Schools and businesses derive many benefits from promoting diversity and inclusion. Diversity on college campuses leads to increased satisfaction, enhanced critical thinking skills, and more academic engagement. Gallup has reported that employees, who work for companies that value the diverse strengths and talents of their workforce, report greater well-being, and increased levels of engagement among team members. Even as organizations promote diversity and inclusion, people may experience interpersonal challenges as they attempt to integrate newly acquired knowledge, skills, and awareness into their roles and interactions. For instance, some individuals may have difficulty shifting their attitudes and behaviors, and they may blame diversity and inclusion efforts for promoting divisiveness. Others may expect instant organizational change, and they grow disappointed with the pace.
In these situations, team members and colleagues may display a range of behaviors and emotions that, when unaddressed, become barriers to inclusive workplace settings.
Oftentimes, outside consultation and facilitation can be useful for helping teams to recover from and work through diversity-related challenges.
To address these types of workplace dynamics, Dr. Green offers a multi-prong approach that could include the following: