The Best Diversity Training Ideas
- Developing the structure of a training session is essential to managing learning and the difficult situations that can arise. Diversity training sessions can touch on sensitive subjects that most people do not discuss openly. Choose a location that is neutral for the participants; an off-site location will help training participants to unplug from their normal duties and engage in the session. Publish the session's agenda prior to the day of training; this gives participants the opportunity to look over the objectives and prepare themselves for discussion topics. Allow participants to set ground rules at the start of the training session. Ground rules set the tone of the training, create buy-in for acceptable behaviors, and give the facilitator tools to manage the participants' behavior if it becomes inappropriate. Develop an issues list for any topics for which an answer is not available, determine an owner for the item and set a timeframe for which an answer will be relayed to the group. Icebreakers are a great way to put the room at ease. Consider your participants and the diversity topic to pick an icebreaker that is relevant to training.
- Ensure the content of the diversity training is relevant to the participants. Focus on the business case for diversity in your workplace. Ideas can be innovative products that came from employees, the changing demographics in America and how the changes will affect market share or product categories. Multimedia is a good way to develop understanding of diversity issues. Videos are available to assist diversity-training efforts. Another option is to use movie clips with diversity acceptance as the films' context. Develop discussion questions for these clips to assist in the learning process.
- Develop tools to use outside of training. Simple words or phrases taught in training can be a tool that participants use in the workplace to point out behaviors that either support or do not support a diverse work environment. Design word phrases to make the conversation nonconfrontational for the person pointing out the misstep and not embarrass the person who is being addressed. For instance, simple phrases like "red box," a behavior that does not support diversity and inclusion, and "green box," a behavior that does support diversity and inclusion, can help people to point out inappropriate behavior. Develop small credit card-size cards stating the company's diversity policy, learning objectives of the training, or words and definitions used in the training. Training cards are a great reference tool.
- Training employees in a classroom setting is just the beginning of making diversity training effective. Create work that goes beyond the classroom; if it is a management group, have them mentor other less-senior managers who are different from them in ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or background. Encouraging employees to understand people who are different from themselves helps to break down barriers and negative stereotypes.