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Instructor
Greg Chartier
Diversity and inclusion are complementary terms that depend on each other. Diversity describes the variation in personal, physical, and social characteristics that exist, while inclusion refers to the procedures organizations implement to integrate everyone in the workplace. In other words, diversity indicates the "what" and includes the "how".
The distinction is an important one. Diversity is a globally accepted concept that brings different people into the same territory. Inclusion, on the other hand, introduces concrete methods and strategies to make diversity work.
Workforce diversity has been linked with many benefits, such as boosting creativity and enabling more effective problem-solving. Hiring managers, though, tend to hire people with similar attributes to them, which leads to homogeneous teams and cultures.
This is mostly down to the fact that people are often attracted by similarities, which automatically creates a feeling of common understanding and belonging. But, having recognized diversity’s blessings, recruiters have started to combat bias and move away from homogeneity when they hire people.
Once managers have achieved diversity in their team, the next step is to implement inclusion tactics. Team members need to feel psychologically safe and included to bring diversity’s benefits to light. Some of the common strategies companies adopt to enable this is implementing an EEO policy, conducting training sessions in inclusive leadership or intercultural communication, and recruiting diversity and inclusion managers.
To sum up, diversity and inclusion are complementary and depend on each other. Inclusion is the conscious effort organizations exert to support diversity and pull it beyond simple hype.
Two decades ago, when we discussed diversity and inclusion issues, we were talking about women and minorities. Today, the application of diversity has expanded into new areas with a growing list of groups including race, religion, gender issues, culture, ethnic background, age, and others.
This has changed how we view the whole concept of diversity and, ideally, has moved to view diversity as a matter of legal or ethical compliance to viewing it strategically, as a valuable asset that the organization can effectively use to compete in the marketplace.
D& I training, as currently conducted, has proven to be ineffective, however, and, in many cases counterproductive. Training done badly can also damage otherwise cordial relationships. Women and minorities often leave training sessions thinking their co-workers must be even more biased than they had previously imagined.
More troubling, it turns out that telling people about others’ biases can actually heighten their own. Researchers have found that when people believe everybody else is biased, they feel free to be prejudiced themselves.
The evidence is troubling, yet companies continue to invest heavily in diversity training. It has led to what the Economist dubbed "diversity fatigue." In fact, the article suggested that 12 of the most terrifying words in the English language are "I’m from human resources, and I’m here to organize a diversity workshop."
This webinar will attempt to move the conversation in a different direction by focusing on what your training might actually include making it more effective.