The Pitfalls of Selecting Diversity Consultants.

Arrow-slinging speakers and trainers bring more harm than good to school district initiatives

Students of poverty and victims of discrimination can achieve academic success alongside their well-to-do, mainstream-nurtured classmates in a middle class place called school. This is by far the most compelling core concept of multicultural education.

Training, therefore, is required to empower educators at every level of the school district to leverage our differences as assets rather than problems. Training also helps efforts to hire nontraditional members of the workforce to share in the responsibilities, accountability and rewards of the organization.

This quest demands an ongoing process of identifying and removing barriers that hamper academic excellence for all students. Diversity initiatives that facilitate the involvement of all stakeholders must become part of the urgent agenda of visionary leaders.

Teachers need continual chances to upgrade their skills to apply new and inclusive methods to address diverse student learning styles. Administrators need to establish programs and staff them with talented people who can create positive, compassionate climates for learning, especially for students who experience school as a hostile environment. And all of these challenges involve changes in the culture of the organization.

Transforming an organization may require professional and technical intervention from outside experts.

Various Purposes

Sooner or later educational leaders may confront the serious business of selecting a diversity consultant. Pressing issues related to demographic changes, the global economy, the achievement gap between traditional and nontraditional students, the need to diffuse negative tensions and the promotion of a curriculum that makes universal the spirits of all children demand that a consultant add value to the diversity initiatives of school systems.

The catalyst for bringing in an outside authority varies, of course. Some school districts need help in responding to judicial rulings related to grievances of groups that have experienced discrimination. There's also the challenge of working with special-interest groups to find appropriate ways to celebrate ethnic holidays during the school year. The news media adds pressure when violence or hate crimes involve students or take place on school grounds.

Further, the quest for greater representation in the decision-making process by nontraditional groups, coupled with the unmet needs of growing nontraditional, heterogeneous school populations, lend persuasive reasons for seeking outside consultation on diversity or multicultural education.

Constructive Change

What are educational leaders to do when seeking expert help? What guidelines might reduce the potential for making a poor choice? How can school leadership ensure that diversity consultants present balanced, sensitive points of view that help to facilitate constructive change rather than fuel negative tensions?

The last thing an organization's top leaders want are consultants who will create more headaches. Superintendents and their deputies will bear the brunt and suffer the ill will of principals and teachers who feel victimized by an outsider who, instead of promoting healing, manages to lead a mugging exercise. If people leave a staff development day feeling insulted or assaulted by a training facilitator, the consequences can linger for years. It is possible to avoid such destructive encounters.

Undoubtedly, embracing any change causes discomfort. But a clear difference exists between having to embrace a painful reality and experiencing an assault by someone leading a public forum who points an accusing finger at members of an audience and targets them as the enemy. By carefully selecting consultants who will add value to organizational reforms, educational leaders can seize growth opportunities in the throes of change.

Watch Your Step

What should decision-makers look out for when selecting a diversity consultant or a multicultural facilitator for a staff development institute, schoolwide event or ongoing assistance? There are at least seven pitfalls to avoid when hiring consultants whose expertise relates to making sense of our differences.

* First, do not leave the decision entirely in the hands of one of your associates.

The fallout from a facilitated event that goes badly will become part of your legacy as the person in charge of the system or division. The political stakes are too high to simply put the matter into someone else's hands. So you must plan ahead.

Establish guiding principles by which you hold your direct reports accountable. For example, when recommending a consultant, direct reports should have witnessed that consultant in action and have read his or her published works. Blind recommendations are risky. Require direct reports to give a comparative evaluation of several consultants being considered. This helps to eliminate the tendency of acting on the recommendation of a friend or colleague to hire an outsider who represents a single-issue perspective.

* Second, don't buy into the notion that cheaper is better.

Cost is a legitimate factor to be sure. Bear in mind that you get what you pay for. Procuring the services of a well-reputed, inclusive consultant may require more investment up front. Nonetheless, this may prove to be far more cost-effective in the long run.

* Third, avoid the popular assumption that, as a matter of course, good writers make good speakers.

This is not necessarily so. Published materials are not sufficient to render a positive evaluation of how effective a consultant is likely to be. Authors tend to read formal essays to their audiences. They stand stiff behind podiums. They may not know how to take command of a stage and guide listeners toward a greater vision. Audiences must be inspired to collaborate in creating educational agendas by making coalitions of interest instead of coalitions of color.

The key ingredients that spell success in delivering a motivational message are drama, passion, humor, flawless stage presence, majestic gestures, high energy and the ability to engage, inspire and instruct in an informed manner. These traits are far more valuable to seek from a consultant than a list of published materials. Better a less published but more effective speaker than the other way around. In the end, it is more motivating for a speaker to share 10 significant points from the heart than 20 from a set of notes.

Attention also should be given to whether any interest group in the organization will experience alienation as a result of the trainer's style or focus. Some educators may find any message regarding diversity or multicultural issues offensive. These inflexible mindsets need exposure to new ideas and change whether they like it or not. Team players who resist change do not constitute an interest group that adds value to the mission of your organization, but they are worthy of respect.

* Fourth, avoid hiring interest group advocates who lack political savvy.

