An interesting study of what sorts of activities actually make a company more diverse (i.e., including more women and minorities in the upper ranks of a company).
What works? Mentoring. Having a point person or task force for diversity.
What doesn’t work? Networking. Diversity training.
The big “news” here is the idea that diversity training doesn’t really have an impact. Diversity training is widespread, because employers like it (push the staff into a room a couple of times a year, have a guest speaker, go back to business as usual, and be able to point to how committed to diversity the company is) and because they think it provides them some legal protection.
But it’s a goofy concept at it’s foundation. Consider the possible audiences:
- Someone who eagerly wants more diversity in the workplace: preaching to the choir.
- Someone who eagerly does not want more diversity in the workplace: unlikely to be swayed.
- Someone who wants to hire the best person, regardless of the demographic: likely to be resentful of being told to weight in things they don’t think should be weighted.
- Someone who had no idea that this was an issue: are there people like this out there, and do you want them working in your company?
The only possible audience that’s going to go with the feel-good of diversity training is this last group, and I can’t imagine it’s a very large one.
For everyone else, the “celebrate differences” schtick is going to come across as unnecessary, unpersuasive, or simply irrelevant.
The stuff that does seem to work is interesting though. Mentoring is essentially building an “old boys network” one link at a time. And the point of having a point person or task force on diversity is accountability — a broad, general program without specific focus on leadership and responsibility is likely to get pushed to the side in favor of day-to-day issues, even in the best of circumstances. Accountability focuses the mind wonderfully.
When I was working at WF, we had a great diversity program of the celebrate differences type — becuase we did stuff that people could get behind, and supported it with paid-time-away-from-desk. Irish step dancers. Buffalo soldiers group. Trivia contests with silly prizes. Cinco de Mayo green chili cookoffs. America day (always a barbecue). Connections to volunteer programs. Of course the big sticking points were Pride Month and Pride Fest every year, but we didn’t get too much flack for those — however, unlike the other groups, we didn’t push the celebrate aspect so much as the equal rights one.
The program was run by a committee, and each major department had to send representation and funding. Plus you could get volunteers (which is where I fit in). Free entertainment + free food = more diversity than a stupid class 🙂