D&I Questions We Hear Frequently, with Responses and Related Links

 

This page lists diversity and inclusion questions we frequently hear. Each question includes a brief response and links to the most relevant pages on our website.

You might also try our Diversity and Inclusion Solution Guide. The guide is a topical index of our website.

Contact MDB Group directly. We will be happy to speak with you about your questions and to help you move forward in the most effective manner possible.

Not getting diversity results

 

• Our diversity initiative is stuck. What should we try next?
• We had a great diversity initiative. Then our company hit hard times. Diversity is now on the back burner with nothing happening. How do we reinvigorate it?
• We put a new recruiting, promotion, performance management, mentoring, promotion, or succession planning process in place (or, perhaps all of them!) but nothing changed. Now what?
• Representation of Women and People of Color just isn’t changing around here, despite our great diversity strategy. Why?

 

Conflict management

 

• Some key individuals in our organization just can’t get along. It’s affecting productivity. What should we do?
• A key leadership or project team is having a tough time. Communications is poor. Team members feel disengaged. Innovation is down. Customer deliverables are late. What should we do?

 

Diversity councils

 

• Do I need a diversity council?
• What should the council do? What is its agenda? Mission?
• How do I form a diversity council?

 

Diversity strategies

 

• What does your Business-Aligned® diversity planning look like? How is it different and more effective?
• Can you give me an example of a Business-Aligned® D&I action plan?
• I have to put together a diversity plan. What should I do?

 

Diversity metrics, measurements, scorecards

 

• What should we measure?
• We defined some great new metrics, so why is nothing happening?

 

Diversity training

 

• What diversity training should we do?
• What type of diversity training do you offer?
• Our diversity training didn’t seem to make a difference. What do you suggest?
• What are the dates for your upcoming diversity training workshops / classes? How do I sign up for some diversity training?

 

Employee network or affinity groups

 

• What are the benefits and drawbacks of employee network groups?
• Should we implement employee network groups?
• Are employee network groups divisive?
• Can Employee Network Groups cause problems with a union or help a union come into our company?

 

Team building and team effectiveness

 

• Conflict and tension among members is getting in the way of our team doing its work.
• Our team is not communicating effectively. Some members speak a lot and some rarely contribute in our meetings.
• Our team is just forming or has recently formed. What should we do to help ensure our success?
• We need a facilitator to help manage our progress and improve our productivity and innovation. Can MDB Group help?

 

Turnover, retention, morale

 

• We have high turnover, especially of Women and/or People of Color. What should we do?
• We are losing key talent and it is hurting our business.
• Our employee survey results are very low, especially for Women and/or People of Color.
• Morale is terrible around here.

 

Miscellaneous

 

• Holiday Decorations: Should we allow them? What is OK to display? An employee is protesting and saying we should ban decorations.

 

Have a question not addressed here? We will be happy to speak with you:    contact MDB Group directly

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Not getting diversity results

 

• Our diversity initiative is stuck. What should we try next?
• We had a great diversity initiative. Then our company hit hard times. Diversity is now on the back burner with nothing happening. How do we reinvigorate it?

 

In most instances a diversity initiative gets “stuck” for one (or both) of two fundamental reasons: Misalignment with the business or ineffective (non-inclusive) decision making.

Strategies frequently are misaligned. Simply put, they are not relevant to key business priorities and not helping achieve meaningful business results. When this happens, the CEO, senior leadership team, and line managers may pay attention at first although their interest quickly dwindles. They are right! It is the diversity leader’s responsibility to ensure that every aspect of the diversity and inclusion initiative is directly aligned with and helping achieve key business objectives.

This alignment is what we focus on achieving every time we design a diversity strategy. It is central to what we at MDB Group call Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion. This is described in further detail on the web pages addressing diversity strategies and strategic planning off-sites.

These pages provide further insight:

Strategic planning off-sites for Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion
Growing your business through diversity and inclusion
Diversity strategies: new, reinvigorated, and add-ons
MDB Group’s perspective about diversity and inclusion
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned diversity strategy (diversity article)

Alternatively, if you put in place excellent new processes and no change is occurring, you may have a decision-making issue. Please refer to the next FAQ about processes.

