Diversity Training

Diversity Training Doesn’t Work*: Contrarian views from Peter Bregman, strategic advisor to CEOs and leadership teams. This piece, in an HBR blog dated March 12^th, has already drawn 100+ comments.

• Centers around a media company – Bedia
• Diversity training does not extinguish prejudice; it promotes it
• What people could and could not say seemed to hurt
• Rather than changing attitudes of prejudice and bias, categorizing people reinforces both
• People are not prejudiced against real people; they are prejudiced against categories
• We need to see people as people
• Stop training people to be more accepting of diversity; train them to do their work with a diverse set of individuals, not categories of people
• Move beyond similarity and diversity toward individuality
• The antidote to the ineffectiveness of diversity training is the opposite of diversity training. If you want diversity, think about an individual, another, then another
• So how did Bedia get it right? They decided to put all managers through communication training. People learned to listen and speak with each other, no matter the difference; this is the key to creating a vibrant and inclusive environment

So is this really a case against diversity training? Or is it perhaps the next step forward?

*Original blog by Peter Bregman: http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2012/03/diversity-training-doesnt-work.html?awid=8988621802016686590-3271