Over 75% of organizations with diversity and inclusion training continue to adhere to the antiquated advice of celebrated diversity trainer R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr.

His refrain that C-suite leaders who wished to exert strategic benefits of diversity management must insist employees resign if they weren't willing to accept new rules and procedures, revealed after five years zero improvements in the white women, black men, and Hispanics in management positions.

The proportion of black women declined, with levels of Asian-American men and women reduced by as much as 4% to 5%. The results indicate that employees responded negatively with subtle forms of animosity towards certain groups following an initiative. 

If it failed, then why continue?

The C-Suite tends to prefer a traditional command-and-control approach to diversity for the reason that it reduces desired behaviors of to-dos and don'ts to predictable and defensible assumptions. Despite knowledge on how to motivate people for change, leaders become entrenched in this approach.

There have been years of research pointing to one truism: One cannot persuade people, especially managers, to support a diversity program where they are humiliated and shamed into joining laced with mounting rules and reeducation.

Globally, governments and organizations reeducate millions of employees on policies and procedures to avoid unconscious bias. Using similar courses, Starbucks made a well-intentioned effort by closing more than 8,000 stores for a single day. Numerous educational institutions, agencies, and non-profits have been implored to do the same.

The only problem? It won't work.

Managers who are responsible for hiring and promoting are expected to take unconscious bias training.  The intent is to expose any hidden prejudices and biases. Generally, those biases applied to women or minorities so they can be educated about the impact of their decision-making.

Nevertheless, even though numerous studies show that diversity and inclusion training may raise awareness of prejudices, they fail at changing behavior at all.  

Steps that can help

1. Recognize it is difficult to retrain our brain that has been reinforced to support our prejudices

2. When managers are required to undergo diversity training, they can feel accused and become defensive.

3. Honestly, many of us know unconscious bias training is money wasted. Issues of diversity are indicators of more urgent but hidden issues.

4. Make diversity change programs transparent and their impact accessible.

5. Avoid diversity training programs, either internal or external, because they easy, fast, and popular.

6. Systematically measure before and afterward to see what difference has been made.

7. Expect to spend time on it.

8. Remember, you are working to change procedures and behaviors.

9. Publish gender pay gaps on an online portal visible to the public.

10. Publish detailed action plans about how to close gaps and promote more women.

11. Merely because you have a large budget doesn't mean you should waste it on inept programs.

12. Pressure without evidence-based solutions won't help. Run experimental field trials.   

13. Do your recruitment and promotion include skills-based assessments and structured interviews?

14. Are there several women on your lists?

15. Make it a point to publicize transparency in compensation and promotion procedures.

16. Encourage women to negotiate their salaries by plainly indicating upper and lower limits of the salary range.

17. Examine any inclination to offer diversity training, unconscious bias training, or leadership training for female employees, because there's no evidence that they work.

18. Ignore diverse selection committees. Occasionally they may help female candidates, but often they are harmful.

Spreading evidence-based recommendations is essential. With current reports of backlashes for disparate treatment by many, there can be a strong likelihood that money and effort could now be wasted on actions that don't lead to change. If that happens, momentum may be lost, and organizations may just give up trying. And as we see, we can't have that.

About Jim

Jim is President of Woods Kovalova Group headquartered in Denver, CO. With consultants and advisors located globally the sun never sets on their business. He has advised and trained Fortune 1000 companies, U.S. Military, Government, small business, and individuals seeking performance improvement. Jim is a former U.S. Navy Seabee and earned a master’s degree in organizational development and human resources. He has taught leadership and human resources at Villanova, Colorado Technical University, and Dickinson University. To have Jim work with your organization schedule an appointment here.