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• We put a new recruiting, promotion, performance management, mentoring, promotion, or succession planning process in place (or, perhaps all of them!) but nothing changed. Now what?
• Representation of Women and People of Color just isn’t changing around here, despite our great diversity strategy. Why?

 

Leading-edge inclusive processes are necessary. And insufficient . Effective implementation is essential! Change only occurs when the decision makers implementing the process make more inclusive decisions. The initiative must encourage this. How? Accountability and shifting decision makers’ thinking and behavior.

Accountability should be built into a diversity strategy as part of the initial design. The design phase can be structured to help achieve this from the very beginning. Leaders, and everyone else for that matter, choose to accept accountability for things with which they agree and that help them attain their key objectives. For more information, we recommend these pages about designing an effective D&I strategic plan:

Strategic planning off-sites for Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion
Diversity strategies: new, reinvigorated, and add-ons
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned diversity strategy (diversity article)

What do we mean by shifting decision makers’ thinking and behavior? Consider two alternative situations for someone making an important decision:

Leader A thinks that yes there are differences among people. But they're on the surface. Primarily, we're all human. We all act alike, want the same things, etc. This person has a worldview or perspective that minimizes difference as something that is unimportant. Unstated although present is the assumption that “we all should act like me”. If you really seem different, you likely appear risky.

Leader B thinks difference is very important. There are differences among us and they are real and significant. We interact in different ways. Leader B has a good understanding of these differences at a cognitive, behavioral, and values level. These differences are good and to be sought out and included.

Who is more likely to choose a person just like them? Leader A. Who is more likely to seek a diverse team? Leader B. Research shows that most of the Corporate world is more like Leader A.

Shifting decision makers’ thinking and behavior about difference is a developmental approach to coaching Leader A to become more like Leader B.

We recommend this page for further insight:

Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), to build individual and team effectiveness

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Conflict management strategies / outcomes

 

• Some key individuals in our organization just can’t get along. There’s conflict and tension. It’s affecting productivity. What should we do?
• A key leadership or project team is having a tough time. Communications is poor. Team members feel disengaged. Innovation is down. Customer deliverables are late. What should we do?

 

Conflict is not inevitable. It can be resolved. It can be avoided. It can even be turned to advantage.

Frequently we find that inability to communicate and work effectively with people of different cultural backgrounds is at the heart of an individual, team, or organizational conflict situation. These cultural differences may relate to any of the dimensions of diversity.

When people lack the skills and experience to manage it effectively, conflict becomes an issue. When people have the right skills and experience, these  same differences become the source of increased creativity and productivity, yielding sustainable competitive business advantage.

We adapt our conflict management strategies to each specific situation to help ensure the right outcome. This may take the form of individual coaching, team facilitation, or team interventions.

For further detail about conflict in general, we recommend these website pages:

Conflict management strategies/outcomes
Conflict management results  
Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), to build individual and team effectiveness

Regarding individual or small group coaching, we recommend these pages:

Executive coaching
Executive briefings and workshops

Regarding team or organization conflict resolution, we recommend these pages:

Workforce productivity, innovation, & creativity
Morale and turnover/retention
Productive and supportive work environments

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Diversity councils

 

• Do I need a diversity council?
• What should the council do? What is its agenda? Mission?

 

Our answer depends upon whether your organization is first designing its diversity and inclusion strategy or it is deploying and implementing one.

We find that Business-Aligned® diversity strategies are the most effective. They can improve profitability and help manage reputation. They are sustainable. Diversity councils are optional at this point. Developing a strategy can start with the CEO and senior leadership team or with a council.

Interviews with the CEO and senior executive team can be the starting point for a strategy. Further insight about relevant issues can be gained from interviews or focus groups across the organization and from data analysis. In this instance, a council is not needed during the design phase.

A strategy can also be designed by a council, if the council meets certain criteria. The council must have executive participation, a clear and focused mandate, expert facilitation, and a time-bound agenda. The council may well do the same type of work described in the previous paragraph. If the council has members drawn from across the organization, it may provide input directly about relevant workplace issues.

