Yes, organizations can train diversity. In all its forms, diversity should be the core value of any organization. They can use diversity training programs to bring out the best in their employees. Diversity is a vital part of the growth of an organization because it provides accessibility to a great range of skills and talents across the globe. This helps the company to meet the motivations and needs of its client base instead of just a small part. Diversity also assists a company in attracting and employing a healthy variety of individuals from different backgrounds and cultures, which gives a balance of diversity and thoughts and a balance of voices needed in the business world. A diverse working environment with workers from different cultures, skills, knowledge, experiences, and backgrounds implies an increased creative and innovative idea.
Additionally, organizations should train diversity because it encourages personal development and growth. Training diversity is an excellent way for an organization to address prejudices and biases within the company. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs assist organizations in working toward creating an inclusive and diverse business environment. The companies ultimately give opportunities to people from marginalized communities. Organizations should always aim at understanding and increasing empathy across the board, making sure that each person feels respected, valued, and an integral part of the team. Moreover, diversity is essential to an organization because it can close the skill gap, which is truly a global challenge. Skill gaps affect all people, so it is the responsibility of the organization’s management to make sure they train on how everyone is served (Ferdman & Brody, 1996). Therefore, organizations should develop proper mechanisms to ensure that they offer diversity training and enlighten the employees.
The diversity training workshop is one of the practical approaches that organizations can take to create a diverse working environment. These workshops are comprehensive training programs that strive to introduce fundamental diversity concepts in an organization. Such workshops are essential since there is an increase in the inflow of racial and ethnic diversity in business (Fujimoto & Härtel, 2017). A comprehensive diversity workshop is conducted to offer the advantage of creating an inclusive environment. Using these workshops, the training teams can cover topics such as cultural competency, unconscious bias, as well as the advantages of a diverse business environment.
Moreover, organizations can train for diversity through leadership development. This training can help companies create diverse leadership talents. Diverse leadership is vital for a business to reach its goals amid uncertainties. This training can be done by giving mentorships and coaching to the employees. Mentorship and coaching help people from marginalized communities to advance into leadership roles in the company. Furthermore, the organization can offer training to the human resource team so that the whole recruitment process is conducted fairly and inclusively. To achieve this, they can be trained to conduct bias-free interviews and use effective strategies that attract diverse candidates. This is important to an organization because it creates room for the company to employ skilled talents that might be overlooked.
Cultural competency training is another way in which an organization can promote diversity. Cultural competency training helps each employee to have an awareness of their cultural worldview and appreciate their cultural differences. This training can help the organization to reduce cases of conflicts and misunderstandings within the organization. As a result, the business can quickly grow and achieve its goals (Schouler-Ocak et al., 2015). Another reason an organization can and should train diversity is because it helps employees communicate effectively and respectfully, considering the diverse audience. Cross-cultural communication skills are important to an organization in a diverse and global business environment. Whether it is the management, senior, or junior employee, they should be able to communicate effectively with people with different cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives.
Consequently, an organization can offer diversity training to the employees with employee resource groups, which can help the employees with shared interests and identities to come together. This is an effective way an organization can use to train diversity to the employees. Feedback mechanisms can help an organization to achieve diversity—the diversity feedback loop where the company uses their feedback to improve performance. Anonymous surveys help the employees and customers to voice out their concerns and provide room for them to give suggestions that can help to improve diversity.
Diversity training requires proper planning to make sure that there are meaningful improvements and growth in an organization. Diversity enables and empowers organizations to grow and meet the demands of the current business world. Therefore, organizations can and should train diversity so that they can create positive friction, which upends conformity and enhances deliberation.
References
Ferdman, B. M., & Brody, S. E. (1996). Models of diversity training. Handbook of intercultural training, 2, 282-303.
Fujimoto, Y., & EJ Härtel, C. (2017). Organizational diversity learning framework: Going beyond diversity training programs. Personnel Review, 46(6), 1120-1141.
Schouler-Ocak, M., Graef-Calliess, I. T., Tarricone, I., Qureshi, A., Kastrup, M. C., & Bhugra, D. (2015). EPA guidance on cultural competence training. European Psychiatry, 30(3), 431–440.
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