A critical season for improving corporate culture

As the Great Resignation continues to make headlines around the world, a healthy corporate culture is more important than ever. There is no better tool for attracting and retaining talented and committed employees than a culture and climate that empowers employees and gives them a sense of belonging.

In my work as a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, I've seen in many organizations how diversity done well provides individuals with an increased positive sense of satisfaction. Loyalty, longevity and productivity increase when satisfaction is high. In addition, there is a decrease in HR complaints and litigation, as well as workplace bullying and harassment. Overall, people want to be at work and work better and more effectively when they are part of an organization that values diversity.

When inclusion is not valued, modeled, and taught, diversity can become a liability, resulting in tension and toxicity.

Overcoming resistance to diversity and inclusion training

When organizations take the step of beginning diversity and inclusion training, resistance from staff is not unusual. When providing training, I typically see resistance in two categories: resistance as part of the learning process and resistance as a reaction based on fear.

As part of the learning process, resistance looks like people asking questions that are aimed at aligning what is presented with what they already understand about diversity, inclusion, and their corporate culture and practices. These can include:

• "What if…?" questions,
• "What about…?" questions,
• "How come…?" questions,
• "Where's the research on…?" questions.

As these types of questions arise, effective training will embrace them as part of the adult learning process. To help in overcoming this kind of resistance, trainers should be prepared to dialog, show through activities, and otherwise engage in the learning process with any who offer resistance or who appears resistant.

When resistance is a response to fear, it is most often because individuals are experiencing a form of threat. Shame, blame, or judgment language related to inclusion and can lead people to feel threatened. Also, people may feel threatened as they realize the ideas that are being discussed are in direct conflict with their position on the topic.

Fear can also result when people are told they are required to adopt an ideology or theory. This can result in feelings that their autonomy, safety, or job are threatened. This form of resistance is challenging to address head-on. It is easier to overcome when the overall training environments are set up as physically and psychologically safe places and content is delivered within a framework of common ideas that are presented as the rights of all people.

When we engage with a new client, we seek to understand what diversity training has already been done and how employees responded to it. Additionally, looking at the purpose and goals for the training can help us to understand the state of the culture and what type of resistance we might expect.

Factors that cause inclusion training to fail

One current trend in diversity and inclusion training that typically fails seeks to promote diversity through an exclusionary approach. This involves holding up a single idea, phrase or concept as the standard for how everyone will think and behave. In doing so, organizations are effectively saying that to be included and belong, one must ascribe to that standard.

An example of the exclusionary approach can be seen in organizations that seek to become anti-racist by expecting their employees to think, talk, and act within the parameters of the organization's definition of anti-racist. In essence, this approach says that if you hold any views that are outside of the predefined mold, you'll be identified as racist and face anything from being called out to being kicked out.

Another approach that fails is viewing diversity and inclusion through a single lens, such as racism, sexism or classism. This approach nullifies the relevance and experience of intersectionality, which is how membership in various identities of privilege and oppression impact one another and life experiences. As a result, it degrades the very idea of celebrating the gifts and opportunities that diversity brings.

Finally, diversity and inclusion training cannot simply include theory. People must be given information that is actionable and tools that work. Effective training must include time to dialog about what has been theorized as well as time to practice and apply the tools in a safe space. Signs that your culture is embracing diversity and inclusion

For diversity and inclusion to have a positive impact on an organization, it must move from being espoused culture to lived culture. There can be all kinds of great adjectives written in policy and on the walls, but is it lived? Living it means everyone recognizes that diversity and inclusion work is never complete and must be done together.

For culture to shift in a positive direction, people at all levels of the organization must be included in the training, the practice and implementation of the tools and language, and the common expectations. Diversity and inclusion training works best when the full workforce does the work together, from executive leadership to the front lines.

During the training, who is in the room? When difficult conversations need to happen, are the tools being accessed? When something happens, from the little misspeak to the egregious event, is there a reduction of harm protocol in place? Are decisions made based on people or policy? These are the questions that reflect the hallmarks of corporate culture of respect, equity, and belonging.

Diversity and inclusion training is never one and done

Wherever there are people, there will be issues related to diversity and inclusion. Organizations that want to enjoy a better culture through better diversity and inclusion need to give it more than lip service. Adding diversity to your list of values is not enough. It takes a true commitment to work that is often difficult, costly, and uncomfortable.

Diversity training has to be done over time, needs to include all staff, and must incorporate systemic goals of change that are truly measurable. A single training done yearly or every three years will not solve much. When consistent and ongoing training includes behavioral indicators that are clearly communicated, systemically practiced, and tracked in a way that also includes feedback, diversity and inclusion can flourish and corporate culture can become and remain healthy.

Leah Kyaio is a diversity, equity and inclusion expert and the CEO of With-Respect, a DEI/HR consultancy agency. Leah has developed several courses that can be viewed online or conducted in person to help companies create a healthy, respectable, safe, and effective workplace. She specifically helps with providing strategies for engaging resistance within the workforce as well as issues where previous diversity work has resulted in divisiveness, violence, or toxic work environments.

Read more:

• The long, hard road to improving diversity in the benefits industry
• 5 ways to encourage 'majority men' to care about diversity
• 3 strategies for promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace