Category: Diversity Training

Diversity is critical for the delivery of effective healthcare. Research shows that when patients see healthcare providers who reflect their own backgrounds, they are more likely to trust their providers, leading to better communication and adherence to treatment plans.

What Is Diversity in Healthcare?

Diversity and inclusion in healthcare is:

• Giving associates and patients from all backgrounds a voice
• Providing high-quality care to all
• Understanding the diverse backgrounds, cultures, genders, religious beliefs, socioeconomic statuses, etc., of employees and patients being served.

The Impact of Cultural Competence in Healthcare

Understanding cultural differences and practicing cultural competence in healthcare is more important than ever when it comes to daily care, illness, injury, and end-of-life care. Healthcare workplaces should strive to mirror the races, ages, genders, ethnicities, and orientations of the population they serve. This will result in better care for the patients and higher employee morale.

Daily Care

Diversity and inclusion in healthcare results in better daily care for diverse populations. Having employees from different backgrounds ensures that whoever walks through the door can be treated by someone on staff. This team member will be able to identify with them, communicate with them, and serve their individual needs. For instance, something as small as dietary considerations may be lost on a provider who doesn’t share religious convictions or cultural backgrounds with the patient. However, a provider who does will be knowledgeable about this and be able to share advice based on their own experience.

Patients are also likely to receive better care when there is cultural diversity in healthcare. Having diverse staff members means that there is a wide range of perspectives that can lead to more creative solutions when solving problems. This could be during routine care or emergencies. New ideas and diverse perspectives lead to greater innovation and operational excellence.

Try out our Healthcare Diversity Training to empower your staff and create an inclusive workplace that supports diversity and inclusion.

Illness and Injury

Language plays a crucial role in healthcare, especially when it comes to illness and injury. Effective communication is a key marker of healthcare quality. If healthcare providers and patients do not share a language, it becomes challenging to gather information for a correct diagnosis, explain treatment strategies, ensure understanding, and make joint decisions.

End-of-Life Care

Religion is yet another reason diversity in healthcare is important. Different faiths have varying opinions about daily medical procedures and end-of-life care. For example, Catholicism places importance on performing last rites, and the presence of a priest is often necessary. On the other hand, Buddhists prioritize maintaining a clear mind at the end of life to determine the type of rebirth they will experience in reincarnation. Thus, they may wish to avoid certain medications such as opioids and benzodiazepines. Their bodies should also be left undisturbed for 3 to 8 hours after breathing stops.

As a healthcare provider, it’s essential to understand and respect your patients’ spiritual beliefs. These beliefs act as guiding principles for the type of care they’d like to receive.

Final Thoughts

Diversity and inclusion in healthcare increase the quality of the care that patients receive. Healthcare teams must represent a variety of backgrounds — preferably that reflects their patients — and each team member should be given a voice to maximize innovation and creativity. Empower your team with our Healthcare DEI Training.

Explore our article: How to Improve Cultural Competence in Healthcare – 7 Tips

Discover more with our Healthcare Calendar 2023 for healthcare events, health awareness months and observances

Diversity and inclusion training boosts businesses, by helping them prevent workplace problems caused by biases, prejudices and more. But to enjoy a successful outcome, you must ensure the training is effective. This means clarifying your goals, defining behavioral standards, empowering underrepresented groups, engaging all levels of the company, and so much more!

To avoid common pitfalls, here are 5 keys to implementing effective diversity training in the workplace.

Step 1: Be Clear About Goals

Diversity training is designed to create awareness of diversity issues, and foster cohesion in team environments. To be successful, your employees must have the proper tools to maximize their development and performance. Your company also needs to reduce legal exposure by preventing diversity-based discrimination in the workplace.

When you create a comprehensive DEI program, your employees learn skills to engage both respectfully and positively in the workplace. They also need to learn to reduce both discrimination and prejudice based on social factors (gender, ethnicity, age, race, sexual orientation, religion, physical and mental ability, socioeconomic status, etc.). Understanding these goals will help ensure your success.

