Delivering behavioural change in diversity and inclusion: A Lever-Transfer of Learning case study
Diversity and inclusion programs very often fail. When a global membership organisation set out to deliver a new diversity and inclusion strategy, they recognised that in order to genuinely embed cultural sensitivity and awareness and deliver behavioural change, they would need to facilitate learning transfer. Lever – Transfer of Learning was up to the challenge.
The client is a global professional membership body, representing over 50,000 members, dedicated to driving excellence in their profession.
When George Floyd was tragically murdered on 25 May 2020, it sparked a global conversation about systemic racial inequality. For the organisation, it triggered a period of self-reflection, with the organisation realising it had not given adequate attention or resource to tackling injustice, systemic racism and discrimination.
Not only did the organisation need and want to change, but as the custodians of their industry, they recognised it was their responsibility to address the industry’s lack of diversity as a result of inaccessibility and discrimination.
In September 2020, following a review of the organisation’s diversity and inclusion track record, the organisation put the foundations in place to establish a brand new diversity and inclusion strategy with the support of a senior Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) consultant.
In February 2021, the organisation employed a Director of Inclusion & Diversity to establish and deliver on the diversity and inclusion strategy.
A new diversity and inclusion vision
The organisation set out to lead by example to support talent and deliver equity internally while taking a proactive role in driving an inclusive culture in their profession. Targets were established within the organisation to support equity for all and ensure the organisation was accountable.
The organisation identified some ambitious goals included creating an inclusive culture where all staff and members feel they belong, holding staff and members accountable for inclusive action, modelling how to drive an inclusive culture in their profession, delivering actual behavioural change in regard to cultural awareness and sensitivity, and driving a perception change of the organisation among staff, members and the public.
With the support of an internal Expert Advisory Group, the Director of Inclusion & Diversity set out to deliver strategic inclusive change utilising the globally recognised cultural intelligence (CQ) framework. CQ refers to the ability to recognise and adapt to cultural differences, and work effectively in culturally diverse situations.
A rigorous approach to behavioural change
The organisation was acutely aware that without a robust approach to learning, the diversity and inclusion initiatives would fail. Embedding cultural sensitivity and awareness, and creating actual behavioural change, can’t be achieved through learning alone.
“The nature of EDI (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) learning programs makes achieving behavioural change that much more difficult,” said the Director of Inclusion & Diversity.
“To change our behaviour we have to acknowledge that we’re inherently biased and discriminatory, participate in some uncomfortable introspection and identify what about us needs to change. This is much harder to achieve than behavioural change in other contexts.”
The Director of Inclusion & Diversity was keen to integrate a learning transfer approach which led her to Lever – Transfer of Learning.
“I had been aware of Emma’s work in learning transfer for some time and was really keen to introduce it into our CQ learning program. I knew that if we wanted long-term and sustainable behavioural change, we needed to do things differently.”
Learning transfer – the crucial step in embedding learning
Often learning programs bombard learners with information, only for the learner to quickly forget it or fail to apply it. The necessary change in behaviour never occurs. Achieving truly lasting change requires the most robust of training reinforcement approaches, an approach that creates measured ‘Learning Transfer’.
To facilitate the leap to effective learning transfer, the CQ methodology was combined with Lever – Transfer of Learning’s Turning Learning into Action™ (TLA) methodology. TLA is delivered through one-on-one conversations with the participant using coaches and/or Coach M conversational (chatbot) technology, at various intervals after the training course. TLA is proven and practical, and puts ‘reflection’ that is specific, structured, and accountable at the heart of the learning transfer process, increasing training ROI.
Coach M is Lever – Transfer of Learning’s self-coaching tool that supports learners in a structured way to slow down and reflect on their specific learning commitments. Using chatbot technology, Coach M initiates two-way coaching conversations, tailored to the individual.
A shared vision and purpose
There was an immediate synergy between the organisation and Lever – Transfer of Learning thanks to a shared vision and passion for the project.
