Is Your Company's Diversity Training Making You More Biased?

Corporate inclusion programs often trigger an us-versus-them mind-set. But establishing shared goals can help get teams on track.

- David Rock and Heidi Grant

Although diversity and inclusion training is prevalent in corporate America, its impact is inconsistent. Sometimes the programs even have the opposite effect of what they intend. One 2016 study of 830 mandatory diversity training programs found that they would trigger a strong backlash against the ideas they promoted. “Trainers tell us that people often respond to compulsory courses with anger and resistance,” wrote sociologists Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev in the Harvard Business Review, “and many participants actually report more animosity toward other groups afterward.”

The problem is not with the programs themselves. They make a strong, consistent case for valuing differences — not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it leads to much higher levels of performance. Inclusive companies have a demonstrated advantage, both financially and in general levels of innovation. And being around others from different backgrounds makes people more creative and hardworking. Drawing on multiple perspectives leads teams to see a greater number of solutions to problems.

Why, then, does diversity and inclusion training spark a backlash? The answer has to do with biases deeply entrenched in most people’s patterns of thinking — attitudes not about race or gender per se, but about the nature of autonomy and group membership. The political conflicts around “political correctness” and inclusiveness stem from the same cognitive issues. That in itself makes the negative reaction to inclusion training worthy of study. If businesses can’t create an environment in which employees from diverse backgrounds feel they are treated equitably, how can we expect society to do so?