In the learning and talent development fields, there’s a concept known as the “knowledge pie.” As a refresher, it’s a pie chart that breaks down a person’s total knowledge into categories to broaden our understanding of what we know and what we don’t. In general, we know what we know: “I know how to bake a cake.” And we know what we don’t know: “I don’t know how to speak French.” But there’s a risky slice that takes up most of that pie: What we don’t know we don’t know. This is the area of knowledge we don’t even know exists and therefore can’t decide if it’s something we should learn. So how does this fit within diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training?

The DEI Training Recipe for Failure

DEI training sometimes assumes that learners are aware of their own biases and deep-rooted behaviors. This is a recipe for failure because DEI issues tend to fall into the danger zone of what you don’t know you don’t know. Everyone has biases — it’s common enough that it makes sense that we don’t recognize our own. Some biases can be small and evade notice, but sometimes, and especially in the workplace, they can cause real damage. And it’s hard to trace that damage back to biased decisions since we’re so often aware of the biases that inspired them.

Because of this, when companies make DEI training available to employees, some employees won’t engage with it because they don’t know they need it. Even when this training is mandatory, it can fail — many employees are participating and thinking, “Surely they’re not talking about me?” Solely offering information about topics like unconscious bias and hoping it gets absorbed and implemented is a precursor to failure. Learners simply don’t seek out or retain content about topics they don’t know they need.

Fixing the DEI Training Problem

There are ways to mitigate this issue and develop impactful learning around diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The first step is to think beyond “training.” To pull employees from the wrong side of the knowledge pie, it’s important to design a comprehensive DEI education program that proactively reaches out to those learners who are unaware of their biases. Engage them in a way that doesn’t feel mandatory or punitive with material that feels helpful and actionable, rather than forced.

To help you get started, here are five important elements of a successful DEI education program:

Avoid check-the-box training: It’s imperative to engage learners regularly with interactive, easily consumable content that feels like an ongoing conversation. It’s only through this continuous experience that someone can begin to move concepts of inclusion, bias and belonging to the “know what we don’t know” side of the pie. This may sound time-consuming, but with the right content partner, your team doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting.

1. Ditch the one-size-fits-all content: Your organization and its people are unique. Some organizations are just starting their DEI awareness journey and others are fluent, with active employee resource groups (ERGs) and strong marginalized group representation in leadership roles. But DEI is a journey: There is no finish line. Your content must be relevant to where your company and learners are on the DEI journey and expand as you move forward.
2. Make learning accessible: To be effective, all topics must be consumable within the flow of work. Today’s workers don’t have the time for a day-long session. And according to LinkedIn Learning, 49% of employees prefer to learn at the point of need. But this is even more critical for DEI training because, as learners move from novice to awareness to action, you want them to fully engage when and where it works for their schedule.
3. House learning everywhere: Refresh your learning ecosystem to pull learners into this great content you’ve curated. Place eye-catching visual links to microlessons on your communication channels, like Slack or Microsoft Teams. Dedicate real estate on your SharePoint or other intranet site for a dynamic tile that provides one-click access to quick DEI lessons. The easier it is for your people to regularly bump into your DEI learning, the better.
4. Make learning available to all: Arguably the most important component, making this mission-critical learning available to all employees is the only way to create true cultural change. From the front lines to the C-suite, everyone is responsible for making your organization a diverse, inclusive and equitable space where each employee can be their authentic selves and bring cognitive diversity and innovation to the table.

Implementing these steps will help bring your learners onto the right side of the knowledge pie, regardless of where your organization is on its DEI journey. The good news is that there is a learning method that can help you check all these boxes: microlearning. It truly is one of the most effective ways to deliver engaging, relevant and continuous learning that is accessible and scalable for today’s workplace.