Issue
You need effective diversity and inclusion
(D&I) training that
provides meaningful business results!
Success in D&I training and learning is about realizing the "opportunity" while avoiding the "trap":
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Avoid
"The D&I Training Trap" |
Too often, diversity and inclusion training modules
or programs fail to achieve a measurable outcome or to
have a meaningful impact on business results.
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Common
problems include:
- Backlash, usually due to failure to "meet the learners"
at their current stage of development and readiness.
- An unclear understanding of the required business-related learning outcomes or of why D&I training is
needed.
- Lack of either a business-driven measuring strategy or clear objectives for diversity
training.
- Use of diversity and bias training activities that
do not link with business purpose.
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Achieve
"The D&I Training Opportunity" |
Diversity and inclusion training modules or programs,
when well planned and implemented, can enable and engage teams to deliver meaningful business results.
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Typical success factors include:
- Inform people
about the organization's business needs.
- Implementing changes needed to grow the organization.
- Provide specific knowledge, skills, and tools
that people can use in their daily work.
- Focus on developing peoples' intercultural expertise in leading, working in, and contributing to the success of your increasingly diverse and multicultural organization.
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Solution
Training is most effective when it is
part of a strategy focused on improving business results. The diversity training
should achieve certain workforce and work environment changes
that will help meet business objectives. The changes might
involve developing new knowledge, skills, experiences, or
action plans.
As business diversity training consultants, we design diversity training to meet
your specific business needs.
This starts with the up-front planning process we conduct with you.
To help ensure the best business and learning outcomes from your D&I training investment, the planning
should clearly answer these questions:
- What are the business goals that the training is intended to help
achieve?
- What changes are needed in the
workforce ("who we are") and/or the workplace ("how we work together") to help meet the business
goals??
- How will the training help make the needed workforce
and/or workplace changes?
- How does the training fit into our overall diversity
strategy?
- How do we plan to measure the results, in terms meaningful
to our senior leadership?
- For whom is the training intended? For example: New
hires during employee orientation? All or some current
employees? New managers? Senior executives?
- Do we know the participants' stage of development regarding
diversity and inclusion so that we can design the training
for minimum backlash and maximum benefit?
In this context, training
can be a meaningful tool that has the needed business impact
with each part of your leadership and employee population.
Sample
learning outcomes from our custom diversity and inclusion training
include:
- Assess the business impact of your own culturally-based
preferences, biases, and cultural norms and define developmental
plans to help move forward more effectively.
- Define and
differentiate between diversity, inclusion, intercultural
competence, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), and
Affirmative Action. State their distinct and complementary
characteristics, and how each is relevant to business.
- Describe
how you and the team in which you participate intend
to work differently so that you achieve the full benefits
of diversity and inclusion.
- Describe what an inclusive
workplace looks like and its benefits to all employees
and to our business.
- Learn practical skills and tools to build individual and group effectiveness.
- Start
your own personal action plan to help the organization
achieve a more inclusive workplace.
In our custom
diversity training we typically use the following learning
methodologies: |
- Action planning
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Business story telling
- Case studies
- Experiential exercises
- Dialogue and discussion
- Writing note charts
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- Individual and/or group assessment and
feedback using the Intercultural Development
Inventory (IDI) or the Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire (CWQ)
- Role plays
- Video
- Visualization
- Handouts / job aids
- Distributing employee and manager toolkits
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IDI |
- Measures how a person or a group of people tend to think and feel about cultural difference stemming from any aspect of diversity, human identity, and cultural difference.
- Assesses the core mindset regarding diversity and cultural difference
- Provides the data needed to design
training matched to the participants’ current
developmental stage.
- Helps deliver the most effective
developmental benefit and minimizes the likelihood of creating
backlash.
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CWQ |
- Provides insight into and helps derive tangible business value from culturally-based work preferences and tendencies (CBTs).
- Increases PICAS in working with people from specific aspects of diversity or cross-cultural difference.
- Is derived directly from the work of Dr. Gert Hofstede, who developed the initial version of CWQ.
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MDB Group is certified to provide IDI and CWQ as part
of our diversity training services.
Please call
us to discuss your specific situation. We will gladly
help assess your needs and then design and implement
the most effective diversity and inclusion training for your
situation.
We also apply these techniques
in a more-focused manner specifically for senior
executive team diversity and inclusion (D&I) briefings, seminars,
and workshops.
Sample results
See representative results achieved by MDB Group's principals
at
Diversity Training.
Related links
Diversity training helps meet the needs of many diversity
and inclusion change initiatives. Click the links below
for further insight:
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Training may be added to a strategy or may
provide the knowledge and tools needed for another
add-on. |
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Addressing the root causes of conflict may
involve focused awareness and/or skill training. |
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Training is frequently an integral part of
an overall strategy. |
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Customized briefings or workshops are one
approach to executive learning. |
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Training can focus on inclusive work processes
that increase productivity, innovation, and
creativity. |
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Next steps
Please call
us so that together we can start addressing your specific
training needs.
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Your business
success is our most important objective.
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