Innovative thinking is Step One to diversity and inclusion

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lau Tzu

"The Senate Has Finally Passed Its Version of the Sexual Harassment Bill. Here's What Happens Next." - Fortune, May 25, 2018.

“Undoubtedly, progress has been made in educating the workforce and raising awareness about sexual harassment since our first study of sexual harassment in 1980. Over 87 percent of Federal supervisors and 77 percent of nonsupervisory employees have now received training related to this problem.” - Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace:  Trends, Progress, Continuing Challenges - U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (1995)

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For nearly 30 years, the federal government has invested time and resources to address the issue of sexual harassment and, yet, here we are, again, passing a bill to motivate behavioral change. Despite these efforts, we still seem to be grappling with how to solve the problem. Once the new law is passed, how will things change? What will be different ?

Culture plays a critical role in how we address diversity of race and gender, and like any advancement in culture, change is complex. No one company has yet been able to capture the magic elixir of how to be a fully inclusive and equitable organization.

Last year, a facilitator I admire traveled around the United States working with educators on a methodology of learning through a simulation on unconscious bias. Each situation was unique and boiled down to specific moments when best practices within a particular environment could be applied.

The moments that matter in diversity and inclusion are up for healthy debate. Healthy and respectful.

Nearly 8,000 Starbucks stores closed recently for racial bias training, yet we are reminded that “checking the boxes” does not suffice for training and culture change.  According to Starbucks, the special day of training  “is just the beginning and it will take weeks, months and years of conversation to address the multi-faceted issues of human bias as it relates to ethnicities, abilities, class, language, citizenship, political views, religious affiliations and more." (Have a look at their curriculum here.)

According to Dr. Robert O. Brinkerhoff, an internationally known expert in learning effectiveness and an Advantage thought leader partner, the application of learning is where we fall short. Upwards of 60% of individuals fail to apply their learnings.

How Starbucks and Congress grow their impact is more important than “great training.” True success can be measured in evaluating how an organization is using the training to achieve the desired results. Measuring how the behavior is applied daily will be the real test. Time will tell how engaged and motivated the Starbucks partners are in being mindful of the natural bias that resides in each of us. In the interim, Starbucks will share content and curriculum with other companies.

Culture is contextual, however, and how the content and curriculum are applied and sustained are inextricably linked to success. Getting diversity and inclusion right is complex, and there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Acknowledging that changing culture requires innovative thinking is Step One towards progress.

How gratifying it would be if we could fast forward 10 years to find true diversity and inclusion making a difference in the lives of people and the bottom line of organizations. This would be more progress than we have had in the past 30 years!

The path to diversity and inclusion

Recently, I explored this topic with leaders of several organizations. Some appear to be making statistical progress in diversity and inclusion; others are despondent by their results.  How are you stacking up in your efforts? Evaluate your efforts with our interactive quiz,  “Are you doing THIS or THAT?"  

Outcomes: If you’re doing more THIS than THAT, you are aligned more closely with companies, for example Intel, who are fully committed to diversity and inclusion as a strategic initiative. For a deeper dive on how to grow the impact of your D&I training, reach out to us at Advantage Performance Group.