Why Diversity Training Often Fails

In recent years, many organizations have been proactive when it comes to diversity and inclusion training.

This definitely is not only a moral thing to do, but a right thing to do as the North American workforce becomes increasingly diverse. When effective training is offered in the workplace, then productivity and profitsincrease, which is the ultimate goal for any organization.However, many organizations often achieve neither of these two goals, never mind cultural harmony.This is because many businesses do not take diversity and inclusion training seriously. For diversity training to be effective, it must be treated as a business entity and delivered on a regular basis, not once a year.Otherwise, it is like going to the gym a few times a year, then you are unlikely to see any type of real gains. If diversity training is carried out on a regular basis, then organizations are more likely to see a return on their investment.Business decision makers must understand that it takes time for people to come on board because it does not happen over night. And the workers also must know what is it in for them. And how are they going to benefit in the long term?Related: How to Recognize and Avoid Diversity IneffectivenessFurthermore, every single person in the organization from the CEO to employees at the bottom must attend. In many cases the higher ups do not attend thinking they have better things to do. This can be counterproductive because then every staff member is not on the same wavelength.Depending on your business location in North America, organizations besides training can also celebrate different events throughout the year such the Black History month, Indian festival Diwali, Chinese New Year, St. Patrick’s Parade, Pride, etc.There are no easy solutions, but with the proper dedication and execution organizations will eventually begin to see the benefit of diversity and inclusion training.