Step 2: Make D&I Training Ongoing 

Too often, diversity training is a checkbox. It’s offered when when a newly hired employee is onboarded, but then quickly forgotten. Instead, your training should be ongoing and over time. This will make it a part of your employees’ daily work habits, as they constantly learn new skills for equity, inclusion and belonging.

Step 3: Customize D&I Training to Your Unique Organization

While there are overarching D&I principles that apply to every organization, your company is unique. Your workplace has challenges that apply specifically to you and your employees. To address these, you should look inward to assess the specific issues that your company is facing. Then, use your diversity and inclusion program to specifically address those.

Step 4: Use Integrated Multi-Facted Deployment

Diversity and inclusion training shouldn’t be a one-stop shop at the beginning of the year. Rather, integrate into your company culture by offering D&I learning in varied formats (online, software tools, facilitator training, routine communications, employee groups etc.). When you vary how you present the information to your employees, it’s much more appealing to the group.

Step 5:  Include All Employee Levels

All employees — regardless of title or level within the company — will benefit from diversity training. Not only should all employees participate, it’s essential to engage senior-level executives to permeate DEIB throughout your culture. Diversity training often requires resources (i.e., money) that upper-level executives can provide. When you have their buy-in, you gain access to the financial means to shine the proper spotlight on these important issues.

Make Diversity and Inclusion a part of your workplace all year-round with our Online Diversity Calendar or our Canada Online Diversity Calendar for Canadian organizations. 

Final Thoughts 
D&I training is essential to business success. But there are several factors that can ensure its success. Be clear on goals, and tailor your training to your company’s needs. Practicing these 5 keys will go a long way to ensuring your success!

Effective Diversity Training FAQs

What is the most effective diversity training?
The most effective diversity training is typically interactive, tailored to the specific needs of the organization, and goes beyond mere awareness to foster understanding and empathy. It incorporates real-world scenarios, encourages open dialogue, and includes ongoing evaluation and follow-up to measure its impact and make necessary adjustments.

What are the key elements of an effective diversity training program?
Key elements of an effective diversity training program include clear learning objectives, engaging content that addresses unconscious bias and cultural competence, a safe environment for discussion, opportunities for self-reflection, and strategies for participants to apply what they’ve learned in their daily work.

What is effective diversity?
Effective diversity extends beyond just numerical representation; it encompasses an inclusive culture where people from diverse backgrounds are valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents. True diversity is reflected in both the workforce composition and an organization’s commitment to fostering an equitable and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

What are the three approaches to diversity training?
There are three primary approaches to diversity training: awareness-based training, skill-based training, and motivation-based training. Awareness-based training focuses on raising awareness of diversity issues, skill-based training equips participants with practical tools to address diversity challenges, and motivation-based training aims to inspire people to embrace diversity and actively contribute to an inclusive workplace. The most effective programs often incorporate elements of all three approaches.

With our workforce becoming more diverse every day, effective diversity training is essential. From basic diversity awareness, to developing inclusion skills, your company’s success depends on providing the right tools and support to maximize every employees’ development and performance, as well as to minimize legal risks.

To benefit from diversity, here are 10 tips for success:

1. Be Clear About Training Goals: Training programs are often selected without a good fit with the goals they are meant to promote. Make your goals as clear as possible. Think about what you want the audience to take away from training. And always choose training programs with assessments, to measure progress.
2. Diversity is Diverse: diversity training is more than just recognizing holidays and facts about diverse people and religious, ethnic, and cultural groups.
3. Get Support From Above: Get top management support before you begin any serious diversity training effort. You’ll need buy-in from above to get the support and resources you need.
4. Get Support From Below: Diversity training and development – like all organizational change – has a political dimension. You’ll need to promote diversity training to your constituents. and show your employees why diversity training is in their best interest.
5. Aim For Respectful, Tolerant Behavior: The goal is effective, productive team-work. Diversity training helps in crucial ways to diminish and/or eliminate many of the barriers to such team work.

