Why Your "Inclusive Workplace" Training is Probably Making Things Worse

Last Tuesday, I sat through what had to be the most cringe-worthy diversity training session of my career. And mate, that's saying something after 15 years in this game. Picture this: twenty-something HR coordinator with a laminated PowerPoint deck, telling a room full of tradies that they need to "check their privilege" whilst simultaneously mispronouncing half the cultural terms she was trying to teach us. The irony was so thick you could cut it with a plasma torch. But here's the thing that really got my goat – this wasn't some back-alley workshop. This was a major mining company in Perth, spending serious coin on what they genuinely believed was progress. The intention was spot on. The execution? About as effective as a chocolate teapot. ## The Uncomfortable Truth About Modern Inclusiveness Training Look, I'm going to say something that'll probably get me crucified in the comments, but someone needs to: most workplace inclusiveness training is actually making workplaces less inclusive, not more. There. I said it. Before you reach for your pitchforks, hear me out. I've been running workplace communication training across Australia for years now, and I've seen this play out more times than I care to count. Companies tick the compliance box, pat themselves on the back, and then wonder why their workplace culture hasn't budged an inch. The problem isn't that people don't want to be inclusive. Most Australians are pretty decent sorts who'd give you the shirt off their back regardless of where you're from or what you look like. The problem is we're approaching this whole thing arse-backwards. ## What Actually Works (And What Doesn't) Here's controversial opinion number one: mandatory diversity training often creates more resentment than understanding. When you force someone to sit through a lecture about their unconscious bias, you're basically telling them they're a bigot who doesn't know they're a bigot. How's that supposed to make anyone feel? I remember working with a construction crew in Brisbane where the site manager – a bloke who'd hired more women and Indigenous workers than any other site in the company – was told he needed "attitude adjustment" because he scored poorly on some online bias test. The man was doing the actual work of inclusion, but apparently his test answers weren't woke enough. That's like telling Jamie Oliver he can't cook because he failed a written exam about molecular gastronomy. Real inclusiveness isn't about memorising the correct terminology or knowing which pronouns to use (though those things matter too). It's about creating an environment where people feel genuinely valued for what they bring to the table. And you can't legislate that into existence. ## The Three Things That Actually Move the Needle After watching hundreds of workplaces struggle with this, I've noticed three things that actually work: **1. Start with Common Ground, Not Differences** Everyone bangs on about celebrating differences, but what about celebrating similarities? I've seen magic happen when teams focus first on what they share – whether that's pride in their work, frustration with management, or just wanting to get home to their families at the end of the day. Once people see each other as humans first, the differences become interesting rather than threatening. Woolworths does this brilliantly in their team meetings – they start with shared goals and work backwards to individual contributions. **2. Make it About Performance, Not Politics** Here's where I'll lose half my audience: the best inclusion initiatives I've seen don't mention inclusion at all. They focus on getting better results by utilising everyone's strengths. When you frame diversity as a performance advantage rather than a moral obligation, resistance drops dramatically. Suddenly it's not about being politically correct – it's about being competitively smart. **3. Train the Trainers (Properly)** Most diversity training fails because the people delivering it have never actually managed a diverse team in a high-pressure environment. They know the theory but they've never had to navigate the reality of a sixty-year-old boilermaker working alongside a twenty-two-year-old engineering graduate who happens to be transgender. I made this mistake myself early on. Thought I could wing a session on cultural sensitivity because I'd read a few articles and attended a webinar. Got absolutely schooled by a room full of aged care workers who dealt with more cultural complexity before breakfast than I'd handled all year. ## The Messy Reality of Real Inclusion Here's what the textbooks don't tell you: genuine inclusion is messy, uncomfortable, and sometimes downright awkward. People will say the wrong thing. They'll make assumptions. They'll step on each other's toes. And that's okay. Actually, it's more than okay – it's necessary. The goal isn't to create a workplace where nobody ever says anything that might offend someone. That's not inclusion, that's paralysis. The goal is to create a workplace where people can stumble, learn, and grow together. Where mistakes are opportunities for conversation, not grounds for cancellation. I was chatting with a mate who runs a logistics company in Adelaide, and he told me something that stuck: "I don't want my drivers walking on eggshells around each other. I want them watching each other's backs." That's the difference between performative inclusion and the real deal. ## Why Intent Matters More Than Impact (Sometimes) Controversial opinion number two: we've swung too far towards "impact over intent" thinking. Yes, impact matters enormously. But completely dismissing intent is a recipe for creating fearful, divided workplaces. When someone makes a genuine mistake – uses outdated terminology, makes an incorrect assumption, asks a clumsy question – how we respond matters. If we assume malicious intent and respond accordingly, we shut down exactly the kind of learning conversations that build real