TOP TEN REASONS DIVERSITY TRAINING SUCCEEDS!

Last week we talked about why diversity training fails, today we will talk about the reasons they succeed, and how you can avoid an ineffective diversity initiative.

1. It is developed through a partnership of internal employees (diversity steering committee) and an external subject matter expert (diversity consultant and trainer).

2. It has a senior-level advocate or champion. The champion of the internal diversity steering committee is the President and/or CEO of your organization. He/she participated in workshops where all of the diversity training consultant candidates considered were asked to present and train. You test drove all of the diversity training contractors and picked the best trainer - not the one that looked best on paper.

3.It is supported by sound research. Your organizations is presenting the business rationale, the bottom-line results of doing this work. Also presented are the costs of not doing this work. Your company is doing this work because their future, market share, retention of talent, and performance depend on understanding and anticipating the needs of an increasingly diverse workplace and marketplace.

4. occurs in a supportive corporate culture, one that reflects an ongoing commitment to continuous learning. You may have a resource or learning center where books, articles, and other support and educational materials are available. Now, you can even find cd-rom training programs for individual or small group learning. Multicultural calendars are made available to everyone, possibly through your intranet.

5. It is "skill-based." All diversity training is awareness based. When you actually develop a set of skills or what I call "tools" for your diversity skill/tool kit.

6. It ensures transfer of skills from the training room to the workplace. Diversity training should educate and empower all employees with new skills and tools.

7. It is not dependent on a "savior." Do not rely on one person (diversity trainer or manager of diversity) to save the organization. A steering committee representing the whole organization must uniformly champion all of the initiatives.

8. It does re-all." A formal mentoring program that includes and encourages all employees to participate is another potential diversity initiative. Many organizations are going to structured group interviews to stop the "cloning" and homogenization of management and leadership ranks.

9. It is thoroughly planned, implemented, and measured for its impact on the organization.

10. It takes on a life of its own. Employees are fired up and asked to participate, to carry the torch forward. Employees are encouraged to get involved, develop and lead brown-bag discussions, mini-training, and other activities. A formal diversity learning center is established. Such a center has books, videos, audiotapes, cd-roms, and other learning materials available for all employees when they need such assistance. There is an ongoing and continuous commitment to creating and promoting a more inclusive work environment that values our differences.