A diversity workshop is not enough: Creating inclusion on every level

Over the past few weeks, I’ve led many diversity workshops in large organizations, and each one has reminded me of one of the most fundamental mistakes you can make when it comes to fostering an inclusive workplace culture: failing to embed individual awareness-raising efforts into structural changes—or vice versa.

You may have observed this phenomenon yourself. Perhaps your company offered an anti-discrimination training session where everyone was supposed to learn how to recognize and prevent discrimination. After the training, everyone felt motivated, capable of recognising discrimination and ready to take action. But then a case of discrimination arose, and suddenly the lack of structure became apparent: There are no anti-discrimination guidelines to refer to, no designated contact person, and no processes for investigating the case. In this situation, the fact that you can recognize and address the discrimination is only of limited help—because if no one with decision-making authority feels responsible and no one knows what measures are possible, little will happen. Individual awareness is there, but it is not reflected structurally and stays without consequences.

Structures need awareness

Sometimes, however, the opposite is true: the structures are in place, but awareness is lacking. We often see that HR departments or leadership positions are staffed by people who care deeply about diversity and want to embed it into the organization’s structure. They create diversity-sensitive guidelines, set up reporting channels for anti-discrimination, offer training, or perhaps stipulate that gender-neutral language should be used in official communications. At some point, however, they are forced to face the sobering reality that no one knows the guidelines, the reporting channel isn’t being used, only the “usual suspects” attend voluntary training sessions, and everyone is unsure how to actually use gender-neutral language. Awareness without structure leads to frustration because acquired knowledge cannot be applied and motivation is stifled. If there are structures but no awareness, uncertainty, misunderstanding, or – in the worst case – even a defiant attitude arise: “Why should I invest time and energy in something I consider unnecessary?”

In other words, an inclusive and diversity-sensitive work culture only really works well when the internalized, interpersonal, and institutional levels come together. What does that mean in practice?

Self reflection is at the base of inclusive work culture.

The internalized level: How do you get diversity into people's minds?

Fostering a positive attitude toward diversity and inclusion is sometimes the easiest task—and often the hardest. Ideally, all employees will understand why diversity is important, why inclusion contributes to a positive work environment, and why it’s worth investing time and energy in it. They reflect on their own biases, are mindful of others, and see themselves as sharing responsibility for the corporate culture. So much for the utopia. In practice, there are people in nearly every organization who believe that diversity does not “concern” them, or who reject it outright. These attitudes tend to have developed over a long period and to be deeply ingrained, and are therefore not always easy to eliminate. 

What can you do? The best approach here is to have a personal conversation with these individuals:

• Find common ground. What touchpoints does this person have with diversity and inclusion that they might not be aware of? What are some situations where they themselves have felt excluded? (Often this is related to age, class, religious affiliations or where someone comes from – the East-West divide is a big factor in Germany, for example.) How can you help them apply this experience to other aspects of diversity and inclusion?

• Communicate transparently why you are implementing diversity measures and make connections to their work. What specific benefits will a planned measure have for this person? How can inclusion help them?

• Consistently address biases, discriminatory comments, and misinformation. This doesn’t have to be done by pointing fingers – the most important thing is to highlight other perspectives.

The interpersonal level: Creating inclusion together

This level focuses on how people interact with one another – so there are many topics where awareness raising and practical training can be very effective, e.g. inclusive language, conflict resolution, avoiding microaggressions, and so on. This level builds very directly on an internalized understanding of diversity, because those who have grasped what diversity means and why inclusion is important usually also quickly understand how this translates into interactions with others. To improve interpersonal diversity competence, therefore, guidance and practice are essential. Conversely, the interpersonal level influences the institutional level, as many structural measures – such as guidelines or accountability processes—serve to regulate interpersonal interactions. Accordingly, there are many ways to promote diversity-sensitive interactions: 

• Many workshops focus on this area. For example, they help participants develop individual strategies for handling conflicts, giving and receiving constructive feedback, or speaking up in situations involving discrimination. Here, too, it’s important to clearly explain in the announcement the purpose and value of the workshop for participants. If necessary, reach out to potential participants personally and invite them.

• Create opportunities to discuss your wishes and needs regarding collaboration with one another. Is there something that annoys everyone but has never been properly addressed? What do you need to be able to work well together? This, too, is part of inclusion. You can, for example, hold a brief check-in regularly or address these questions in an internal workshop.

• Provide guidelines that offer concrete support for inclusion in everyday work—for example, a guide to gender-inclusive language or a “cheat sheet” for addressing discrimination.

The institutional level: Embedding diversity in structures

At the institutional level, you establish the framework for embedding diversity structurally within your organization. This framework provides guidance, ensures that diversity is taken into account in decision-making, and also ensures that your organization acts in compliance with the law. At the same time, this level has the disadvantage of requiring a high degree of decision-making authority, which you may not have in your role. So, this usually requires buy-in from senior leadership. Once they’re on board, however, there are many effective ways to structurally integrate diversity. The question here is: How can you ensure that it is clear where your organization stands on diversity and what you are doing to promote it and eliminate discrimination? Unlike at the internalized and institutional levels, not every person in the company needs to be actively involved here – but once again you need to make sure that the purpose of a measure is clear to everyone, because otherwise it will not be accepted.

Examples of structural measures include:

• Specific anti-discrimination policies that define what constitutes discrimination, outline employees’ rights and responsibilities, identify the appropriate points of contact, and describe the procedures for reporting discrimination. Such a policy empowers employees to take action and alleviates concerns about inadvertently discriminating due to a lack of knowledge.

• Establishing a diversity working group, a diversity network, or similar initiatives where interested employees can network, initiate measures, offer advice, and act as advocates. This strengthens participation and a sense of belonging – just make sure that the network does not wither away as a “nice to have”, but rather receives support and resources.

• Integrating diversity into individual and company-wide objectives. For example, diversity competence can be incorporated into employee evaluations or management performance targets. Of course, make sure it is clear what “diversity competence” means to you, and that the goals not only sound good but also provide real value.

If you and your colleagues manage to embed all three levels within your organization, you will have created an inclusive work culture in which everyone is on board – and which is therefore not only effective but also resilient in the face of crises. 

From diversity workshops to executive coaching—IN-VISIBLE is here to help

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