“It was wonderful to have Emma on board. She is passionate about learning transfer but it quickly became clear that she is also passionate about what we are trying to achieve. It helps enormously that Emma believes in the actual training she is helping implement.”
“We’ve had an excellent working relationship from day one and the entire process has well and truly lived up to expectations.”
A scalable learning model
The CQ learning program needed to be practical, insightful and scalable.
The organisation and Lever – Transfer of Learning developed a CQ learning program designed to be rolled out to executives, managers, and over 300 staff. The goal was to teach the learners CQ skills and train managers and executives in how to train others in CQ while holding all learners accountable to applying the learning.
Three targeted learning programs were developed involving a combination of assessments, virtual workshops, and eLearning combined with TLA conversations and/or Coach M to deliver the transfer of learning and create behavioural change at scale.
The Results
Despite the CQ program still being underway, it’s already driving significant behavioural change. Staff are reporting that there has been a noticeable change at the organisation which you can “see and feel”. The CQ program has been positively received and the data and feedback reveals that the learning is already successfully being turned into action.
Unlike other providers, Lever – Transfer of Learning takes an exhaustive approach to tracking, capturing and utilising data to illustrate the application of the learning and program outcomes. The learning professional is armed with the evidence to communicate what the project has achieved to the organisation to improve programs for the future and inform decision making.
During the CQ learning program, each individual creates up to three specific goals for how they will apply the learning. Throughout the TLA process the individual is asked to score and rescore their progress against these goals and outline the actions they’ve taken which illustrate that score. To date, the goals uplift is 64%, 106% and 54% for the executives, managers and staff respectively. Lever – Transfer of Learning also tracks the increase in behaviour change with or without Coach M and/or TLA.
Alongside this data is the recorded feedback which demonstrates what that progress looks like in action. Participants are asked what changes they have made and what they perceive to be the benefits or results of the program. The stories behind the metrics are incredibly insightful for the organisation which can actually track behavioural change in real time. These insights demonstrate that not only has the learning been understood, but that it is actually being applied.
For example, some of the feedback has included:
“Engaged in conversations with my management team. Developed a proposal for a staff induction programme around the new committees to develop better stakeholder relationships.”
“Enabled me to reflect on stakeholder relationships and personal biases, and begin to put in place actions to create smoother and more equitable and inclusive working relationships for myself and my team.”
“I have proactively learned and engaged with issues/topics of conversation i would have avoided before due to lack of knowledge.”
“[I now understand] the value of shifting from abstract ideas to specific actions.”
“I no longer have the fear of engaging in conversations about the issues faced by minority groups. I’ve learned that showing interest and a capacity to learn is just as effective.”
“I can now see and hear clearly when a word or phrase or behaviour is being applied as a ‘judgement’ of another person (consciously or unconsciously) and when it happens we talk about it openly and learn from it.”
Lever – Transfer of Learning also tracks the learners at risk of not engaging with the program, based on those who are overdue on completing the learning and those who have postponed the learning, and reports back weekly. This provides early indication data as to the engagement and outcomes to be expected and enables the organisation to intervene as required.
As the program continues its rollout, the next steps will be to engage all staff in the learning program, assess the results and then conduct an audit against the action plan to evaluate progress.
As part of the assessment of results, detailed analysis has included reviewing the action plans created by individuals using a combination of metrics and analytics, utilising machine learning and algorithms to alignment and risk.
Review questions include:
- How do the goals align with the CQ metrics – the fundamental measure of cultural intelligence
- What can keyword analysis show us from the action plans created? I.e. importance of Allyship, and communication.
- What can the sentiment analysis of goals show us mapped against the CQ drivers?
The CQ learning program has been an excellent example of the importance of learning transfer in delivering genuine behavioural change, especially when the behaviours or context are complex. Supporting training through reflective conversations, action plans, reminders and follow-up, whether human or technology-driven, are all important components for holding learners accountable and turning learning into action.
If you would like to learn more about how Lever-Transfer of Learning could support your E, D & I initiatives please get in touch. I’d be delighted to speak with you,
Emma.