I

Comfort ZoneHow to Win Buy-In

for Diversity ProgramsDiversity is a given in today’s organizations, but too often it is not

managed well. This can have numerous negative effects, whereas

some researchers argue that healthy diversity management can result

in improved productivity, morale, and job satisfaction. One hurdle to

handling diversity well is employee discomfort with the whole concept

of diversity. Leaders need to set the tone for dealing with diversity

appropriately.

by Sarah G lover and Franchesca Car r ington

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n today’s organizational environ-ment, having and properly managinga diverse workforce isn’t just theright thing to do on moral grounds.There is also a business case for it.Organizations that have an unhealthyapproach to diversity tend to fomentnegative attitudes and behaviorsamong their employees, includingracism, sexism, ageism, xenophobia,and homophobia, all of which reflectbadly on the organization and hurtthe bottom line. Less extreme mani-festations, including awkwardness,avoidance, guilt, and defensiveness,to name just a few, can also affectwork life and productivity. Healthydiversity management in the work-place, however, may reduce stressand improve relationships, which in

turn could improve productivity,reduce absenteeism, boost morale,and increase job satisfaction.Moreover, employees who handlediversity well become assets throughtheir external relationships—withclients, suppliers, regulators, andmore.

As any leader can tell you, how-ever, managing diversity is fraughtwith difficulties. Among manyemployees the very word diversityand the intent behind diversity initia-tives have taken on negative connota-tions. This perception often results inreluctance or even resistance that canreduce participation and engagementin diversity initiatives.

Employees wonder: Is the initia-tive’s purpose simply to comply with

the law? Does the initiative confirmthat there are problems in the organi-zation among members of differentracial, gender, or religious groups? Isthe whole effort just about politicalcorrectness?

This leads to discomfort that man-ifests itself in various ways, including

• Low participation and engage-ment in diversity programs

• Gossip that the initiative hasbeen launched to suppress an actualconflict or incident between differentindividuals or groups

• Fear of punishment for anybehavior that may be seen as politi-cally incorrect

• Attempts to undermine the ini-tiative by individuals or groups whofeel targeted by it

SETTING AN EXAMPLEIf diversity is a given and can be apositive attribute for organizations,what can leaders do to help theirorganizations deal with it appropri-ately?

The first thing leaders should do isstart close to home—with them-

selves. Leaders must be the first toaddress the issue of diversity becauseit’s their job to set examples and stan-dards. Employees look to leaders tohelp make their work and communitylives better. Leaders cannot be goodrole models for understanding andembracing diversity when they them-selves are uncomfortable with it orhave blind spots.

Two cities, Rochester, New York,and Greensboro, North Carolina,have launched a program designed tobreak down racial misunderstandingsin their communities and build trustamong members of different races,achievements that can reduce discom-fort with diversity initiatives. (InRochester the program is calledBiracial Partnerships for CommunityProgress; in Greensboro it is calledthe Mosaic Partnerships Program.)The program starts with government,business, and community leaders,because of their circles of influenceand ability to set examples.

“The opinions and actions of lead-ers have a great influence on the restof the organization or community,”says Bob Rosenfeld, CEO of IdeaConnections, the Rochester consult-ing firm hired by the two cities to runthe program. “When a sufficientnumber of people are influenced bythis group, a shift in common valuesoccurs and cultural transformationbegins.”

Leaders trying to frame theirthinking on diversity may find CCL’sleadership development model ofassessment, challenge, and support tobe helpful. Diversity initiatives arefilled with many significant chal-lenges, including misperceptions,assumptions, and individuals’ andsociety’s histories and sensitivities. Ahigh level of challenge makes accu-rate assessment extremely importantand necessitates a high level of sup-port. Assessment can be tricky—theremay be heightened sensitivity tobeing judged or criticized, bias thatcan affect feedback, or awkwarddynamics in giving feedback when

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the parties are different from oneanother and uncomfortable with thatdifference. The following suggestionscan help leaders improve assessmentand increase support.

ClarificationFind out what people in the organiza-tion think about the diversity initia-tives already in place. This is part ofaccurate assessment. When you bringup the word diversity, acknowledgeright away that it means differentthings to different people. Ask whatother people think when they hear theword. For example, to some people itimplies ethnic or racial differencesonly, not gender differences. InEurope, nationality is often more sig-nificant, and race is seen as some-thing that Americans are more con-cerned with.

Find out whether everyone feelsincluded in the diversity programs.Leaders in the United States, forexample, might ask white menwhether they feel invested andincluded in the diversity efforts orwhether they think of them as some-thing they must participate in solelyfor the benefit of others. A gooddiversity initiative is built on therecognition that everyone—not justmembers of minority groups—has anidentity and a story and will get achance to tell his or her story.

