How to Design a Racial Tolerance Seminar

The popular NBC sitcom "The Office" shows you how NOT to design a racial tolerance seminar...and in fact, it might even show you how to design one. Taking a measured approach means considering innovative ways to bring people together at the conference table. We all know about the obvious ways of demeaning people, cultural groups or ethnicities. What you may not realize is that overdoing a racial tolerance seminar will probably have a similar effect, embarrassing people or leaving them annoyed or uncomfortable. To plan a better event, think about how you can focus on commonalities rather than differences.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Think of people as individuals, not as races or genders. Stress that every person has their own culture while you are discussing general cultures that groups tend to have in common.
2. When discussing differences, make sure that everyone gets the message. Emphasize that no culture is better than another, but some behaviors are better than others.
3. When talking about problem behaviors, be blunt, but don't be unfair. Don't link bad behaviors to a specific culture. Make it clear that a "square" person could theoretically be as likely to enjoy bad behavior as someone who tends to have a "bad boy" or "bad girl" image. Usually, your workers will appreciate this distinction and understand the rules of fair play.
4. Keep it vague. Instead of asking people to share specific ideas, start with something open ended and let your participants fill in the blanks. People generally appreciate being able to have free input rather than feeling "led" to say a particular thing. Instead of, "Let's discuss ways that racial cultures operate in the lunch room" try, "Does anybody have anything to say about their personal culture?"
5. Design your own content to fill in the blanks. Don't leave your group hanging. Work out entertaining and non-sensitive filler for the seminar. Concentrating on shared behaviors (smoking breaks, music that workers listen to, the bagel truck schedule) will help make the time flow and keep things from getting too heavy. Focusing on problems your employees have been having will bring people down quick. You can touch on a problem, but don't make it a centerpiece.
6. Emphasize respect, but don't overemphasize it. Many diversity administrators tend to get bogged down in things that are usually taken for granted. Demanding respect is likely to backfire. Use your own example to show that respect should be a given.

Tips & Warnings

• When focusing on the idea of racial tolerance, it might help to point out or elicit what diverse cultures have to offer or deftly touch on the idea that being rude to another race is bad behavior and not cool or desirable.

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