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IDEAS

Writer's picture: Fletcher ConsultingFletcher Consulting

Every few months, an article is published claiming that DEI training doesn’t work. This time, contrarian writer Jesse Singal and his New York Times editors grab clicks with the headline “What if Diversity Trainings Are Doing More Harm Than Good?”


If you haven’t read it, I’ll save you time by recommending you skip to the 11th paragraph (out of 15). That is the first part of the article that engages with the actual DEI field as it is, rather than with a straw man.


For the first ten paragraphs, Singal slams a “ticking a box and moving on” model of DEI that he claims is “currently in vogue.” He says that DEI promoters “make bold promises” that workshops by themselves “can foster better intergroup relations, improve the retention of minority employees, close recruitment gaps and so on.”


I don’t know any DEI providers who would make those claims. I certainly don’t. Singal doesn’t name or quote any who do.


It has long been a best practice in the DEI field to offer workshops as part of a comprehensive assessment and change management strategy, not as mandatory one-offs. Reputable DEI practitioners will tell clients this at the first meeting. (I wrote a blog post about this in July of 2022.)


Obviously, a single workshop is not going to result in long-term systemic change. Why would anyone think it would? One of anything without follow-through doesn’t create significant change. One fire safety training doesn’t save lives. One webinar on the new timesheet software doesn’t make everyone an expert. Doing anything poorly will not get good results. Why does this reality discredit DEI work?


What I actually tell clients is that assessment, setting goals, and measuring success are what drive systemic change. And look! The one DEI professional who appears in the piece says exactly that! Dr. Robert Livingston, a social psychologist at Harvard, tells Singal: “It’s more important to accurately diagnose an organization’s specific problems with DEI and to come up with concrete strategies for solving them than it is to attempt to change the attitudes of individual employees.” This is the consensus view of the field—although this quotation implies that an organization has to choose between strategy and trainings. I believe that, as part of a broader plan, workshops are an excellent way to engage employees, increase awareness, and teach skills.


I hope leaders read past the bad faith of the first two thirds of this article and make it to the end, when Singal notes that organizational change “could take hundreds of hours of labor.” To this, I say, “Yes, exactly!” Why not talk to organizations that have invested these hours, and ask what results they are seeing? This would be enlightening rather than nay-saying.


And you might find that some of those hours involved workshops—ones that were tailored to their organization’s needs, opened up space for difficult conversations, and maybe even (gasp!) changed a heart or a mind.

Writer's picture: Fletcher ConsultingFletcher Consulting

Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend, many of us in the Boston area were hearing about or visiting the new landmark downtown: a huge bronze sculpture of intertwined arms called The Embrace. It honors not only Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement, but also the love story and partnership between him and Coretta Scott King. The two met in Boston at BU Divinity School, so their union is a fitting choice for a Boston Common monument. I’ve been out of town so I haven’t had a chance to see it in person yet, but I’ve been moved by the unveiling events, the press coverage, and many reflections from folks who have gone to see it.


Sculptor Hank Willis Thomas has critiqued the standard approach to monuments that honor the past as somber and warlike. “As a society, we have a negativity bias,” he said. The Embrace represents Martin and Coretta’s marriage and their connection to Boston with an unapologetic positivity.


In that same interview, Marie St. Fleur, a former executive director of the foundation that commissioned The Embrace, added: “It celebrates that for us, as communities of color, as Black people, that we are more than just our struggle. We are love. We are joy. We are all of that.”


This resonates so much with me. There is nothing like the laughter, community, generosity, and celebration of a group of Black people. How refreshing to honor Black history in America not for the oppression we have faced, but for the spirit we have always had within us.


I love that Boston’s visitors and residents alike will be reminded of this just steps from the African Meeting House and the 54th Regiment Memorial. As we continue the work of bringing about the Beloved Community that the Kings dreamed of, let’s remember the love at the heart of equity and justice. We can be brave and radical like the Kings without scolding or punishing one another. Let’s find and hold up those moments when pursuing diversity and inclusion is more like an embrace.

Writer's picture: Fletcher ConsultingFletcher Consulting


Last week I saw this post on LinkedIn by DEI consultant and leadership coach Tara Robertson. I was so excited to see how generous she’s being with her time and what a wonderful opportunity this is for folks. Not surprisingly, the response was overwhelming; she says she had to close the application in a day or so after more than 100 people raised their hands.


It got me thinking about successful mentoring relationships. A lot of people like to say that the best mentoring relationships occur naturally. This is intuitively true, because in these cases the mentoring is built on an existing connection and mutual respect.


But leaving mentoring to chance is likely to create an inequitable gap. The reason is affinity bias. We tend to be drawn toward colleagues we see as similar to us. We start up small talk with folks who share our pop culture interests, hobbies, style preferences, senses of humor, and yes, often, racial identity. And the easier it is to start up conversations, the more likely you will form a longer term connection.


Which means, if you’re at an organization where a lot of people share your interests, preferences, and race, you are more likely to have mentoring opportunities naturally grow. And conversely, if you are in a marginalized minority, there is a smaller chance of hitting it off with someone who could end up mentoring you. It happens, of course, but it’s tougher. And if there’s a particular senior person with the skills you are looking for, they may already be gravitating toward someone who looks like them.


That’s why a structured mentoring program can be a good idea. The offer that Tara is making is an example of investing in equity—specifically calling for people from underrepresented groups to apply, and giving herself a process to consider the applicants so that her own biases don’t make up her mind for her.


Of course, matching is just the beginning. It’s crucial to support mentors and mentees with clear expectations, training (including on unconscious bias and how to be a good mentor/mentee) and accountability follow-ups to make sure the pairings are sticking.


If all goes well, mentoring across lines of difference can be very rewarding. As with all opportunities to increase diversity in our lives, we inevitably learn and grow from the perspectives and experiences of people different from us. Mentoring like this can be a mutually enriching, two-way exchange.


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