6. Get the Right Training Programs for Your Audience: Different people and workplaces require different types of training and materials. Avoid trying to adapt training materials created for a purpose different than yours. Take advantage of the wide range of programs available today.
7. Leverage Technology: take advantage of streamed and e-Learning programs: anytime, anywhere, any device. They’re cost-effective, efficient, and provide useful evaluation tools.
8. Sustained Effort: Make sure your training is more than an isolated or occasional event. It needs to be part of an on-going program supported by a variety of tools and efforts. Options include affinity groups, mentoring programs, talent development plans, and recruitment and retention.
9. Post-Assessment: Be sure to build in a follow-up evaluation after the training in order to enjoy continuous training improvement. Keep your options open and flexible to adapt to results from the on-going training experience.
10. Be Patient: Effective change takes time, but it provides a high return on your investment.

Final Thoughts

Diversity is a fact, inclusion is an act. To benefit from diversity, you must create inclusion. “Diversity and inclusion” work in tandem. Diversity without inclusion can lead to serious problems. So focus on the 10 tips above to enjoy the full benefits of inclusion in the workplace.

Respectful scheduling is an essential component of inclusion and belonging. For tips, see our 2024 Diversity Calendar, as well as our 2024 Interfaith Calendar.

FAQs

What is diversity training in the workplace?
Diversity training in the workplace aims to raise awareness, promote understanding and foster an inclusive culture by addressing topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These training sessions help employees recognize and mitigate unconscious biases, understand the value of diverse perspectives, and cultivate an environment that respects and appreciates individual differences.

How to implement diversity training in the workplace?
To implement diversity training effectively, start by assessing your organization’s needs and objectives. Partner with a reputable diversity training provider to develop customized workshops that engage employees in interactive learning. Ensure leadership support and continuous evaluation to sustain the impact of the training over time.

What is sensitivity training?
Sensitivity training, also known as cultural competence training, aims to increase participants’ understanding and appreciation of different cultures, backgrounds, and identities. The training helps people develop empathy, awareness and respect for cultural differences, enabling them to interact more effectively and respectfully with people from diverse backgrounds.

Why is diversity training important?
Diversity training is important for building awareness of biases, promoting inclusive communication, enhancing employee relations, fostering innovation, and meeting legal and ethical obligations.

What Is Cultural Competency Training?

The United States is called the Great Melting Pot, a nation with incredible cultural diversity. And with such diversity, it’s essential for organizations to foster cultural competence and sensitivity.

It’s essential for workplaces to give employees the cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills to increase cultural knowledge and boost social awareness. Here’s what you need to know about cultural competency training.

What is Cultural Competence?

Cultural competence is the combination of cultural knowledge, awareness, and social skills. It enables people to communicate effectively, and collaborate with individuals of various cultural backgrounds. Here are 5 skills that are obtained through education and experience:

Mindfulness – the ability to be aware of how communication and interaction with others are developed

Cognitive Flexibility – the ability to create new categories of information rather than old categories

Tolerance for Ambiguity – the ability to maintain focus in situations that are not clear, rather than become anxious, and to methodically determine the best approach as the situation moves forward

Behavioral Flexibility – the ability to adapt and accommodate behaviors to a different culture

Cross-Cultural Empathy – the ability to visualize the situation of another person from an intellectual and emotional point of view

Cultural competency training both models and provides educational instruction that outlines positive behaviors, attitudes, and policies.

What Are the Benefits of Cultural Competency Training?

Here are some benefits of cultural competency training at work:

• Increases cultural understanding and skills
• Boosts customer satisfaction
• Improves work outcomes
• Creates more open-minded employees
• Encourages active listening, empathy, and overall better communication skills
• Fosters a variety of diverse perspectives, ideas, and strategies
• Prompts productivity and cooperation

How Do You Create Cultural Competency Training?

To add or boost cultural training in your workplace, consider these 6 keys as a layout for your program and build from there.

1. Define Diversity

Ground your entire cultural competency program with an initial discussion about diversity. What is it? How has it impacted your organization? How does it impact others with different identities? How do we develop an understanding of ourselves in relation to others? The process of socialization deeply impacts our behaviors, values, and interaction with the world.

Celebrating diversity made easy, with our best-selling DEI calendar – respectful and inclusive scheduling made easy!

