{"id":3851,"date":"2025-07-08T15:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3851"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:57:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:57:27","slug":"encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

A way to increase the effectiveness of diversity training is to cultivate an environment where employees feel comfortable saying how they really feel.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Quinetta Roberson<\/a> of Michigan State University said that diversity training should be about behavioral change, but that\u2019s difficult when employees feel inhibited to speak their minds in the office. Diversity training is most effective when participants feel free to express themselves without fear of reprisal, because it leads to opportunities for learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve become a very politically correct society, so I may know what to say, or I may ask myself, \u2018What I should say, and what I shouldn\u2019t say? How do I actually say it right?\u2019 What\u2019s the self-regulation?\u201d Roberson said. \u201cSo it may be that I want to say something, but I don\u2019t because I realized that isn\u2019t right, or this isn\u2019t the proper place to say that, or \u2018I\u2019ve got to be more mindful about the context and what other people will likely think about my comments.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so that\u2019s why we wanted to put forth a model where we talk about issues that are uncomfortable for some people and can enhance diversity training to be more effective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn developing our model, one of the things we realized is that the diversity and training literatures don\u2019t really talk to each other; they operate along separate tracks, so we asked ourselves, \u2018How do we design training in order to bring those together to inform each other?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditional training is typically divided into three segments: pre-training, the training event, and post-training. Roberson and colleagues identified strategies for redesigning each segment to enhance participants\u2019 overall learning experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe review process for this new model for diversity training was interesting, because the reviewers were very critical\u2014we could see their apprehension coming out,\u201d Roberson said. \u201cDiversity training can be scary, because sometimes if you say the wrong thing, you\u2019re worried about what your boss and colleagues will think about you, but if you stay quiet, it\u2019s a missed opportunity for an honest exchange of ideas that enhances learning and behavioral changes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher A way to increase the effectiveness of diversity training is to cultivate an environment where employees feel comfortable saying how they really feel. Academy of Management Scholar Quinetta Roberson of Michigan State University said that diversity training should be about behavioral change, but that\u2019s difficult when employees feel inhibited to speak their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,60,72,74],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-social-responsibility","category-diversity","category-ethics","category-hr"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEncourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:57:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":371,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY\",\"DIVERSITY\",\"ETHICS\",\"HR\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds - Academy of Management Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:57:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Source: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Academy of Management Today\",\"description\":\"Smarter, faster business news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\",\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Butcher\"},\"description\":\"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\\\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/danielbutcher\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/daniel-butcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds - Academy of Management Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Butcher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Butcher","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"headline":"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds","datePublished":"2025-07-08T15:57:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/"},"wordCount":371,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY","DIVERSITY","ETHICS","HR"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/","name":"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-08T15:57:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/encourage-diversity-trainees-to-speak-their-minds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Encourage Diversity Trainees to Speak Their Minds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c","name":"Daniel Butcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Butcher"},"description":"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-600x400.jpg",600,400,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-350x450.jpg",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/speak-their-minds_diversity_DEI_cropped-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":1,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/corporate-social-responsibility\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/diversity\/\" rel=\"category tag\">DIVERSITY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/ethics\/\" rel=\"category tag\">ETHICS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/hr\/\" rel=\"category tag\">HR<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher A way to increase the effectiveness of diversity training is to cultivate an environment where employees feel comfortable saying how they really feel. Academy of Management Scholar Quinetta Roberson of Michigan State University said that diversity training should be about behavioral change, but that\u2019s difficult when employees feel inhibited to speak their…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3851"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=3851"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}