Diversity executives often operate in an environment full of obstacles. Their success depends on their ability to overcome these five challenges:

Challenge 1: The difficulty of communicating effectively when diversity-related data include sensitive information such as age, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation.

Challenge 2: The slowness of change and progress brought about through diversity initiatives, which is especially difficult in fast-paced cultures that want to see immediate results.

Challenge 3: Obstacles to ensuring the consistent and rigorous implementation of diversity programs across large, dispersed organizations.

Challenge 4: “Diversity fatigue,” which occurs when employees become desensitized to the many diversity messages they receive through diversity training, recruitment programs and outreach projects.

Challenge 5: Keeping white males from feeling overlooked in diversity programs.