The movement for racial and social justice and a global pandemic has focused a spotlight on diversity training and its role in building a workplace culture of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in local government.

As part of a multipronged strategy, diversity training can be a valuable tool in the DEI toolbox to engage, educate and motivate employees to be more inclusive in their thinking and actions.

A modern, interactive approach to training offers HR leaders new ways to:

1. Amplifies senior leadership’s commitment

Diversity training provides leaders with a dynamic platform for communicating the organization’s commitment to DEI, the importance of everyone  participating in training and other initiatives, and setting expectations for behavior.

2. Raise awareness of unconscious bias

Unconscious bias or implicit bias − hidden attitudes based on social stereotypes which everyone has −is another concept that is part of the conversation on race,...

I recently read fictional stories based on real experiences from an Emergency Room doctor. He told a story about a girl who was a meth addict running into the ER with a baby that was almost dead. The addict was a mess with badly scarred arms and missing teeth. And she was not giving any helpful information as to what happened to the baby, causing great frustration among the staff. Just when the child was within a minute of dying, the doctor removed a piece of plastic blocking its airway, bringing the baby back to life.

At that very moment, another woman burst into the treatment room, picked up the baby, and thanked the drug-addicted woman for saving her baby’s life! What?!?! See, this mother was in a parking lot when her baby began to choke, but her keys were locked in her car. The drug addict was in a car nearby with her friends. She quickly grabbed the baby and left for the hospital. The ER staff first saw only an addict. But after seeing the whole picture, they also saw...