Five Strategies for Improving the Effectiveness of Diversity Training
摘要
Diversity training is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and yet, public perceptions paint it as an ineffective practice. In this chapter, we argue that this sweeping generalization is unfair, and offer five strategies on how to improve diversity training based on evidence-based practices. Under certain conditions, the positive potential of diversity training may be unleashed. First, we recommend management buy-in, given that leaders have large spans of organizational influence and the power to communicate important messaging. Second, we recommend diversity training be tailored to an organization’s needs through an organizational needs-based analysis, which can, as our third point makes, be solidified through goal-setting theory. Fourth, we suggest diversity training be implemented over time, as research points to better results when learning is spaced out. Lastly, we highlight the need for more outcome-based studies in order to accurately measure and coin diversity training success. Overall, integrating these strategies into diversity training will help organizations maximize outcomes while simultaneously building an evidentiary basis for best practices moving forward.