A quick disclaimer…

Most of my work involves developing and delivering diversity and inclusion workshops for client organizations…so I have my own biases about this topic.

Having said that…

I personally am not a big fan of 90% of the diversity and inclusion training that I have personally attended…I have my own set of issues with this body of work that I am a part of.  I have at times seen mediocre facilitation, an absence of foundational research and evidence, and shoddy instructional framework.  I have also seen these same things in leadership training…in new employee orientation…in communication training…in change management training, and every other kind of training or development that I have participated in over the years.

A few of the stones commonly thrown at diversity training…

That there are a wide variety of definitions and approaches, rather than a unified model. Ummm, yeah. The exact same thing can be said about leadership training…and new employee orientation…and communication training…and change management training.  This does not mean that there is anything wrong with diversity training, though I appreciate the fact that it makes it more difficult to compare and measure them.  From my perspecitve, conformity is greatly overrated…unless you are the institution that wants to sell the “certifications.”

That it is difficult or impossible to measure actual causation in relation to business outcomes. Umm, yeah. The exact same thing can be said about leadership training…and new employee orientation…and communication training…and change management training.  If we are ready to be honest with ourselves we can almost never prove causation in the workplace…again, this does not mean that there is anything wrong with diversity training or that this is unique to diversity training.

That diversity training does not lead to any observable change (workforce demographics, employee engagement or satisfaction, etc.). The exact same thing can be said about leadership training…and new employee orientation…and communication training…and change management training.  Regardless of what you are trying to change, training should only be one component of a comprehensive investment.  Unless your “change” is teaching employees how to use Excel…then training alone might do it.  The idea of isolating diversity training out by itself to determine if it “works” or not ignores the complexity, the interrelatedness and the uniqueness of organizational culture and ecology.  It is not terribly different from yanking my liver out of my body to determine if it “works” or not.  A lone liver lying on my kitchen table is of no value, but the right liver in the right body can make all the difference in the world.

I could go on and on because I spend a lot of time talking and thinking about this, but I will spare you that.

Again, I think that those of us that are practitioners of this craft have a great and profound responsibility to make sure that our programs are evidence-based, logically sound, actionable, relevant and engaging…and we can do better.

There is always going to be a variety of definitions, frameworks and approaches to this work and that is okay.  That is actually a good thing.  This body of work sits at the intersection of many fields of work and research; adult learning, group dynamics, communication, social psychology, branding, workforce demographics, employee engagement, innovation, organizational development, leadership development, neuroscience, anthropology, sociology and on and on.  That loud, noisy, beautiful intersection is always going to generate a lot of different approaches.

You can find the approach that works for your organization.  You have choices.  If you get bad diversity training (or any kind of training), then do a better job of finding the approach and the practitioner that works for you.  A lot of people have had a bad experience, I get that.  But having a bad experience and diagnosing an entire body of work based on that experience is simply not good logic and simply not something that we are in the habit of doing with leadership training or management training or other types of training. 

You should ask for references, you should ask about the objectives of the training and what models and what research it is informed by…as you should anytime you bring an outside perspective in, regardless of the content area. And…you should understand why you are doing it.

It is true that diversity training is in some significant ways different from (most) leadership training or new employee orientations or workshops on teamwork.  It deals with a set of issues that we are collectively still very dysfunctional about.  There is going to be some discomfort, there is going to be some awkwardness.  But if you are hiring people that embrace your organizational values and you are providing diversity training informed by those values then it should be a healthy and engaging experience despite some discomfort.  But the reality is that being inclusive is hard work.  That’s why it is so rare. 

And finally I say this regarding diversity training.  Stop doing it for the wrong reasons.  Stop doing it because you are concerned about perceptions, because that is not likely to lead you to pick the right solution or generate the right outcomes.  I would suggest that a great many organizations sabotage their own investments in diversity training (regardless of the quality of the training) because they have not gotten clear on what it is and why it matters for them.

If you understand what diversity and inclusion really mean, and they are in alignment with what your organization claims to be about, then diversity and inclusion training (as part of a comprehensive investment) is a no brainer.  And if you understand what diversity and inclusion really mean, and they are in alignment with what your organization claims to be about then you will have some real clarity on why you are doing it and that will increase the likelihood that you pick the right practitioner with the right approach and get the right outcomes.

Diversity and inclusion training can work; it can make a powerful and valuable contribution to individual awareness and competencies as well as organizational culture.

For me, what does not work are articles that take a simple approach to a complex and evolving body of work, especially when they rarely do the same thing to similar types of individual and organizational development domains.

Be bold and be good to each other.

One action at a time.

One relationship at a time.

One conversation at a time.

One word at a time.

The single most important thing that we can do to bring about real change is to consistently act in accordance with our ideals.  This is authenticity.  This is courage.  This is leadership.

Vision, technology, charisma, titles, sweeping change initiatives, best practices, data, knowledge, strategy and fancy metrics are all horribly, horribly overrated.  These things are simply tools and tools can be used in a lot of different ways.  A hammer can be used to inflict great physical violence on another human being and it can also be used to build a home, a school, a house of worship.

