December 11, 2009

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of Dr. Shirley Davis and ourselves, it was a pleasure to have you join us for Dr. Mary-Frances Winters’ December 8 webinar, “Diversity Training: Does It Work?” Thank you for being part of a very lively discussion and for providing feedback on the event.

We are making additional copies of the presentation slides and several articles written or co-written by Dr. Winters in the light blue box to the right.  If you purchased a recording of Dr. Winters’ presentation as a stand alone item or in addition to attending the live event, you’ll access it by following the instructions already send to you by our technology partner, KRM Information Services.  If you don’t yet have your codes, contact us and we will set you up to enter the session through the slide image in the same blue column.

Dr. Winters, a pioneering thought-leader in the field of diversity, began her presentation with a long-term perspective. Over the past 25 years, she stated, there has been a tremendous amount of discussion and activity in the realm of diversity training. Some of that conversation and some of those results have been very positive, some not. Under what circumstances, Dr. Winters then asked, has diversity training been effective, and when has it not been effective?

Using many spot poll questions, Dr. Winters engaged with the audience to illuminate where participating organizations are “at” with respect to diversity. We review those numbers below:

• 100% of participating organizations have conducted diversity training in the past.
• 86% of the attendees are responsible for the diversity initiatives in their organization.
• Only 13% of organizations have largely achieved their diversity goals; while 81% have somewhat achieved their goals.
• Only 28% of organizations have a consistent and well-understood definition of diversity; while 72% do not. (According to Dr. Davis, this number is consistent with SHRM’s 2007 research study which found 78% of surveyed organizations to be in the same circumstance.)
• Only 4% of organizations have a consistent and well-understood definition of inclusion; 96% do not.
• 28% of organizations have a consistent and well-understood business case for diversity; 71% do not.
• At 19% of organizations diversity and inclusion are discussed a great deal; at 50%, somewhat, and at 30% rarely.
• At 82% of organizations diversity training is event-based with little follow-up; at 17% follow-up was good.
• At 40% of organizations diversity training is integrated into other training programs; at 60% it is not.
• At 61% of organizations diversity training is oriented toward enhancing interpersonal relationships; while at 14% is is directed toward understand legal obligations; and at 23% it is a blend.
• Only 8% of organizations do a thorough needs assessment to determine the appropriate content for diversity training; while at 91% of organizations this does not occur.

Over the past 40 years, diversity discussions have evolved. From 1964 to 1968, diversity was primarily concerned with Compliance and Regulations. From 1989 to 1995, the conversation and the training revolved around Sensitivity. From 1996 to the present, the forward-thinking organizations have been focused on the Business Case argument. Going forward, Dr. Winters sees the diversity discussion increasingly centering around Sustainability.

To clarify her terms, Dr. Winters began with definitions of diversity and inclusion. Organizational diversity, according to Dr. Winters, is the collective mixture of the workforce, and includes both visible (such as race and gender) and invisible (such as sexual orientation and work experience) characteristics.

Everyone in an organization can feel part of the diversity discussion through such a definition since everyone, because of their background, thought processes, experiences and visible characteristics is different or diverse. Diversity does not have to be created, in other words, it is inherently part of any group or organization. The challenge, however, is to make that mix work better,

Dr. Winters’ expanded definition of diversity is critical for driving inclusion at organizations which she defines as the ability to leverage workforce differences for better business outcomes.

There are three fundamental reasons why this diversity / inclusion conversation is becoming more imperative. First, we have increasing diversity in our workforce. As the traditional labor pool shrinks, the new pool is becoming increasingly diverse because of the entry of more women and immigrants.

As a result, the workplace (which is essentially organizational culture) is becoming increasingly diverse. Dr. Winters paused to ask participants whether their organizational culture allowed employees to feel included, respected for their input, etc. Inclusion can be measured indirectly through such indicators as engagement, productivity, and innovation.

And finally, the marketplace is becoming more diverse, too. Customers come from diverse backgrounds, have increasingly diverse needs for different goods and services, and the marketplace is increasingly global.

All three factors are making diversity competence critical for today’s organizations. Achieving diversity and inclusion goals requires “intercultural competence.”

Dr. Winters next pointed out the critical importance of connecting diversity training to the organization’s overall strategy. This is done first by aligning diversity training to the organization’s vision and mission; then by enrolling the leadership fully in terms of being advocates for the diversity strategy who are also models of accountability; then by going beyond training, which builds skills, to education, which can actually change mindsets and behaviors.

Dr. Winters ended her presentation by describing the pathway organizations can take for achieving their diversity and inclusion goals and how diversity training can be integrated into business processes and strategy.

It was a lively and illuminating presentation, and Dr. Shirley Davis fielded many questions from the audience. We’d like to encourage you, if you have more questions or discussion points that you’d like to raise, to do so using the comments feature below where we will continue the dialogue.

A copy of Dr. Winters’ book, Inclusion Starts With I: Eight Steps to Inclusiveness – The Personal Journey will be mailed to each registration site shortly. While you wait, we invite you to access Dr. Winters’ blog posts and her and her website for additional research.

On behalf of Dr. Mary-Frances Winters and Dr. Shirley Davis, we thank you again for joining us, and look forward to the next occasion.

Warm Regards,
Unbound Ideas