Although these facts would appear to make for a gloomy conclusion, there is no reason to feel discouraged, let alone defeated. After all, what these facts indicate is that there might be better ways to reduce racism and improve D&I interventions.
The ultimate proof of ROI or training efficacy must come from the measures organizations obtain within their own cultures. That is, to find out whether your D&I approach works, you should look for evidence that it works. This may sound obvious, yet it is not just rare for companies, but also for
researchers to conduct rigorous experimental tests to evaluate the effectiveness of D&I training.
There are no clear-cut criteria, outcomes, or undisputed bulletproof benchmarks to determine whether racism and other forms of prejudice and discrimination have been significantly mitigated by training. Companies will probably want to look at improvements in peopleās perceptions of the culture (by taking surveys), measure inclusivity and diversity (recruitment, promotions, leadership representations), and track a decline in
counterproductive work behaviors, including a reduction in formal lawsuits, claims, settlements, and other reputational fiascos.
Whatever metrics are chosen, they would certainly need to go beyond what is by far the
most common criterion for judging the efficacy of D&I interventions today, namely explicitly asking participants whether they enjoyed the training or not, which, in the case of implicit bias training, is rather ironic.
Finally, letās not forget that pointing the finger at individual employees for their biases, whether unconscious or not, may reflect an attempted lack of accountability by the organization. Yes, individuals come with biases and we should try to contain them to avoid serious and shameful antisocial or counterproductive work behaviors, such as racism, and eliminate toxicity from the workplace.
And yes, it is also true that there is bias at the level of society and culture, in any society and culture, which companies may not be able to change. But leaders must think harder about shaping their own organizational cultures, creating truly ethical, fair, and inclusive environments, and acting as real-life examples of the prosocial and moral values they want to promote in their own organizations.
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