Many organizations have pivoted from the idea that hard conversations at work—especially those around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—should be avoided. Today, many organizations are encouraging employees to attend inclusive leadership workshops and participate in team discussions on DEI topics.

It’s a step in the right direction. But for this positive step to have a meaningful impact, organizations must take appropriate measures to ensure these sessions provide brave, psychologically safe spaces for learning and disclosure, particularly for employees who may feel the most vulnerable outside of those spaces.

Creating Courageous, Psychologically Safe Spaces for Learning and Disclosure

A psychologically safe learning environment is an environment where all learners, regardless of their position, identity, or background, feel respected and trust their colleagues enough to be vulnerable and learn.

Especially in the case of DEI, true learning requires leaning into discomfort. Well-designed DEI discussions demand self-honesty. They ask leaders to look inward to examine biases and behaviors. These discussions also demand open-mindedness. They ask leaders to listen to stories and truths that may have been previously obscured from them.

Facilitators need to foster inclusive leadership and DEI training experiences where all learners feel psychologically safe to express emotion and vulnerability. They also need to create a learning environment where leaders can examine entrenched biases and behaviors and engage in learning that will lead to behavior change.

Top Facilitator Skills for Fostering Inclusive Leadership and DEI Training Experiences

Development Dimensions International (DDI) has found several key behaviors and inclusive practices that facilitators can learn to use to be more effective. To create a psychologically safe and brave space for learning, facilitators can:

• Model vulnerability by sharing their own stories, including pitfalls, to build trust with the group.

• Set ground rules for respectful interactions while making space for disagreement and conflict.

• Push learners to critically examine their beliefs and contributions even when it means diving into discomfort.

• Stay vigilant for microaggressions by monitoring nonverbals, providing timely and specific feedback to offenders when necessary, and providing support to individuals victimized by harmful comments.

• Mitigate the effect of their own biases by self-educating and seeking feedback from others.

• Pre-emptively acknowledge differences of opinion and experience by affirming that it’s okay to see things differently from others while also acknowledging the importance of being able to see things from others’ points of view.

• Provide multiple options for participants to engage in discussion, including virtual or nonverbal contributions.

Taking Facilitator Upskilling Seriously

Taking facilitator upskilling seriously is the key to running effective sessions even on the most uncomfortable and sensitive topics. Specifically, organizations should find ways to build communities of practice among facilitators who engage in this work.

They should prime groups of learners for difficult DEI sessions by building multitouchpoint learning journeys designed to deliver incremental learnings. Organizations can also seek out specialized facilitator trainings, which provide safe places to practice and receive feedback. DDI offers a facilitator “booster” session called Foster Inclusion and Courage.

Read DDI’s blog to learn more best practices for facilitating inclusive leadership and DEI trainings.