Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay

6.9. Dismantling Barriers, Part 3: Training

Bias, discrimination, harassment, and diversity training must be interesting, engaging, provocative, and relevant. It must also be mandatory in order for everyone in an organization to take it seriously. All new hires should be trained, and periodic updates are productive not only to keep the issue fresh but also to raise issues that might be quietly developing. Here's a warning, though: poorly designed/delivered training is not only a waste of resources, but it can evoke great cynicism. "Off-the-shelf" materials frequently include unrealistic or overly generic examples. Platitudes about "zero tolerance" and "diversity is a business imperative" can exacerbate the gap between what is stated and what ...