DiscussionTo provide extra support, create asafe environment in which individu-als can discuss and explore common-alities and differences—a setting con-ducive to sharing personal stories. Allinvolved should, as a group, agree onground rules for the discussion.Allow individuals to express theirdiscomfort if they wish, and don’tdismiss their comments. Address theawkwardness in terms of specificbehaviors (such as body language oractual comments), not personalitiesor generalizations. Acknowledge thatpeople are different and their experi-ences make them who they are, and

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Sarah Glover is research

and innovation process man-

ager at CCL and a volunteer

coach with the Mosaic

Partnerships Program. She

holds a B.S. degree from

Guilford College.

Franchesca Carrington is

workforce development

coordinator, organizational

development and training, at

Boston Medical Center. She

holds an M.S. degree from

North Carolina A&T State

University.

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S

that commonalities may be hidden bythe differences. First, find out whatpeople have in common—they’lloften be surprised.

Different people have differentsocial identities—memberships in social groups defined by categoriessuch as gender, age, ethnicity, race,religion, nationality, sexual orienta-tion, and socioeconomic status. It’simportant to provide both single-identity and mixed-identity opportu-nities for discussion. Single-identityopportunities allow people with thesame social identity to speak moreopenly and honestly about challengesthey face in the workplace. They alsoallow individuals to differentiatebetween diversity issues and personalor other types of issues. People mayask, for example, “Did this happenbecause of prejudice or bias, or is itjust me?” There’s also value in givingmembers of a majority group achance to talk safely about their feel-ings about diversity. Many Southernwhites in the United States, for exam-

ple, may want an opportunity toexplain that they’re not racists. Letthem get that out without criticism,and they may be more open to therest of the conversation.

Develop an open and comfortableatmosphere in which people fromdifferent social groups can checktheir assumptions against those ofothers and even ask awkward ques-tions. If there are individuals whofeel comfortable participating in suchfrank discussions, they can act asmodels for others who may be newto the idea. Don’t push people toshare more than they want to. Letpeople know what they can do if theconversations upset them or evokeemotions they can’t handle. (Forexample, they can talk to a counselorthrough the company’s employeeassistance program.)

Exposure to difference and anopen, supportive setting are twoimportant keys to combating discom-fort with diversity. Both require timeand conscious effort.

Relationships

The best ingredient for increasingpeople’s trust in and comfort withdiversity in general is diversity inparticular: friendships. It’s hard toaccept negative generalizations aboutan entire group of people whenyou’re good friends with someonewho is a member of that group.

The program in Rochester andGreensboro is built on this premise.“Personal interaction effectively chal-lenges the preconceived notions thathinder relationship building,” saysRosenfeld. “Removing these barriersis necessary to enable people to moveto deeper levels of trust and under-standing.”

Organizational initiatives thatencourage people to build relation-ships with people different fromthemselves can be extremely helpful.Individuals may need extra support tomaneuver past social challenges andmake friends with people who aredifferent from them in ethnicity,

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Baggage CheckThe metaphor of excess baggagecan be helpful in understanding yourpersonal comfort level with dealingwith diversity.

Think of a suitcase. It’s packedfull of your personal and family his-tory, the history of the social groupswith which you identify, your ego,your successes and failures, yourknowledge and ignorance, theassumptions people make aboutyou, and the assumptions you makeabout them. It also contains numer-ous isms and phobias—the extraweight that everyone carriesaround. There’s some valuable stuffin there along with all the junk, soyou can’t just dump the whole suit-case and be rid of it. You have tohold on to the valuable items, suchas your identity, your sense of self-worth, your connection to your fami-

ly, your childhood memories, yourfaith perhaps—all the things thatgive you your unique personalityand approach to life.

You may see a need to go throughthe suitcase and pick out the thingsto get rid of: prejudices and stereo-types, excuses, innocent but mistak-en assumptions, well-intentioned butmisguided behavior patterns, oldpain, grief, and anger, and so on. Butbecause the good stuff is mixed inwith and often stuck to the bad stuffand there is so much of both, clean-ing out the suitcase—examining eachitem, sorting, and discarding—is adaunting prospect. It’s so over-whelming that you might prefer tokeep lugging the whole suitcasearound. After all, you’ve been carry-ing it for a long time, and you’re kindof used to it. You may even believe

that its weight has made youstronger. Sometimes it’s a helpfulcrutch to prop you up. Besides,everyone else has a suitcase, sothere’s no feeling of urgency to doanything about it. Basically, you havea hard time imagining life without it.