2. Improve Self-Awareness

Spend some time exploring social groups and how they impact the lives of participants. This can be an interesting part of your session as some people deeply identify with their social groups, while others have hardly thought about how they belong to them. Either way, boosting self-awareness will allow your participants to see how they are connected to a greater system.

3. Unpack Cultural Baggage

While most people don’t like to admit it, we all have biases, stereotypes, and prejudices. Discuss your unconscious biases, unpack your cultural bias, and understand the unintended impact that comes with that…especially as it pertains to someone’s individual professional role.

4. Explore “isms”

“Isms” are attitudes, actions, or institutional structures that can oppress certain individuals or groups. What are the most common “isms”? What is the relationship between these systems of oppression and the assumptions people make about others?

Explore more with our training on Microaggressions at the workplace 

5. Understand Privilege

Spend some time unpacking the complex web of privilege. Different types of privilege interconnect, and most have a systemic origin. Start broad with these details, and then get specific about the types of privilege that benefit some – and not others.

6. Create Allies

Cultural competency training seeks to create allies. Spend some time discussing actionable ways that you can address issues when they arise, or if diversity, equity, and inclusion are threatened.

Final Thoughts

Cultural competency training can improve the knowledge, understanding, and skills. These benefits show when working with both customers and coworkers from culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. Take this step to ensure everyone at your organization is protected!

Get a headstart to the next year with our 2023 diversity calendar for diversity topics to include at the workplace

Celebrate and schedule with inclusion with our 2023 Interfaith calendar

In today’s climate of heightened awareness about racial injustice and sexual harassment, workplaces across the globe are making unprecedented efforts with diversity training in the workplace. These efforts hope to reduce incidences of or eradicate racism, sexual harassment, and other harmful behaviors that can lead to employee turnover, brand damage, and costly lawsuits.

Perhaps more difficult to remove entirely are workplace microaggressions. These behaviors or statements don’t necessarily have harmful intent. However, microaggressions in the workplace do inflict insult or injury, often unknowingly, which is why microaggressions training is important for every business.

The term was first coined after the Civil Rights era in the late 1960s and 1970s. During this time, more visible and violent racist acts were replaced by subtler manifestations like microaggressions in the workplace. Today, microaggression has become a common buzzword in the social justice arena.

It’s not uncommon for businesses to deal with diversity issues in the workplace. Diversity training can significantly impact a workplace as it gives team members the knowledge they need to identify unconscious biases and microaggressions. While this is just one of the benefits of diversity training, it can have even more impactful results on any business that chooses to offer its staff this essential training.

Diversity training in the workplace is more than a good practice; it’s essential for companies that want to hire and retain the best talent, expand their market reach, and avoid potential pitfalls like bad publicity and costly lawsuits.

According to a McKinsey study of 366 public companies, those that invest in diversity training report a 35% higher financial return than the national average. Also, organizations focusing on gender diversity see returns 15% higher than the national average.

When you make diversity training in the workplace a priority, your company reaps the benefits in countless ways. You’ll create an inclusive environment that fosters innovation and also ensures your brand will be popular with all people, which boosts your revenue. With better team morale due to a culture of acceptance and belonging, you’ll draw attention from top talent and grow your company with the best possible people.

Benefits of Diversity Training in the Workplace

1. Avoid Costly Blunders

By preventing unconscious bias at work, it allows you to make more just decisions. Diversity training in the workplace helps companies to avoid cultural mistakes. Companies also need to avoid insensitive scheduling during important religious holidays by using a diversity calendar.

2. Boost Recruiting and Retention

Another top benefit of diversity training in the workplace is hiring and retaining the best and brightest talent. When all employees feel their voices are heard, they feel a sense of belonging. Employees who are happy at work are more productive, willing to take on more work and provide more feedback to their employers. When your employees are happy, it will show and this will attract more top talent to your company.

3. Increase Innovation

 Different people see problems differently. In turn, this means that they also have different ways of solving them. If your people don’t understand the perspectives of diverse groups, they’re less likely to come up with solutions for the entire team. A diverse team is a creative team. When your staff can learn and grow with each other and also understand each other, anything is possible.

