Diversity Training Isn’t Dead. It is Undergoing Head Surgery
The main point of the article is that diversity training has not been used to develop the competency needed to live better and work more productively with people from different cultures. It is primarily used instead for social engineering and to protect organizations against lawsuits due to incompetent behaviors. But it is rarely used in a serious effort to increase cultural competence. Developing competent diversity professionals is the key to changes this state of affairs.
(PRWEB) December 17, 2004 -- Diversity training has undergone changes over
the past couple of decades and significantly so within the past five to ten
years. Why? Poor training and a market driven by legal pressure are certainly
among the most important. It is beside the point to dwell too much on the
historical stuff here though. You can go to the following link for a more
substantial discussion http://www.dtui.com/consultbkadv.html.
We can see the
need for cultural competence in our daily lives, especially in the news media.
It is not uncommon for a teacher, minister, parent, or public figure to say or
do something culturally incompetent. The Republican Trent Lott lost his coveted
position as House Speaker and sports announcers have lost their jobs for making
racially insensitive comments about black athletes. One of the primary reasons
there is a war against terrorism is the poor international relations competence
among global leaders.
The more distressing aspect of the diversity
training enterprise is the out-dated and limited understanding of how to
identify and train cultural competence among diversity professionals. Early on
diversity training necessarily needed to focus on increasing awareness of
cultural differences and their impact on behavior. Awareness training even jived
well with the legalistic use of the intervention.
While the legalistic
concerns continue to drive diversity work, the reality today is that globalism,
increased awareness training in public and private schools, as well as diversity
training-saturated market make the approach outdated. Organizational leaders
finally understand what the people they lead have been saying all along. “We
need diversity training that gives us something we can use, rather than social
engineering.”
People need knowledge and skills today. City administration
offices need to know how to serve Spanish-speaking citizens, an executive from
Volvo needs to shift negotiation strategies from country to country, and
teachers need to educate a group of children with a host of cultural identities.
We need to be aware of differences, but awareness without knowledge and skills
makes us feel as though our hands are tied.
That is why Diversity
Training University International (DTUI) trains diversity professionals to focus
on identifying cultural competency gaps and developing training to address them.
This is the surgery needed to develop culturally competent diversity
professionals. Helping professionals discover the challenges of diversity and
providing them with high impact tools requires state-of-the-art expertise. This
is what DTUI has mastered.
Preston Daniels, a diversity trainer and
ex-major of the city of Des Moines, states that “DTUI training has led to [his]
personal growth as well as a much better understanding of what it takes to be
culturally competent. [DTUI] touches you intellectually as well as emotionally.
[The] teaching skills are superior and the training materials provide you with
the knowledge base needed to succeed in the dynamic field of diversity
consulting and training.”
You can learn more about the DTUI approach and
our new High Impact Diversity Consulting book at the following link http://www.dtui.com/consultbkadv.html.
Contact Billy
Vaughn, PhD e-mail protected from spam bots
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb189598.htm