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The tools for change: diversity is a long-term process: managing diversity--third in a series of five articles.

Article Excerpt
Thus far this five-article series on diversity and the camp industry has painted the change process in very broad terms. This is because every camp is different, and a cultural audit (a mandatory step in the change process) will indicate that the specific interventions needed for one camp may already be in place in another. It is therefore impossible to cover all the fine delineations of intervention that each individual camp may require and still keep this written series down to a manageable size.

As described in the last article, a camp determined to invest itself in change could bypass many of the logistical headaches that come with its implementation by hiring an organizational consultant versed in diversity management. This individual will complete the cultural audit, formulate a suggested accumulation of change interventions, implement many of them, and offer follow through and feedback in regards to the achieved outcomes. At a far less comprehensive level of involvement, the consultant could perform one or more of these steps or simply lead awareness and sensitivity trainings for camp staff members. The two major obstacles with the use of an organizational consultant are locating one with the qualifications sufficient to lead the change and the cost of hiring that consultant. Most of the camps with which I am familiar are nonprofit and could never ever begin to think about acquiring the services of a consultant for a comprehensive change effort.

I am well aware that most camp administrators will be helming a diversity change effort on their own. The purpose of this article then is to introduce a myriad (but in no way final) number of intervention techniques utilized by intercultural trainers. Fortunately, many of the interventions utilized by diversity consultants will be familiar to camp professionals. Intercultural training methods are often based on experiential education techniques, a model of hands-on learning that is a staple of camps. There is no reason that, with the right person helming the diversity change effort (an unavoidable necessity), a camp cannot begin to make strides towards successful involvement with diverse populations. If a camp can afford the cost of a consultant or a speaker to lead a sensitivity and awareness training, please make use of them. But be forewarned that a session on awareness is not a panacea for our diversity effort. There is scant evidence that a training on diversity awareness makes any positive difference in an organization without it being imbedded in a comprehensive diversity management plan. Actually, there is far more evidence that such diversity awareness training as stand-alone intervention is more likely to raise the ire of participants and negatively affect organizational harmony. At the best, a short-term rise in awareness of participants in regards to diversity occurs but quickly recedes into the day-to-day functioning of the organization.

A word of caution though before some typical training tools are presented: Culture influences all aspects of our lives, so it should come as no surprise that organizational change would likewise be affected. First, Americans are renowned for their willingness to take chances, but this is certainly not true of the rest of the world. The director of an American company might decide on an initiative (for example, a diversity initiative) and expect to work "the bugs out" as it proceeds. American companies are simply comfortable with announcing some type of change and issuing accompanying rudimentary guidelines and directives to steer the initiative in the right direction. Second, the United States' cultural orientation of a short-term perspective leads us to ignore the fact that most change efforts are long-term efforts, and this is indeed true for diversity. We tend to expect quick results, and delayed responses and/or extended modification hamper our desire for efficiency.

Too often a program targeting diversity arises because it is no longer possible to ignore the new demographics that partake of our services or a well-intentioned administrator pushes the idea of diversity. In both cases, all involved parties underestimate the true effort that must accompany this agenda. We typically...

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