But what if you had a lighter suit-case? Or got rid of the suitcaseentirely, transferring what’s trulyvaluable into your pockets? You’dhave more energy, be less tired outby life. You’d be able to use the ener-gy you expended on the suitcase inbetter ways, and the space that wastaken up by the suitcase could beput to better use. You could stopstepping around the suitcase andtripping over it. In short, the over-stuffed suitcase would no longer bein the way, keeping you from gettingcloser to other people.

nationality, race, gender, religion, orsexual preference.

EnrichmentEncourage people to read newspapers,newsletters, or magazines targeted toaudiences whose social identities aredifferent from their own. People mayalso read novels or watch movieswhose protagonists belong to differentsocial groups, or listen to music that’spopular among other social groups.These activities provide some chal-lenge, but are less personal and thusless likely to overwhelm. They arealso fodder for good discussions and arelatively easy way for some people tofind something in common to talkabout with others who are different.Diversity and creativity are relatedbecause they’re both about seeingthings in new ways and embracingdifferences. Improved problem solvingis one possible payoff for such efforts.

OPEN AND HONESTThe following example from CCLshows how focusing on improvingemployees’ level of comfort with adiversity initiative can increase thesuccess of the effort. It increased sup-port and improved assessment, but atfirst it struck some people as a hugechallenge.

The following notice appeared inthe CCL employee newsletter inJanuary 2001:

Have you ever started to say or asksomething but didn’t because it hadto do with race? Why are we soafraid to talk about race . . . fear ofmisperceptions . . . fear of offending?

Isn’t it time for you to step out ofyour comfort zone?

One of the most effective ways tobreak down stereotypes (and racism)is through interaction with other cul-tures. You may realize you have morein common than you think.

What is this? This is a new inter-est group at CCL.

This employee-initiated group wasnamed Reaching Across CulturalExperiences (RACE). When itstarted, its organizers encounteredskepticism from some of their co-workers. Several cautioned the orga-nizers that they would need to man-age perceptions about the group, toinclude or avoid certain topics duringthe meetings, and to be wary of thepotential for damaging relationships.

Despite the warnings, seventeenpeople showed up for the first meet-ing—a large number for an interestgroup at CCL. Participants brought alot of energy to the effort. After a fewmeetings it was evident that theRACE group experience hadincreased employees’ comfort withthe idea of the initiative itself andwith talking about diversity issues.

Comments from members of thegroup make clear that the initiative’sopen and honest approach increasedparticipants’ comfort level with theeffort and its goals:

I enjoyed listening to other people’sstories of how race first became anissue for them. It was a good bondingexperience in that I related to somestories while others opened my eyesto a new world.

The RACE group has greatly impact-ed me, especially in the workplace.Even though we have come a longway, racism still exists. The RACEgroup has been a platform to dealwith the harsh but subtle situations Iam faced with from day to day.

This interest group allows CCL mem-bers from diverse backgrounds to dis-cuss topics that might otherwise beleft unattended. In an informal way,the group provides support for work-ing out everyday problems related todifferences. It’s a sounding board forpeople to get feedback on their ownperceptions from others who are dif-ferent, and that in turn gives us all anopportunity to help one another

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across the race divide. In a formalway, the group pursues opportunitiesto participate in (or create) eventsrelating to diversity and commonalityamong us all.

Diversity initiatives can make adifference. That is clear from CCL’sexperience.

A BAD RAPDiversity challenges are nothing new,but in the United States more thanforty years of initiatives designed tofoster and promote diversity havefailed to eliminate prejudice and dis-crimination in the workplace. What’snot working? Why haven’t moreorganizations been able to implementsuccessful diversity initiatives?

Part of the reason is that failedinitiatives and the controversial his-tory of diversity training—some pro-grams have taken highly confronta-tional approaches—have causeddiversity to become a loaded word.It has become associated with lawsand formal policies and programs—none of which are the most effectiveways to win people’s hearts andminds. Many people have becomefrustrated and jaded with diversityinitiatives.

And this leads to what we view asthe main stumbling block today fordiversity programs—people’s misper-ceptions of and subsequent discom-fort with diversity and the intentbehind diversity initiatives. Correct-ing these misperceptions and assuag-ing this discomfort is critical to thesuccess of a diversity effort.

Many employees and managersbelieve that the human resourcedepartment should be solely responsi-ble for developing diversity initia-tives. But it is leaders who, beingresponsible for the long-term successof their organizations, are alsoresponsible for the good managementof all their organizations’ resources—including diversity.

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