During implementation, a well-focused diversity council can make many vital contributions. Potential roles include providing feedback, communicating, teaching, and being engaged role models.

For further information and perspective we recommend these pages:

MDB Group’s perspective about diversity and inclusion
Diversity strategies: new, reinvigorated, and add-ons
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned® diversity strategy (diversity article)
The Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion strategy (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• How do I form a diversity council?

 

Determine the intended purpose first. Then form the council with members that can achieve the objective. This sounds simple. It is. Most councils, however, are formed in reverse. A group of interested people is convened and left largely on their own to figure out what to do.

So, what does it look like when done effectively? Once the purpose is established, consider these questions as a guide:

 

• What levels, functions, backgrounds, skills, and perspectives are needed to achieve the objective?
• Is there sufficient diversity in all the above dimensions on the team?
• Do the team members have both well developed intercultural sensitivity and diversity and inclusion subject matter expertise so that they will work inclusively and be stellar role models?
• Has the necessary work been done to ensure that the council's recommendations will be heard and implemented?

 

For further insight and perspective we recommend these pages:

Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), to build individual and team effectiveness
Executive briefings and workshops on diversity and inclusion
The Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion strategy (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Diversity strategies

 

• What does your Business-Aligned® diversity planning look like? How is it different and more effective?

 

MDB Group's Business-Aligned® diversity planning model “turns around” one’s perspective about diversity and inclusion (D&I). The model applies a workforce and workplace lens to key business objectives.

This time-tested planning process has been applied in small to large organizations across many different industrial sectors. It is completely independent of an organization’s customers (e.g. consumer or business). It works if an organization has key business objectives and does not have the ideal workforce and workplace to achieve those business objectives. That covers just about all organizations…

The D&I planning process poses these questions, which must be explored in depth:

1. What are your key business goals over the next few years?
2. What do you need in terms of workforce and workplace to achieve these business goals?
3. How do the workforce and workplace needs compare to the current situation?

This data provides the basis for defining a D&I plan that directly helps achieve the organization's key business objectives. The intense focus on key business objectives and the organization-design approach are unique.

Is this practical to do? Absolutely. Is it easy? Sometimes. It takes expertise, knowledge, and experience in the field of diversity and inclusion. These pages provide further insight, including a podcast:

Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion planning process
Diversity strategies: new, reinvigorated, and add-ons
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned diversity strategy (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• Can you give me an example of a Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion action plan?

 

Let’s say your CEO has a key business objective to build a safer workplace – a “safety culture” as it is known.

What does a safety culture look like in terms of people and workplace? Among other things, it calls for a work place in which people can communicate well, relate with each other, and feel good about identifying and fixing potential safety issues. Especially if the team is quite diverse, this calls for team-wide strong ability to communicate effectively with people having different thinking patterns, values, behaviors, communication styles.

Research shows that we all think we’re better at this than we are. So a diversity and inclusion initiative that builds deeper understanding of cultural difference and team effectiveness communicating with other people of different backgrounds will help achieve this change, and thus help achieve the organization’s key business objective of building a safety culture. These pages provide further insight, including a diversity podcast:

Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion planning process
Diversity strategies: new, reinvigorated, and add-ons
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned diversity strategy (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• I have to put together a diversity plan. What should I do?

 

Diversity and inclusion strategies are most effective and sustainable when linked to business purpose and needs and when they take into account your company’s culture. The diversity and inclusion work should help achieve changes in the workforce and the work environment that your CEO and senior leadership agree are needed to reach business objectives. This is essential for it to be meaningful to your CEO and thus sustainable.

MDB Group’s Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion planning model and D&I strategic planning off-site are excellent tools to get started quickly and effectively. They apply to virtually all organizational environments. These pages provide further insight:

Strategic planning off-sites for Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion
Diversity strategies: new, reinvigorated, and add-ons
MDB Group’s perspective about diversity and inclusion
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned diversity strategy (diversity article)
The Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion strategy (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Diversity metrics, measurements, scorecards

 

• What should we measure?
  
