Developing DEI Teaching Practices

How can business school educators most effectively teach diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)? In 2023, a working group devoted to the subject held a professional development workshop on teaching DEI. This article summarizes key takeaways from the event. As the first teaching demonstration showed, when developing diversity initiatives, it’s important to create interventions and messages that aren’t one-size-fits-all. In the second teaching demonstration, the instructor set conversation guidelines that included “active and empathetic listening,” “challenge the idea, not the person,” and “take space and make space.” She challenged students to embrace discomfort, trust intent, and acknowledge assumptions, and sought to reframe conversations about DEI not as difficult but as transformational. In the third demonstration, the instructor encouraged students to think about the conditions that allowed them to grow their emotional intelligence or leadership skills. The article ends with some expert advice from DEI instructors: bring your authentic self; orient yourself to learn; and invite reflection.