Workshops, seminars or convocations--which may be used to jump-start the school year with an inspirational, motivational address that celebrates our collective humanity--are not the appropriate occasions for single-issue believers to promote a set of ideologies that can hurt members of the organization. There is never a right time for an unbalanced approach to the challenge of making sense of our differences, and any diversity consultant who does not seem to care about the feelings of participants at a training event ought to be shunned.

Unless you or a trusted member of your leadership team has had the opportunity to witness the consultant's work in person, consider asking the consultant for a videotape (or audio tape) of an actual presentation prior to completing the speaker arrangements. Even if the quality of the tape is poor, you need to see the facial expression, listen to the tone of voice and witness the responses of the audience. Consider whether the presenter has passion, humor and information that's vital to your agenda.

As you listen to the consultant's sample work, ask yourself these questions: Are the views promoted by the consultant adding value to my repertoire of concepts and insights? Does the presentation sound canned? Does the consultant have a cutting edge on issues or a jagged edge that may poison relationships among my team members?

You also should request for press clippings, position papers and a list of your peers in other school systems who might vouch for the professional integrity of the consultant you are considering.

* Fifth, steer clear of consultants who do not model a respect for diversity.

Single-issue interest group advocates are easy to smoke out. Simply evaluate the portfolios of consultants in your pool of possibilities. Keep a tally to determine how often each consultant focuses on the needs of diverse groups in the material being reviewed. A very unbalanced presentation is likely to be top heavy--upwards of 70 percent--with illustrations, case studies or grievances impacting the group closest to the heart of the so-called "multicultural" proponent. If an excessive number of points relate to a single issue, you should beware.

All too frequently, consultants challenge leaders to create structural responses in their organizations by which to practice inclusiveness. Nonetheless, their own presentations may be less than balanced. The passion of single-interest group proponents is not for inclusiveness and respect for differences, but rather for their group to gain greater access to wealth, power and prestige.

It is therefore valid to evaluate each consultant on the basis of his or her own philosophical assumptions. How often does the diversity expert practice what she or he challenges school systems to do? Namely, to model a respect for diversity by being inclusive in the illustrations used in keynote presentations, workshops and seminars. If diversity is not only desired but essential in our heterogeneous society, then let educational leaders demand that consultants "walk the talk."

Avoiding Targets

* Sixth, avoid hiring a consultant who promotes a destructive approach to the challenge of appreciating diversity.

Educational systems are a microcosm of society. Every negative "-ism"-sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, languageism, religion-ism, heterosexism, elitism, ageism and able bodied-ism-is likely to be found in a school organization. Without question, traditional systems have benefited some groups at the expense of others. In our country, heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, able-bodied, white males have clearly had an advantage.

While these structures of privilege are slowly being transformed into more inclusive, collaborative systems, much remains to be done. Hence, spokespersons from nontraditional groups that have suffered the stigma of minority group status might, under the mantle of diversity consultants, target white males as the enemy. Driven by an engine of hostility, some consultants have a tendency to metaphorically string white males up like a huge pinata and blindly take swings with verbally abusive sticks. This causes damage to the reputation of the targeted group while ignoring the crucial reality that white males are indispensable to the process of transformation.

These arrow-slinging consultants unrealistically expect their targeted process will somehow cause goodies of equal opportunity to fall from a tree, leveling the playing field. The irony is that these consultants often are paid a hefty fee by the same white males whom they have just assaulted. It should not be surprising, therefore, that white males may become weary of any future diversity event. If they do show up to such events, they might come as hostages or even vacationers, but seldom as willing learners. In their minds, "diversity" becomes "perversity." No one likes to be insulted, certainly not in the name of education.

Neither casual, calculated indifference nor outright hostility toward any single-interest group ought to frame or drive a message to promote inclusiveness and respect for differences in our society. The old Negro spiritual, in sacred Ebonics, says it best: "All of God's chillums got problems these days."

Indeed, if it is wrong for white people to be racist and to stigmatize groups deemed not worthy of respect, then it is also wrong for Latinos, African Americans or any number of groups with a former or current history of discrimination to do the same in the name of justice. No one can deny that people of color have been wronged. It is also true, however, that two wrongs never make a right. The time and resources allotted to consultants is precious and should not be spent correcting the ills of history through revenge but rather transforming the present so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past."

* Seven, do not assume the content of the presentation or training is the sole obligation of the consultant.

By establishing a pre-event relationship with the consultant you hire, you can avoid this pitfall. When you hire someone for their professional expertise, keep in mind that establishing relevancy and contextual frameworks is a shared responsibility. Consider outlining your best hopes for the presentation or training event in advance. Engage in discussion with the consultant. A brainstorming session, whether in person or by telephone conference, with other members of your team will be helpful.

Send the consultant background information on your organization. Press coverage of school events, even controversies and negative publicity, will provide the consultant with a context within which to frame the message. Ask the consultant what strategies will be used in responding to your best hopes. The bottom line is to be clear about what you expect and to provide enough information for a customized response to your reality.

What school systems need are consultants who care about healing the wounds of the past. They need to add value to efforts designed to create structural reforms in the present. As competent professionals, they must facilitate the process of identifying barriers in the culture of the organization that frustrate balanced workforce goals.

Ultimately, multicultural proponents and diversity consultants must promote curriculum reform, recommend organizational strategies and provide challenging workshops, seminars and inspirational keynotes that appeal to our better angels.

Samuel Betances is a senior consultant with Souder, Betances and Associates, 5448 N. Kimball Ave., Chicago, Ill 60625.