• We defined some great new diversity metrics, so why is nothing happening?

 

There are hundreds of potential metrics. Most will be meaningless or irrelevant to your particular business needs. A few will be absolutely critical to your company’s future business success. Focus on finding and using those “critical few” metrics.

Consider these questions: What business-related outcomes are you seeking with your diversity strategy? What changes do you need to make in your workforce and work environment to help attain your key business objectives over the next several years? These answers should guide your selection of metrics.

For more on this topic we recommend these pages:

Diversity metrics and scorecards
Diversity metrics and scorecards sample results
Workplace assessments
Designing accountability into a Business-Aligned diversity strategy (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Diversity training

 

• What diversity training should we do?

 

To be effective, diversity training must be planned to achieve specific business-related outcomes. Ideally, the training is part of the implementation phase of an overall strategy. These two high-level questions should guide choice and design of content:

* What business-related outcome do you need from the training?
* How ready for the training is the target audience? What prior training, if any, has been done?

For further background and insight we recommend these pages:

Diversity training
Executive briefings and workshops
Team building and team development

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• What type of diversity training do you offer?

 

MDB Group provides all types of Business-Aligned® diversity training from basic awareness and understanding through to advanced development of intercultural sensitivity.

Two aspects distinguish our training. Your needs. Our Business-Aligned diversity approach. We work with you to understand your business priorities and the related workforce and work environment changes you need to make. This identifies and clarifies the intended business-related outcome. We then custom design the training to your unique situation.

For more on this, we recommend these pages:
 
Diversity training
Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), to build individual and team effectiveness
Executive briefings and workshops
Team building and team development

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• Our diversity training didn’t make a difference. What do you suggest?

 

Most often diversity training fails for one or both of two reasons: Unclear or misaligned intended outcomes. Content and delivery not matched to the participants’ learning and development readiness and needs.
 
For more background about these issues and MDB Group’s solution, we recommend these pages:
 
Diversity training
Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), to build individual and team effectiveness
Executive briefings and workshops
Team building and team development

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• What are the dates for your upcoming diversity training workshops / classes? How do I sign up for some diversity training?

 

All our training (and coaching and consulting) is customized to each client's situation and business-related needs. It is provided at the convenience of the client. To be effective, diversity and inclusion, or D&I, training must be planned and designed to achieve specific changes in the workforce and/or workplace that will help the organization grow and meet its business goals. This leads to each situation being unique.

MDB Group responds to this situation by custom designing each training program to the client's specific needs. We find that this is can be quite cost effective while helping ensure that the training helps produce meaningful business results.
 
For more background about these issues and MDB Group’s solution, we recommend these pages:
 
Diversity training
Executive briefings and workshops


For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Employee network or affinity groups

 

• What are the benefits and drawbacks of employee network groups?
• Should we implement employee network groups?
  
• Are employee network groups divisive?

 

Employee Network Groups (ENGs) have many potential benefits to a company's profitability and business results, to employees, and to the external community. There also are many potential pitfalls. It is essential to develop a solid implementation plan aligned with your business needs to focus the groups. It is equally important to develop the right policies and procedures to guide the ENG work.

So does it make sense to implement ENGs? Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. If they can help achieve the specific objectives of your Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion strategy and you have the support resources needed, they can provide immense benefits.

Can ENGs be divisive? Over ten years of experience has shown us that with effective planning and implementation, and the right policies and procedures in place, network groups are generally a positive force for change.

For further background and perspective, we recommend these pages:

Employee Network Groups
Developing and Implementing Employee Network Groups (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• Can Employee Network Groups cause problems with a union or help a union come into our company?

 

Some folks raise concerns about the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and cases such as Electromation. These certainly are valid concerns, if you allow the groups to get involved in negotiating terms and conditions of employment. This is one reason having the right policies and procedures is important, to guide ENG involvement and avoid potential conflicts of interest. With effective planning and management, this should not be a concern.

For further background and perspective, we recommend these pages:

Employee Network Groups
Developing and Implementing Employee Network Groups (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Team building and team effectiveness

 

• Conflict and tension among members is getting in the way of our team doing its work.
  
