Why Even Good People Don’t Like DEI Trainings
I consider the work I do somewhere at the intersection of advancing equity, leadership development, and relationship-building. The primary training we offer right now is for people who are already committed to equity but want to ensure everyone in the organization shares the same language and commitment around this work. We often say it goes beyond diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) because 1) we always start with talking about power and a common definition of justice and 2) we end with challenges to everyone in an organization to do their work with attention to justice, equity, and shared power.
Although we see this approach as a bit deeper than traditional diversity and inclusion initiatives, we are not necessarily looking to replace that work. I am deeply invested in any work that people and organizations are doing to ensure greater opportunities and self-determination for historically and currently oppressed people. Therefore, I champion the continuation of this work in all sectors and, if I know it is impactful, I refer people to consultants and trainers I know are rooted in practices that move us toward freedom and justice.
So given what we offer, the useful feedback we receive, and the vast levels of quality training I’ve seen in the field, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how even good people are often unhappy with the training they’ve experienced and what we can do about it.
Now when I say “good people,” I am not advocating a moral binary based on general identities, political affiliations, and relationships to capitalism. I am simply talking about folks with good intentions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. I am referring to people who actually want DEI to succeed and desire a more equitable world. In my opinion, these are the people to whom we, as practitioners, are accountable to and in partnership with.
After reflecting on my own experiences participating in these types of employer-sponsored trainings, I recently headed to LinkedIn and asked “Why do people dread DEI trainings?” Here are some reasons these experiences are often frustrating:
Leadership Is Not Trusted.
I’ve worked with a number of organizations with staff who were moderately happy to meet me, but still didn’t trust the intentions of our time together.
Staff often feel that hosting trainings around these topics is simply theatrics.
Because there is hardly any communication internally about purpose, they think the company or organization is simply trying to make itself look good, either to the board, customers, or the community. This is especially the case if the organization or company recently received some bad press or there is some type of internal conflict.
Even worse, staff often think leadership is offering DEI trainings to check off a box because of societal pressure or sector mandates. They don’t believe it will lead to any meaningful change
Lack of trust stunts the potential for the whole experience. I was once invited to work with a media organization experiencing a structure transition, a leadership transition, and internal staff conflict. Because staff were uncertain about the future and wary of leadership’s intentions, I responded to requests to meet privately and separately with about a third of the staff to help them process internal issues. The time with the full group was underutilized; I was exhausted from the multiple side conversations; and the training itself ended with a thud.
What to do about it: If staff suspect insincere intentions, the quality of the training doesn’t really matter. Before bringing in any DEI practitioner to do training or consulting, leaders need to demonstrate that they value this work and are committed to it for the long haul. Organizations need to also make sure leaders fully participate in the training and/or create a parallel track for themselves.
Leadership should also be transparent throughout the training about how it fits in with larger strategic goals, what the organizational commitments are to change, and what will happen after the training wraps up.
This brings us to the next reason these DEI trainings might fall short…
There Is No Clear Purpose or Plan.
Since our training takes multiple weeks to complete, staff are often concerned about having enough time to complete it, especially if they don’t understand the purpose. This issue can be related to a lack of trust in leadership about whether the training will ever go anywhere. However, I’ve seen staff members who have high trust in leadership still show concerns about why they are doing the training especially if it is a busy time at work.
Without a clear rationale and purpose that indicates why a specific training and approach is needed, the work is unanchored. For example, if an organization has spent resources to bring in a highly respected training on antiracism without making it clear that they are working toward being an antiracist organization, staff can feel confused and unable to match the content to their realities.
As one senior consultant shared,
It still in many cases feels superficial and focused on either the wrong things or too many different things -- and primarily something that benefits the company (meeting requirements, public relations, etc.) not the employees.
What to do about it: An organization or company committed to hosting a DEI training must have a plan to apply the learnings soon after it is over. This could look like using the concepts to rethink management models, improve community or client engagement, or inform strategic planning. Knowing how you want to use what you learn before the training begins is critical. This way it is clear that the time dedicated to training is really worth it.
In Moving from Words to Actions: How can nonprofits prepare their staff to have hard conversations about race?, Building Movement Project’s Mercedes Brown shares organizations that are able to have conversations about race, resolve conflict in a healthy manner, and hold teams accountable are critical starting points for leaders who “hope to begin or deepen their work to increase racial equity and change their organizational culture.”
It is also important to make sure that staff have schedule flexibility for participating. This is one way we’ve seen our online, self-paced models support busy staff.
The Content Is Unbalanced.
