Scene Three: Thursday, May 10, 2007:
Including and Engaging people of all socio-economic levels
Working with the unmentionable difference - Class
Training Challenges and Potential Solutions for the Topic: Class
During the session, participants broke up into two groups to discuss issues around class: Those who wanted to work on their personal development and awareness and those who wanted to focus on changing their organization. This list is a compilation of what the Organizational Change group brainstormed on challenges to designing and implementing a training intervention on class in their organization. This discussion was followed by a critique of an actual training session on class.
Challenges to training on class
- Resistance to focus on differences.
- Rational response and legitimization of class difference.
- Denial of class difference.
- Belief that training makes no difference or is not an effective intervention.
- Resistance to change.
- Ambivalence regarding class and our own class position.
- Cultural background.
- Race and ethnicity related to class and the complexity of the issues.
- Group-think regarding class.
- Raising issues will raise law suits.
- Taking it too personally.
- Reinforce differences negatively.
- Political correctness regarding class.
- Can be seen as being against the corporation and the capitalist system.
- Lack of clarity regarding the business case for class.
- Painful awareness (biases, privilege, lack of privilege).
- The training team might have their own class bias.
- Too much "stuff" happening in organization to be able to focus on class.
Potential Solutions
- Multi-class teams to design and implement the training session.
- Developing a compelling reason or business case. For example, a) what are the strategic business reasons, b) potential savings in operational costs, and c) the inclusion and satisfaction of people.
- Integration of management and workers in the session on class.
- Provide follow-up to training - what happens, what concrete changes are going to happen as a result of the discussions.
- Clearly determining who the audience is. For example, a pictures exercise based on identity groups, not individual pictures.
- Presenting the issue/idea with impact; laying the foundation for "equality" and inclusion.
- Create safety with norms for dialogue.
- Framing the training within the current diversity strategy. For example, inclusion and engagement of all or managing differences for improved effectiveness.
Scene Three was the third session of the 2007 NW Diversity Learning Series, Life Theater - Inclusion and Engagement: Challenging and Expanding My Diversity Competency: Moving Beyond My Comfort Zone. The Series, held in Seattle, WA, is organized by The GilDeane Group, publishers of DiversityCentral.com.