• Our team is not communicating effectively. Some members speak a lot and some rarely contribute in our meetings.

 

Conflict within a team and communication difficulties frequently indicate a need to develop team members' interpersonal skills and relationships. When the team members have very different cultural backgrounds, this becomes even more important due to the wider range of experiences, thinking patterns, and feeling and behavioral norms. This same diversity, effectively harnessed, can generate greater productivity, innovation, and creativity.

The best approach is to measure how the team currently experiences cultural difference. That is, how the team overall and each member reacts to and communicates and works with people having a different cultural background. Team and individual development can be tailored to the team's current state and its specific business challenges. This readily addresses conflict and communication issues, bringing the team to a higher state of readiness and effectiveness.

In many teams the leader has a special role guiding the team's operation including how it addresses problems, conducts conversations, and makes decisions. These leaders must have well-developed interpersonal skills and abilities to communicate and work well with all team members. Individual coaching of the leader can dramatically boost team effectiveness in such situations.

The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) is one instrument we use in working with teams to address these needs. IDI measures how an individual and/or a team experiences cultural difference and provides the basis for developmental work.

For further background, we recommend these pages:

Team development
Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), to build individual and team effectiveness
Executive coaching

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• Our team is just forming or has recently formed. What should we do to help assure our success?

 

Focus up front on both what the team must do and how the team will do its work. It is common for teams to get right to work and implicitly assume how they will discuss issues, include everyone, and make decisions. The problem is that each person makes their own assumptions and there is no common agreement. Reaching a common understanding on these issues and on the needed business outcome will help assure the team a successful outcome.

This is important for all teams, whether consolidated at one geographic location or spread across the globe, whether working together for the first time or having already completed many projects successfully. Each team will need different training depending upon its make-up and history of previous work.

For further background, we recommend this page:

Team development

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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• We need a facilitator to help manage our progress and improve our productivity and innovation. Can MDB Group help?

 

Yes. We are experienced facilitators. We can facilitate using your own processes if they are already in place. Or, if appropriate, we can work with you to develop an effective set of work practices for the team. This combines facilitation with team development, discussed in the preceding questions. As with all our services, we customize our facilitation to your specific needs and circumstances.


For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Turnover, retention, morale

 

• We have high turnover, especially of Women and/or People of Color. What should we do?
  
• We are losing key talent and it is hurting our business.
  
• Our employee survey results are very low, especially for Women and/or People of Color.
  
• Morale is terrible around here.

 

Turnover / retention issues and morale issues are frequently inter-related. Often, it's about work environment! Solutions can be surprisingly easy to find and implement.

Most companies say that they need highly talented, creative, skilled people. It stands to reason that such people will only be interested in working where they are welcomed and supported. Understanding and addressing actual issues in your specific work environment is frequently at the core of truly addressing turnover/retention and morale.

For further background, we recommend these pages:

Retention / turnover and morale in inclusive environments
Productive and supportive work environments
Window on the future of diversity and inclusion (diversity article)

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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Miscellaneous

 

• Holiday Decorations: Should we allow them? What is OK to display? An employee is protesting and saying we should ban decorations.

 

It is generally most effective to develop a policy about decorations from the perspective of "let's make this the most inclusive environment possible". These are the key elements of an approach that we find works well in many instances for nonsectarian work environments:

 

• In common or public areas, allow only non-denominational displays. For example, general holiday season trees.
• In an employee's individual work space, allow any display that is meaningful to the employee so long as it does not create a hostile or threatening environment. Such displays must not put down or disparage another group.
• All displays must conform to company safety regulations (e.g. electrical and fire safety). Frequently, this means in part, no open flames and limitations on use of natural trees that may dry out and become a fire hazard.

 

Some employees may find any displays objectionable from the perspective that the displays infringe upon their personal religious or other beliefs about holidays and celebrations. Dialogue from a perspective of inclusion is the best approach to such a situation. Explore core needs and see if an alternative solutions can be found that includes everyone.

For immediate professional assistance:   contact MDB Group directly

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