The 3 Critical Questions Every Company & Organization Must Answer Before Even Thinking About Leading an Implicit Bias & Diversity Training.

A few years after I had started teaching, my school district held its first diversity& bias training. It was a one hour session in our auditorium with the entire staff. The premise of the training was to have a discussion around our cultural biases and how we may bring them into the classroom. As well intention as the workshop was supposed to be, it did not end well. In fact, before it even began you could feel the tension in the room. There was a mix of fear, apprehension and defensiveness. Ironically, by the time the staff began to move into a more fruitful and honest conversation, the hour was up and many of the staff left in frustration with no closure and only to repeat the same thing every year a training was mandatory. It seems as though more was lost than gained from those sessions.

In truth, I cannot blame the staff. If we think about it, who would really want to put themselves on the spotlight to be seen as biased or even racist? Coming to the realization that your cultural biases, whether implicit, explicit, conscious or unconscious may have negatively impacted the life outcomes of a person of color, disability, gender, LGBTQ or impoverished background is hard for anyone to come to grips with. Unfortunately, by not doing so, it is those same groups that bear the brunt of our biases in the form of everything from discrimination in the workplace, suspensions in the school system, police brutality and even death. Which is why it is critical that all corporations, educational systems and organizations should be cautioned to not haphazardly create, implement and lead diversity/bias training sessions without asking the three critical questions it must ask and answer before launching any diversity/bias training initiative.

Whats the Intention?

For anything that we do our intention determines the level of commitment, resources, sacrifice and courage to see it through to its satisfactory completion. For organizations looking to implement diversity and bias initiatives it should not do so without first asking itself the hard question of its intention. Is it to truly create a culturally inclusive environment within their organization? Or to simply check the "cultural diversity" box?

If it is the latter be warned. Everyone that may be affected by or victims of implicit bias, prejudice and/or discrimination within your organizational culture will see right through it. It will come off as inauthentic and lacking credibility. It will be seen as superficial layered with soundbites of political correctness. Consequently the attempt could have the potential to do more harm than good by raising racial tensions within your organization, clientele and community.

Now if its the organization's intention to create an authentically cultural inclusive environment then it's important to understand that changing the perceptions, beliefs and biases of its staff and leadership, will require long term and sustained commitment. That commitment to diversity must be rooted in both the organizations core values and culture. It cannot be a one-off thing satisfied in a one hour, half day or full day training session. To make the commitment means that the organization has the intentionality of being confrontational on the issues of bias, prejudice, discrimination and racism. It also means coming to the realization that the commitment to culture change is long term and must placed within the DNA and fabric of the organization. That is to say that the intention of your organization must be to confront bias and commit to creating and sustaining a culturally inclusive environment. Diversity must become a way of life for your organization. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The intention of your organization must be to confront bias and commit to creating and sustaining a culturally inclusive environment.

Does Your Training Create a Climate of Discomfort?

One may be inclined to answer no. In fact an organization may even ask why they would want anyone in their training sessions to be uncomfortable. Here's why. Comfort can create the illusion that the issues of bias, discrimination and racism are not as bad as society may perceive them to be. It keeps the training’s politically correct or safe and can provide cover for those who need to confront their internal biases the most. For example, in the instances where the staff may "feel" the topics are progressing towards an area of discomfort that may target them, the illusion of comfort allows them to retreat to a safe place of saying "that’s not me." Thus allowing them to escape confronting the hard truths about their own personal beliefs.

The reality is any and all training’s dealing with racial bias, discrimination and prejudice must be created with the intentionality of not only being confrontational but also an environment of discomfort for the participants and leadership. No one can grow in comfort. Comfort simply means we are allowed to stay the same in the spaces we know and exist. Comfort has never been a catalyst for any form of change. Growth can only happen when we enter into periods of discomfort. It is that discomfort that challenges us to confront ourselves and shed the toxic thoughts and actions that we may have employed for so long.

The reality is any and all training’s dealing with racial bias, discrimination and prejudice must be created with the intentionality of not only being confrontational but also creating an environment of discomfort for the participants and leadership.

Intentional discomfort is what gives organizations the platform and path to take a deep and hard look at their environment. It allows them to dissect the demographics that make up their staff, management, leadership and boards and ask if it is a culture that actively embraces diversity or is spotted with racial micro-aggression’s throughout its entire ecosystem. How culturally inclusive an organizations environment becomes is dependent on the organization's willingness to enter a space that is unflinching, uncomfortable and unapologetic in discussing, understanding and confronting their own internal and personal biases. It means the training on bias goes from being facilitated from the 3rd to the 1st person. From "not me" to "yes YOU!"

Whose Voice Is Heard?

I have been a participant in enough "diversity training" workshops over the past 20 years to come away with one common conclusion: they are void of voices of those that have been victim to the harsh experiences of bias, racism and discrimination. Most training programs are created from the perspective of a researcher or an observer. They are facilitated as hypothetical’s in which the participants are encouraged to give input on "scenarios" rather than being witness and engaged in those traumatic experiences. When this happens the training loses all impact. That is because the voices of those who have been and continue to be negatively impacted by the vestiges of racism, prejudice and bias are rendered invisible. For diversity and bias training to have the desired impact we want them to have they must be written, led and facilitated from and by the voices and experiences of the victims and the oppressed.

For diversity & bias trainings to have the desired impact we want them to have they must be written, led and facilitated from and by the voices and experiences of the victims and the oppressed.

On Thursday, April 12 2018 two African American men were arrested inside a Starbucks coffer shop in Philadelphia. After nearly a week of outrage and threats of boycotts, Starbucks announced that on May 29th they will shut down all 8,000 stores to hold implicit bias training’s. As admirable as this is for Starbucks how effective their training will be is going to be determined not just by their intentionality to create a culturally diverse environment in their stores, or a willingness to place their staff in environments of discomfort, but also by the voices and experiences empowered to be the narrators of the implicit bias training’s.

If this is done right then it should be the voices of those Black men that all employees, managers and Corporate leaders should hear. Voices that describe what it means to be profiled as a Black man time and time again. The frustration of being singled out for actions that are common among the masses that do not look like them. The stress and anxiety of once again being confronted by police wondering if the encounter will end peacefully, in reprimand, handcuffs of body bags. What the participants of the training’s should hear is the want and desire, like the millions of other Black men, to simply be judged and respected as a human being and equal. To be given the benefit of the doubt. To not have to fight twice as hard as anyone else to get that respect that should be entitled to them from since birth. That's the voice that needs to be empowered and heard in the training’s. Not just representing Black men, but all those who are victims of prejudice, bias and discrimination. Voices with the authenticity and credibility to place the responsibility of being better and doing better upon an entire organization and its internal culture. To do otherwise is to make any training on ending bias hollow and will leave your organization, staff and leadership in the same place as so many other diversity training, rooted in superficial mandates, have throughout the years: frustrated with no closure, growth or progress.