Latest news with #diversityTraining
Fast Company
21-05-2025
- Science
- Fast Company
Why diversity training should be customized to different ‘personas'
Diversity training is more effective when it's personalized, according to my new research in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology. As a professor of management, I partnered with Andrew Bryant, who studies social marketing, to develop an algorithm that identifies people's 'personas,' or psychological profiles, as they participate in diversity training in real time. We embedded this algorithm into a training system that dynamically assigned participants to tailored versions of the training based on their personas. We found that this personalized approach worked especially well for one particular group: the 'skeptics.' When skeptics received training tailored to them, they responded more positively—and expressed a stronger desire to support their organizations' diversity efforts—than those who received the same training as everyone else. In the age of social media, where just about everything is customized and personalized, this sounds like a no-brainer. But with diversity training, where the one-size-fits-all approach still rules, this is radical. In most diversity trainings, all participants hear the same message, regardless of their preexisting beliefs and attitudes toward diversity. Why would we assume that this would work? Thankfully, the field is realizing the importance of a learner-centric approach. Researchers have theorized that several diversity trainee personas exist. These include the resistant trainee, who feels defensive; the overzealous trainee, who is hyper-engaged; and the anxious trainee, who is uncomfortable with diversity topics. Our algorithm, based on real-world data, identified two personas with empirical backing: skeptics and believers. This is proof of concept that trainee personas aren't just theoretical—they're real, and we can detect them in real time. But identifying personas is just the beginning. What comes next is tailoring the message. To learn more about tailoring, we looked to the theory of jujitsu persuasion. In jujitsu, fighters don't strike. They use their opponent's energy to win. Similarly, in jujitsu persuasion, you yield to the audience, not challenge it. You use the audience's beliefs, knowledge, and values as leverage to make change. In terms of diversity training, this doesn't mean changing what the message is. It means changing how the message is framed. For example, the skeptics in our study still learned about the devastating harms of workplace bias. But they were more persuaded when the message was framed as a 'business case' for diversity rather than a 'moral justice' message. The 'business case' message is tailored to skeptics' practical orientation. If diversity training researchers and practitioners embrace tailoring diversity training to different trainee personas, more creative approaches to tailoring will surely be designed. Our research offers a solution: Identify the trainee personas represented in your audience and customize your training accordingly. This is what social media platforms like Facebook do: They learn about people in real time and then tailor the content they see. To illustrate the importance of tailoring diversity training specifically, consider how differently skeptics and believers think. One skeptic in our study—which focused on gender diversity training—said: 'The issue isn't as great as feminists try to force us to believe. Women simply focus on other things in life; men focus on career first.' In contrast, a believer said: 'In my own organization, all CEOs and managers are men. Women are not respected or promoted very often, if at all.' Clearly, trainees are different. Tailoring the training to different personas, jujitsu style, may be how we change hearts and minds. What still isn't known Algorithms are only as good as the data they rely on. Our algorithm identified personas based on information the trainees reported about themselves. More objective data, such as data culled from human resources systems, may identify personas more reliably. Algorithms also improve as they learn over time. As artificial intelligence tools become more widely used in HR, persona-identifying algorithms will get smarter and faster. The training itself needs to get smarter. A onetime training session, even a tailored one, stands less of a chance at long-term change compared with periodic nudges. Nudges are bite-sized interventions that are unobtrusively delivered over time. Now, think about tailored nudges. They could be a game changer.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Council leader 'will not take diversity training'
The new leader of Lincolnshire County Council says he will not take part in diversity training in his new role. Speaking on BBC Politics North, Reform UK's Sean Matthews also said he was not interested in climate change and that his priorities were to save money and "cut out the waste". Earlier in the week, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on social media that all people should be treated equally and any UK Reform councillor instructed to take part in diversity or climate change training would "do no such thing". The Green Party's Natalie Bennett said diversity training was a good use of taxpayers' money and said "to be that dismissive is really, deeply disturbing". Matthews was announced as the county council's new leader on Thursday after Reform took control from the Conservative Party in the elections on 1 May. "I've not been asked to do any diversity training, which is a good start," he said. "I think that the staff here may have an inkling as to what sort of response they would get from me. So that's not happening, as far as I'm concerned, unless it's hidden in the undergrowth somewhere. "And as far as climate change is concerned.. I'm not interested." Echoing comments made last week by the county's new mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, he said that diversity officers are called "different things" and said "we've got to get a grip of that". Presenter Tim Iredale asked Bennett if she thought diversity training was a good use of taxpayers' money. She said: "Absolutely, because I think that we have long-term historical prejudices, long-term historical discrimination. "Fixing that is not just the right thing to do morally, it's the thing that ensures that we have the best possible council services, that we are able to engage everyone in our community and that the council services meet the needs of everybody in that community. "We surely should want to ensure that everyone in our community can flourish, can have the best opportunities to participate and to be that dismissive is really, deeply disturbing." Now the opposition on the council, the Conservative group leader, councillor Richard Davies, said: "Lincolnshire County Council is a well run, prudently financially managed authority, delivering really important services. "This is not a political football to be kicked around. "[Reform UK have] made a lot of commitments around borrowing, about council tax, about improving services, that we will hold them to account to deliver." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Jenkyns: fracking would save money for taxpayers Reform UK picks ex-police officer to lead council Tory group leader steps down after 20 years Lincolnshire County Council Politics North (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Lincolnshire council leader Sean Matthews dismisses DEI training
The new leader of Lincolnshire County Council says he will not take part in diversity training in his new on BBC Politics North, Reform UK's Sean Matthews also said he was not interested in climate change and that his priorities were to save money and "cut out the waste".Earlier in the week, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on social media that all people should be treated equally and any UK Reform councillor instructed to take part in diversity or climate change training would "do no such thing".The Green Party's Natalie Bennett said diversity training was a good use of taxpayers' money and said "to be that dismissive is really, deeply disturbing". Matthews was announced as the county council's new leader this week after Reform took control from the Conservative Party in the elections on 1 May."I've not been asked to do any diversity training, which is a good start," he said. "I think that the staff here may have an inkling as to what sort of response they would get from me. So that's not happening, as far as I'm concerned, unless it's hidden in the undergrowth somewhere."And as far as climate change is concerned.. I'm not interested."Echoing comments made last week by the county's new mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, he said that diversity officers are called "different things" and said "we've got to get a grip of that". Presenter Tim Iredale asked Bennett if she thought diversity training was a good use of taxpayers' said: "Absolutely, because I think that we have long-term historical prejudices, long-term historical discrimination."Fixing that is not just the right thing to do morally, it's the thing that ensures that we have the best possible council services, that we are able to engage everyone in our community and that the council services meet the needs of everybody in that community."We surely should want to ensure that everyone in our community can flourish, can have the best opportunities to participate and to be that dismissive is really, deeply disturbing."Now the opposition on the council, the Conservative group leader, councillor Richard Davies, said: "Lincolnshire County Council is a well run, prudently financially managed authority, delivering really important services. "This is not a political football to be kicked around."[Reform UK have] made a lot of commitments around borrowing, about council tax, about improving services, that we will hold them to account to deliver."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