understanding. I've seen conflict resolution training sessions where people were so terrified of saying the wrong thing that they stopped engaging altogether. That's not progress. Now, I'm not talking about giving free passes to genuine harassment or discrimination. Those behaviours need clear, swift consequences. But there's a world of difference between someone being deliberately harmful and someone being accidentally ignorant. ## The Empathy Gap Nobody Talks About Here's something that drives me mental: we expect people to develop empathy for experiences they've never had, whilst simultaneously telling them their own experiences don't matter because they come from privilege. Mate, that's not how human psychology works. You can't build bridges by burning down one side of the river. If you want a middle-aged white bloke to understand why representation matters, don't start by telling him his opinion is worthless because of his demographic. Start by acknowledging that he might have struggled too – maybe not because of his race or gender, but perhaps because of his background, his education, his family circumstances. Everyone's got a story. Some stories involve systemic disadvantage, others involve different kinds of challenges. The goal isn't to rank suffering – it's to help people recognise that we're all fighting battles others can't see. ## The Power of Practical Examples Theory is all well and good, but people learn best through stories and examples. Instead of abstract concepts about bias, tell them about Sarah in accounting who has brilliant ideas but gets talked over in meetings. Don't lecture about microaggressions – show them how checking their phones during presentations makes the speaker feel invisible. I remember one session where instead of talking about cultural competence, I asked participants to share a time when they felt like an outsider. Stories came flooding out – about being the only tradie at a white-collar function, the only city person on a rural job site, the only young person in a senior team. Suddenly, everyone understood what inclusion felt like from the inside. ## Making it Stick: Beyond the Training Room The biggest failure of most inclusion training is that it ends when people leave the room. Real change happens in the everyday moments – in how meetings are run, how decisions are made, how conflicts are resolved. This is where effective communication training becomes crucial. Inclusion isn't a separate skill set – it's baked into every interaction. Smart organisations embed inclusion principles into their existing processes rather than treating it as an add-on. Performance reviews include questions about collaboration across difference. Team leaders are trained to spot and interrupt bias in real-time. Recognition programs celebrate inclusive behaviours alongside technical achievements. ## The Technology Trap Quick tangent here, but has anyone else noticed how we're trying to solve human connection problems with digital solutions? Bias-detection software, AI-powered recruitment tools, virtual reality empathy training. Look, I'm not anti-technology. Some of these tools have their place. But there's no app for human decency, no algorithm for genuine respect. I had a client recently who'd spent more on diversity analytics dashboards than on actually training their managers to have difficult conversations. They could tell you the exact demographic breakdown of every team but couldn't figure out why people still felt excluded. That's missing the forest for the trees, mate. ## The Long Game Here's the thing about real inclusion – it takes time. Generational change doesn't happen in a two-hour workshop. Cultural shifts happen through thousands of small interactions, day after day, month after month. The organisations that get this right are the ones playing the long game. They're not looking for overnight transformations or viral moments. They're building systems, developing skills, and creating accountability structures that'll still be working five years from now. They understand that inclusion isn't a destination – it's a practice. Like staying fit or maintaining relationships, it requires ongoing attention and effort. ## What Success Actually Looks Like So what does a genuinely inclusive workplace look like? It's not about having the perfect diversity statistics or the most comprehensive policy manual. It's about psychological safety. People feeling comfortable bringing their whole selves to work, sharing their ideas, admitting their mistakes, asking for help when they need it. It's about equity in opportunity. Not just hiring diverse talent, but ensuring everyone has access to stretch assignments, mentoring, and career development. It's about belonging. People feeling connected to their colleagues and invested in shared success, regardless of their background or identity. Most importantly, it's about resilience. When conflicts arise – and they will – the organisation has the skills and systems to work through them constructively rather than sweeping them under the carpet or exploding into drama. ## The Bottom Line Look, I'm not saying traditional diversity training is completely useless. Some programs are genuinely excellent, run by skilled facilitators who understand the complexities involved. But too many organisations are treating inclusion like a compliance exercise rather than a business imperative. They're focused on covering their legal backsides rather than actually creating better workplaces. And frankly, that's not fair to anyone – not to the marginalised employees who deserve genuine support, not to the well-meaning colleagues who want to do better but don't know how, and not to the organisations missing out on the real benefits of diverse, inclusive teams. We can do better than tick-box training and virtue-signalling policies. We can build workplaces where everyone genuinely thrives. But it starts with having honest conversations about what's actually working and what's just making us feel better about ourselves. The choice is ours.