Luke Visconti’s column, Ask the White Guy, recently responded to a question, “Do you think diversity training is effective? What would make it effective?” I was especially pleased with his candid response and advice that I felt it appropriate to feature his commentary on our blog this week.

Make no mistake, compliance training is not the same as diversity training. They fulfill different goals and serve different purposes. While I do not believe you need software to alert you when there is a lack of diversity in your workplace, I do believe acknowledging the signs early can eliminate the extent to which you must plan and implement procedures of change.

Visconti posed the following sequence integral to the planning process:

1. Benchmarking (find out where your company is)

2. Engagement, broken out by race, gender and age (how the people in your company feel)

3. Understanding goals (approved by the CEO)

4. Diversity plan (to take from where you are and how your people feel to where you want to go)

5. Training (to help accomplish the plan)

Putting these principles into action make all the difference in a company committed to diversity and a company looking to fill a quota. Be careful you don’t get caught up in subtle discrimination, find out where there are opportunities for growth, which departments lack diversity and why and ways in which you can diversify the face of your company.

Visconti, the founder and CEO of DiversityInc, is a nationally recognized leader in diversity management. In his popular column, readers who ask Visconti tough questions about race/culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age can expect smart, direct and disarmingly frank answers.

CNNMoney contributor, Tami Luhby recently acknowledged what many already know, African-Americans still suffer disproportionate high unemployment. Utilizing the statistical data below, she highlighted the prolonged time period it takes for African American prospects to find a job, even with a college degree. In retrospect, the black jobless rate is twice that compared to white counterparts; currently at 14 percent, it is well above the national average of 7.9 percent.

“Congress can help ensure that the economic situation of black workers and their families continues to improve by supporting programs that provide assistance to those who are struggling to make ends meet and examining new approaches to alleviating unemployment and poverty,” the bipartisan Joint Economic Committee (JEC) wrote in its release.

But why do African Americans struggle the most?

Research shows immigrants have active networks that help new arrivals navigate the country, and trading information about jobs is an important part of that. That is one reason that Hispanics — more than a third of whom are foreign born — have lower jobless rates than African Americans despite, on average, having fewer educational credentials.

A reduction in the unemployment gap amongst African Americans is most likely among those willing to continue their education, searching beyond the public sector and fostering economic growth in low-income all the way up to upper middle class communities.