Tools are secondary to the way in which they are used.

If we want our organization or community to be more inclusive, then we should be more inclusive.  We all have room for improvement.  If we want our organization or community to be more authentic, then we should be more authentic.  If we want our organization or community to be more collaborative, then we should be more collaborative.

Sometimes this seems really small.

It is not.

It is not small at all.  Our behaviors can greatly influence the behavior of those around us.  They can provide us with evidence of our own integrity.  They can provide the foundation up on which we can wield bigger more far reaching tools in the right ways.  They help us build our courage.

Taking the next right action (however small it might be) is characteristic of warriorship.

These actions matter greatly.

Whatever you see as lacking or missing or less than functional in your organization or community…there is an opportunity for you...an opportunity for you to be courageous and take responsibility for your contribution to things that are beyond your control, like relationships and culture and institutional outcomes.

Be good to each other.

I almost never got anything that I needed to improve on.

The first couple of times this happened, it was a nice little boost to my ego.  I wanted to do well and I wanted to help this team of people do well, so being told that there was nothing I could improve on was a pleasant fantasy to say the least.  And a dangerous one.

I have been thinking a lot about what courage and bravery look like at work.  It seems that we all know what is wrong, but we always think that the solution lies with someone else; ”if only the boss..”, “if only the leadership team…”, “if only HR…”, etc.

I think that the way we change the culture of our organizations and our communities has much more to do with our own individual courage than it does with the actions of the CEO or the policy of human resources.

Is there evidence of your courage?

Dissent can be very valuable in organizations and every organization sends a lot of explicit and implicit messages about whether dissent is valued or not.  Conformity is a powerful, powerful thing without throwing organizational politics into the mix.  Do you value dissent?  If so, you should see some from time to time.  If you do not truly value it, you probably will not see it…even if you say you value it.  My story was not even about dissent, but simply getting some basic feedback from people that reported to me.  We all have room for improvement, but I had clearly not created an environment where employees felt comfortable providing honest and candid feedback. 

Seeking out honest feedback, supporting dissent both require courage.  They can often feel like personal attacks, and if we do not have courage and if we lose sight of how valuable these things are we will likely not benefit from them and we will make them less likely to happen in the future.

Is there evidence of your courage?

Be good to each other.

I believe that the defining issue of our time is that we suffer greatly from an absence of leadership.  We have bookstores full of books about leadership.  We have plenty of people who consider themselves to be leaders.  We have plenty of people writing, speaking and shouting about leadership.  What we do not have, in my humble opinion, is a way of leadership that produces the results we are deserving of. 

I am not talking about having the wrong people as leaders.  I have come to believe that within our current framework “who is in charge” is increasingly irrelevant and part of an increasingly dishonest, high-stakes shell game.  I am talking here about our way of leadership…something very different than who our "leaders" are.

I believe that we need new language, new archetypes and new expectations of leadership.  I believe that we need to embrace leadership as a shared behavior rather than an individual title…and maybe we need to go so far as to replace the word leadership. 

I was scanning through an old journal and came across a phrase from Chogyam Trungpa that I like a lot:

"Warriorship…does not refer to making war on others.  Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution.  Warriorship is the tradition of human bravery…the tradition of fearlessness."

The tradition of human bravery.

I very much like this definition of warriorship as I think that bravery is part of what is missing from leadership today.  I think that real bravery is a fairly rare commodity…especially in the workplace.  Most of us know what is wrong.  Most of us know what is dishonest and wasteful and shady.  But we often do not do anything about it.  We complain and point fingers and we know who should do something about it, but we do nothing.

So maybe we stop talking about leadership and start talking about warriorship?

I think that it might be bravery that will save our organizations and communities.  ROI is not going to save business, nor is picking the right consultant or the perfect metric, or the wiz, bang and flash of web 2.0…or web 3.0.

That stuff does not even matter if the foundation is not real.

It does not require any bravery to make decisions based on numbers, projections or profits…in fact profit, ROI and market expectations too often provide a safe alibi for not being brave.

I am not talking about the proud, boastful, self promotional desperation that we too often confuse for bravery or leadership.

I am talking about something very different, something that does not lead to personal celebrity, but rather a way of being that supports groups of people (organizations and communities) in consistently delivering on the promises that they make and functioning in a sustainable way.

This has nothing to do with title or being “in charge” of anything.  I would actually suggest that the bigger your title, the greater the repercussions for actually exhibiting any bravery are.

I am going to spend some more time considering the concept of warriorship, but here are some things that come to mind as I think about what human bravery looks like at work.

Choosing Ecology rather than Ideology

It takes bravery (and I think some emotional and social intelligence) to embrace equifinality and appreciate the fact that there can be many different ways to get to a specific outcome.  I think that when we understand this we can invest our efforts in ecology rather than the support, promotion and defense of our own personal ideology.  We can invest in relationships, dialogue and organizational culture…nurturing networks of value that are capable of generating rich questions and new ideas, with the capacity to functionally consider a robust field of options.

