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ON TOPIC
for inclusion which don’t focus
on control, but instead apply three
basic principles:
1
Engage managers in solving
the problem
When managers actively help boost
diversity in their companies, they
begin to think of themselves as
diversity champions. Unsurprisingly,
asking for volunteers to lead positive
programmes for change (“help us
find a greater variety of promising
employees”) works better than
blaming and shaming with rules
and re-education.
2
Expose them to people from
different groups
More contact between groups can
lessen bias. Cross-functional or
self-managed teams and cross
training all make a difference.
Groves emphasises that bias can
never be entirely tackled by UBT,
but it can be a good starting point
if approached as a beginning of
a more complex journey to build
an ethical and inclusive culture:
“UBT can raise awareness about
difficult issues and open up debates
organisations need to have, offering
a safe environment to ask difficult
questions and confront biases on
a collective basis, at all levels of the
business and across all protected
characteristics,” she says.
“The key thing is for organisations
to be clear about the format and
purpose of the training, how it fits in
with broader company strategy on
inclusion as a business imperative –
and that it’s not used in isolation.”
If it’s unreasonable to expect
deep-seated attitudes to change
overnight, it’s equally unreasonable
to expect UBT to shoulder the
burden of diversity and inclusion
(D&I) on its own.
Fears have also been expressed
that the limits of UBT might
be used as an excuse to close
down D&I debates and initiatives.
Nancy Roberts, CEO of Umbrella
Analytics, shares the current disquiet
about UBT, but is equally concerned
that this should not derail the D&I
agenda more widely.
“UBT is, in many ways, the
poster child of D&I work, and if its
legitimacy is under question, this
may have ramifications for D&I as a
whole,” she argues.
“Rather than simply discounting
UBT, I’d put in a plea for
organisations to be really considered
and intentional when they deliver
it to make sure its effectiveness
is maximised. The question we
should ask is not UBT or no UBT,
but, rather how can well-deployed
UBT contribute to D&I in the round?”
So, rather than retreating at
the first sign of challenge to UBT,
organisations need to develop a
more nuanced approach to D&I,
improving their use of UBT as just
one of the tools at their disposal to
create a range of strategies for bias
awareness, reduction and mitigation.
In a 2016 Harvard Business
Review article, entitled Why Diversity
Programmes Fail, sociologists
Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev
rehearsed a number of arguments
against mandated, command-and-
control-led diversity initiatives,
including diversity training. They
also looked at practical strategies
3
Encourage social accountability
for change
People generally want to be
seen to be doing the right thing.
Improving transparency to
highlight discrepancies, creating
diversity taskforces and having a
nominated diversity manager tends
to make people consider and amend
behaviours more readily.
here is growing evidence
that strategies like these
are being investigated
and deployed.
Louise Byrne, vice president of
global talent at IHG, has been leading
on the development of conscious
inclusion ‘workouts’ designed to
make awareness of, and action
around, D&I more integral to
‘business as usual’.
As part of these programmes,
UBT is seen merely as a resource
to build awareness, used alongside
tools such as Accenture’s powerful
#InclusionStartsWith video. The
emphasis of the workouts is on
creating empathy, getting to know
and understand people as individuals
rather than representatives of
particular demographics or cultures.
The workouts were first
used at a meeting of 75 of IHG’s
senior leaders in November 2018.
T
March – May 2019
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