Sephora announced inclusion training across its US operations. We applaud that bold step. The larger question is what happens on June 6th and beyond? Will diversity, equity and inclusion become the standard…or not?
This morning, June 5th,
“every Sephora store, distribution center, and corporate office in the US will close to host inclusion workshops for our employees.”
I applaud Sephora and its leaders for this visible and important step forward. As a trainer and consultant in the world of Diversity, Equity, and inclusion, I know that training is an important tool in advancing DEI. I also know that training has its limits. A one-time training, no matter how well developed and facilitated, will have limited impact over time.
This training appears to be a direct response to a tweet by the singer SZA alleging racial profiling at a Sephora store near Los Angeles. This is the tweet, dated April 30, 2019.
“Lmao Sandy Sephora location 614 Calabasas called security to make sure I wasn’t stealing . We had a long talk. U have a blessed day Sandy.”
Was “Sandy Sephora” merely acting on her personal unconscious biases or are there inclusion issues across the organization? Each of us has unconscious biases. Relatively few act in a blatantly discriminatory way as SZA accuses “Sandy Sephora” of doing.
The massive size of today’s training indicates that Sephora itself believes there are broader issues. The company has stated that the training has been in the planning for months. It would be fascinating to see what was included in the planning and design of the workshops.
My take on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts at Sephora:
Effective planning would have begun with a holistic assessment of the state of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across the organization.
- There is no reason to assume that the DEI climate in LA is the same as that in Chicago or New York.
- An initial assessment would identify issues to be addressed in the organization-wide training.
- At a minimum further training at a store level, and at the department level within stores, would also be appropriate.
Suppose that the initial assessment found DEI issues in the corporate culture of Sephora itself? That could mean changes to incentive systems, organizational structures, and/or leadership. Training alone can never change a corporate culture.
Many major corporations have recently created Chief Diversity Officer positions acknowledging that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are critical drivers of success in the 21st century. State Street Corporation, an early adopter, took this step in the late 90s. (Sign up to receive our emails and receive a brief case study of State Street’s efforts.) Sephora has not made this commitment. Yet.
Starbucks, Nike, and others have conducted “big bang” trainings recently.
- What impact did those trainings have?
- What other steps followed the highly visible trainings?
We’ll look at those issues in coming posts. Sign up here to be notified of these posts as they come out.