Choosing Inquiry rather than Advocacy

It takes bravery to embrace curiosity and to be willing to let go of what we know for the opportunity to learn something new.  It takes bravery to admit we do not have all the answers (how absurd up is that?).  It takes bravery to participate in collective inquiry rather than being the one with the answer.  If we are able to assume the stance of pursuing the right questions rather than having the right answers we can open up entire new possibilities.  Questions are to groups of people much like sunlight is to plants…they can determine the direction of our growth.  If we are not asking some big questions we are probably not growing.

Choosing Power With rather than Power Over

It takes bravery to share power.  Power comes in a lot of different shapes, sizes and colors…but regardless of where our power comes from it is easier to keep it all to ourselves than it is to share it.  Regardless of our role in the world, I would suggest that we are doing very little if we are not diffusing power…putting more decision making in the hands of more individuals.  We have to kick the habit of assuming that we know best and are capable of making decisions for other people. 

Choosing to be an Architect of the Future rather than a Critic of the Present

It takes bravery to take responsibility.  It is so much easier and safer to find fault elsewhere.  It is so natural for us to look at those in privileged positions and expect them to fix what needs fixing.  Every second we spend doing this is a second wasted in denial of our own power and of the choices that we have before us.  We cannot control outcomes.  In our relationships and in the culture of our organizations, there are many variables in play which we have not control over.  What we can control is our contribution to those relationships and cultures.

And in closing...

I think that this topic is resonating with me because of the nature of my work.  Most of the consulting, speaking and writing that I do is related to issues of Diversity and Inclusion.  My Diversity and Inclusion work is not about being tolerant or compliant…it is about having whole and generative relationships with other human beings, and I think that this work is woven through with the tradition of human bravery.

If you take it down to its roots, my work is about being who you truly are, leaning into who you truly aspire to be and truly knowing other human beings.  Each of these things requires bravery.  It requires that we choose to be warriors.  We have been developing, promoting and celebrating pirates for far too long. 

Our time may just be the time for warriors...for the return of human bravery to the workplace.

Be good to each other.

JOE: We both talk about a new way of leadership in our work...for you, what are some examples of what that actually looks like?

MARY:  Great question.  I’m into lists this week, so what I’ve crafted is, “Mary’s Seven Ways to Be a New Leader to Your Employees”

1. Make decisions as if people matter.  Biz doesn’t exist in a vacuum.  How do you think all this stuff happens?  Your computers or lab equipment don’t care if you hit quarterly goals.  You might as well leverage your resources you have who might give a darn (i.e. Humans).  BTW, you do that by meeting basic Human needs at work.  Ignore - at your own peril - the fact that you have Human beings as your employees.
2. Talk to your employees as if they matter.  Try to keep in mind what it is like to be an employee, because after all, even if you are a manager, you ARE STILL an employee too.  Think about what ‘ees would be concerned with and show them you considered them in your thought process.
3. Be impeccable with your word.  (Thank you Don Miguel Ruiz).  If you say you are going to do something, large or small, do it.  Your employees are watching.  They WANT to trust you.  Give them a reason to.  It helps to tell them when you are following up on something you promised, e.g. “I’m doing this thing as a result of our talk last week.” 
4. Talk to people like a Human being.  People can see through stalling and spin.  If you can’t discuss a matter, say so.  Anticipate questions from your ‘ees point of view, and practice.  You may have to work with your response for a while to ensure it’s authentic, sincere and respectful of their intelligence.  Don’t shortchange this.  (If you have any more questions on this, see point 1.)
5. Care about them understanding what you’re telling them. “The meaning of the communication is the response it elicits” (NLP – Yes, I’m studying NLP right now…). Why do we think we’ve communicated when we drop people an email?  And asking,  “Do you understand” is fruitless.  Who wants to look like a nincompoop by saying “no?”  Or how do you know they understand the way you need them to?  Ask them what they heard you say, or what they are going to do based on what you said, to test understanding.
6. Get over yourself and be open to what works. “Leading is changing your behaviors so the other person follows.”  We wouldn’t put water in our car when it needs oil, and expect it to perform.  Why do we disdain and resist what Humans at work need?  (examples: appreciation, belonging, contribution and meaning)  Using this knowledge doesn’t require a makeover, so find what adjustments would work for you and your people both – so that they will WANT to work with you.
7. Consider that Human employees are good for business.  Meeting the Human needs of your employees may actually result in a better outcome for the business.  I can’t underline enough the value of Human discretionary energy.  This is what makes the impossible happen.
   

As a society, we have come to a point where people too often treat one another as objects and opportunities, rather than as fellow human beings.  Respecting one another as individuals, or not doing so, seriously impacts the future, for all of us.

- Gail Purcell Elliott

One day our society and the world will grow and prosper in a whole new way because each employee does their work from a place of knowing they play a legitimate role and truly make a difference.   My wish is that one day we all embrace the belief that there is an inestimable power and potential in Human beings treating each other Humanly.

Be good to each other!

-Parker Palmer