Sometimes the trainings can be filled with data and statistics, but absent of emotion and real life impacts.
They don’t take into account the experiences and emotional impact on those most affected by inequitable systems.
As one person put it, they are “all head, not gut.”
Others are concerned that DEI workshops overemphasize the interpersonal by focusing on individual beliefs and actions. They don’t pay enough attention to the systemic roots and ongoing inequitable policies and practices that perpetuate injustice.
What to do about it: DEI content is not academic pursuit. It cannot be learned from a lecture or a handbook. It is essentially about identity, power, social relationships, and systems that people live with every day. When discussing equity, we must address the head and the heart. The personal and the systemic.
Support trainings that balance relationship-building with opportunities to address real world, relevant issues. Also, the most impactful training work defines and acknowledges power. This allows for discussion around individual actions and systemic inequalities.
The Facilitation Is Weak.
People complain about facilitators not being able to create safe space for sharing or hold people accountable for inappropriate language or behaviors.
They also complain that trainings are boring, dry and detached. It is easy to plow ahead without knowing enough about the group.
One nonprofit executive director shared,
I’ve been to many trainings and the painful ones had instructors that came across as immature in that they acted as though they had something to prove (“I’m not afraid to tell people they better check themself”), or another difficult one assumed a lot about those in attendance, or requiring people to overshare in an atmosphere that was not safe (take a step forward if you … ).
What to do about it: Take time to build trust even before hiring a facilitator. Ensure facilitators use group agreements, invite-only language, and multiple modalities for learning and sharing. If you are a DEI training facilitator, don't be afraid to get vulnerable with people. Take time and space to let participants be human and decompress. Take plenty of breaks and encourage participants to stretch, breathe, and reflect, so they can be fully present during time with the whole group.
It’s Mandatory.
A big mistake I see many companies make in hosting DEI training is they make everyone do it. Now, this is a controversial issue as a lot of people do not agree with me on this point. Because it is personal in nature and not everyone is ready or willing to face the truth of history or even their own experiences, making these engagements mandatory is a very bad idea.
Most people don’t want to be forced to do anything. We all have a surly teenager inside. Often if you make someone do something, even if they have a mild interest in it, they won’t want to do it anymore. I think it is because they have lost choice in the matter.
In our work, we talk about when we have power, we have choices. When you take away a person’s choice to participate in a training around sensitive topics, you actually take away their power as a participant. So then people enter the experience feeling like it is out of their control. People forced to attend are much less likely to show the vulnerability really necessary in the most impactful training experiences. It takes longer for the facilitator to build trust (if it happens at all) and folks are often just staring at the clock.
Making DEI trainings mandatory not only dampens the experience before it even begins, but it compromises the safety of the environment. Hostile participants will make themselves known through tone of voice, body language, and even harmful behaviors toward the facilitator and/or participants.
What to do about it: Let people opt into these experiences. Invite, do not force, participants to talk with one another. Leadership is strongly encouraged to offer compensated time and incentives to participate, but we don’t recommend requiring participation.
It’s a lot of work.
And sometimes, even those with good intentions are just not ready for the work. It doesn’t matter if they trust leadership, know the purpose and plan, and are invited to participate. It just might be too much to handle at this time.
People who have been directly impacted by oppression know they might be asked to relive trauma or to take on the burden of educating their peers. People in the early stages of understanding might experience cognitive or emotional overload with the knowledge and recognition of the layers of impact of injustice.
As a leader in higher education shared,
They are concerned of the labor involved --- learning/unlearning and reshaping our patterns and behaviors is laborious, painful, and potentially overwhelming.
What to do about it: Again, invite people to the work and do not pass judgment if they decline. Host the training on more than one occasion, so if they are not ready to do it at one time, they have another chance (after hearing how great it is). Offer different modalities for learning so people have options to take in information and process it in private on their own schedule.
Training and education trainings related to DEI can be purposeful, balanced, and inviting. They can reach the head and the heart. We can create experiences people look forward to participating in. I have witnessed that by addressing these five issues we can create professional development spaces that shift thinking and make long-term impacts in organizations working to advance justice.
Thank you to all of the people who engaged with me live and on the Why Do People Dread DEI trainings LinkedIn thread about this topic.
Be sure to listen to Season 1, Episode 2 of our Shared Power Podcast to learn more about how we see DEI work being more impactful if we begin with the lens of power.
RESOURCES:
This book that offers critical love to DEI initiatives: DEI Deconstructed by Lily Zheng
Check out our own hybrid training for groups, Justice at Work, which combines online self-paced modules with live discussions about how we understand identity, power, oppression, and justice.
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