In our experience, most organizations have attempted to implement some sort of equity training, typically focusing on frameworks like diversity and inclusion. While these activities are well-intentioned, when these trainings are ineffectual or poorly managed, they can create many more problems than they solve. Organizations that attempt to create and facilitate these trainings internally without the assistance of a qualified equity consultant run the risk of providing incomplete or incorrect ideas and directives that do little-to-nothing to address the concerns of equity-seeking groups.
Further, these self-facilitated trainings can place additional burden on minority or marginalized employees who become centred in these critical conversations as “unofficial experts” because of their identities, though they may not have the capacity or knowledge to properly handle such a role. This forces these employees to step far beyond their job description and puts them at risk of being ostracized or de-professionalized by their colleagues.
