries, I had a DEI session with another organization we’ll call Inclusive Enterprises. The structure for the session was the same, but the results couldn’t have been more different. And what made the difference? Inclusive Enterprises recognized the virtues of educational experiences. Session co-creators developed strategies for how they could define, foster, and create inclusion. During that session, they came up with all kinds of ideas. They struggled, misstepped, and got frustrated. But their leaders supported this approach.?
Years later, Inclusive Enterprises has multiple ERGs, a DEI task force, and an intergroup mentoring program. And who are those ERG leaders, task force members, and mentors? All volunteers who created their own strategies for inclusion during educational experiences. Telling people what to do leads to misalignment, burnout, and backlash that preserve the status quo. But inclusion happens when you give people the space to find themselves within DEI.?
The ultimate value of DEI is that it seeks to rehumanize all people who’ve been dehumanized. To reawaken them to the humanity of others, we must first reawaken them to their own humanity. They are beings with perspectives, thoughts, and feelings. Few things drive those virtues away like training. On the other hand, few things reawaken them like educational experiences whose primary action is to invite them to become co-creators. Many insist we should “just tell people what to do.” But real change comes when we have the courage to “just ask people what they could do.”
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* Dobbin, Frank and Alexandra Kalev. (July-August 2016). “Why Diversity Programs Fail, And what Works Better.” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail
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VP of Organizational Development @ Vaco | Employee Performance Management
1 年This is such a powerful and thought-provoking article Justin Ponder! I have sent it to our Training and Development and DEI Teams to consider and discuss. I also love how you didn't let one experience prevent you from facilitating DE&I "training" the way you know that works best. I've encountered this for years too, with regards to performance management. Many "leaders" and organizations just want to be told what to do and not to do, and while there are some foundational principles we should teach, experiential learning sticks for much longer, helping new neural pathways to be built. We have taught them how to fish when we approach learning & development this way. :-)