4. Increase Market Share – Another benefit of inclusion in the workplace is more business. Inclusive ideas reach more markets. Reaching all demographics and markets, and ensuring you’re competitive, requires teams to think in an inclusive manner. Make sure your top decision-makers include diverse backgrounds to expand your customer base into all demographics and markets.

5. Better Business Reputation

Companies that focus on building diverse teams have a better business reputation. While many businesses feature all-white, all-male leadership which leads to a narrow perspective, others may embrace diverse and inclusive work environments. The fastest way to instill the benefits of diversity training in the workplace is with online diversity training.

Differences in team dynamics make for empathetic teams who understand how to avoid offending people from backgrounds different than their own. When your team is diverse and inclusive, your staff members can uncover the unconscious bias that holds them back from identifying offensive content from your business.

To move forward on your DEI journey, consider implementing a diversity calendar and online diversity training at your business.

Diversity Training in the Workplace FAQs

Why is diversity training important at work?

A diversity training program helps to raise awareness about different cultures and backgrounds and how to communicate respectfully. This helps build a positive work environment for all to thrive in.

What is an example of diversity training?

One example of diversity training could be a workshop where employees engage in exercises that help them learn about microaggressions at work or unconscious bias in the workplace.

What is the purpose of diversity training?

Diversity training is a valuable step toward helping employees become more aware of negative behaviors that may affect their colleagues. By creating this culture of understanding at work, you will have a more respectful and productive workforce.

Diversity and inclusion are two important concepts for any organization across the globe. These DEI efforts, in combination with diversity training, can dramatically improve how a business runs, how productive a team is, and how much money you earn. When you’re considering implementing diversity training at your organization, understanding the benefits of diversity training in the workplace will help you persuade senior team members to embrace it.

Benefits of Diversity Training

1. Avoid costly lawsuits.

When your team learns about microaggressions and unconscious biases at work, it creates a better culture of understanding. A diversity calendar can help you effectively schedule important cultural and religious events.

2. Reduce retention rate.

Another benefit of diversity training is that you’ll retain the best possible talent. When your employees feel understood, heard, and valued, they develop a strong sense of belonging, which is important to any inclusive workspace. When employees feel happy, they’ll be more productive too.

3. Enhance reputation.

Companies that focus on DEI strategies tend to have a better reputation. The fastest way to instill the benefits of diversity training in the workplace is with online diversity training.

The best online diversity training program is interactive and engaging. It is also fully customizable, tracks scores and compliance, and offers a Certificate of Completion too.

Implement a Diversity Calendar

Combined with online diversity training, having a diversity calendar that is easy to integrate with your company’s calendar is important. Here are some important features of a calendar that make it so beneficial:

Monthly Themes: There are dozens of monthly diversity heritage themes throughout the year, such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and LGBT Pride Month. These occasions provide great opportunities to recognize and celebrate different diversity groups.

Religious Events: Since many employees identify with a religion, a diversity calendar can help you with flexible scheduling for religious holidays.

Notable Birthdays: A diversity calendar can also celebrate the birthdays of prominent figures, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tim Cook, and Roberto Goizueta.

To make diversity and inclusion a reality in your workplace, use these calendar events as opportunities for learning about inclusion. This continues the culture of understanding and acceptance.

Diversity Training FAQs

How Do You Make Your Diversity Training Efforts Effective?
To implement a successful diversity training program, you should consider making it a daily practice.Set clear training goals that align with your organization’s mission and values. Additionally, gaining support from employees at all levels is crucial.

Do Diversity Training Programs Work?

There are proven benefits of implementing diversity training programs in the workplace. Some include increased productivity, reduced retention rate, and an overall sense of belonging. This acceptance culture creates a place where all employees can thrive.

What Are Some Key Steps To Having a Successful Diversity Program?

To have a successful diversity program, it’s essential to set clear goals and communicate them effectively throughout your organization. Make diversity training an ongoing and integrated part of your workplace culture, not just a one-time event. Customizing your training to suit your organization’s unique needs, industry, and workforce is crucial for relevance and effectiveness.