How do you create diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
Workplace inclusion training has two parts to be focused upon, building awareness and building skills. The best training programs incorporate a mix of both. The most crucial part of the exercise is to make people aware of things like unconscious bias and to help them see things through the eyes of other people. But it’s equally important to go beyond abstract thinking and give people solid skills that will come handy in actually making a difference at workplace.
The following pointers might give a clear picture about how you can create diversity and inclusion among employees at workplaces.
Make it a voluntary based experience for individuals. Emphasize the positive aspects of the training, and frame it as an opportunity to learn valuable skills rather than a punitive exercise.
Encourage mentoring by giving people a chance to pass on their skills to newer teammates. This way senior people will overcome their own biases by having more contact with people from other backgrounds.
Embed diversity and inclusion in other training programs as well. All the employees belonging to different departments must be diversity trained according to their specific roles.
Set specific, measurable and attainable goals related to diversity in workplace. Keep a check on accomplishments of those goals.