Diversity & Inclusion

Teaching “TRUST” in Diversity & Inclusion Training

NOT A Training Program; a Strategic Imperative!

Diversity & Inclusion are very different concepts from EEO and Affirmative Action. Diversity & Inclusion is not a legal mandate from a government. It is, rather, a corporate strategic decision about creating highly effective, inclusive workplaces where all employees, customers, and clients are valued and respected. More than just a training program, diversity & inclusion is a strategic imperative that is built into the culture of the organization. It is inherent in leadership development. It is an integral part of training for executives, managers, supervisors and employees. It impacts recruiting and retention, customer relations, vendor selection and development, and community outreach and corporate branding.

The real work in diversity is much more than conducting short term training programs. The real work has to do with the facilitation of organizational change that leads to inclusive workplaces. It is, in short, a strategic program that encompasses and impacts every aspect of the company’s business or the agency’s mission.

A Strategic Approach

Our work with clients ranges from the initial development of the strategic initiative aimed at identifying the relevance of diversity & inclusion for the organization to assisting in the development and deployment of the initiative to designing and delivering highly interactive educational programs for the entire workforce. The skills we bring include –

• Organizational development and effectiveness skills
• Knowledge management
• Training and facilitation skills
• An understanding of organizational culture
• Human capital diversity assessment
• Linking diversity, human capital, and organizational goals
• High impact diversity recruitment and retention strategies
• Cultural competency and customer satisfaction secrets
• Managing diversity proficiency

Our services include –
  Organizational diversity audits, assessments & consultation
  Diversity education and training
          Diversity Awareness
          Creating Inclusive Workplaces
          Managing a Diverse Workforce
Multicultural teambuilding and team working
One-on-one coaching on diversity and intercultural opportunities

Organizational diversity audits, assessments & consultation

We conduct workplace audits & assessments from simple top-line assessment of diversity in your organization to organization-wide workplace assessments. This can include interviews, focus groups, and surveys, as well as statistical analysis of your workforce composition.

Diversity education and training

Critical to any change management strategy is getting buy-in from the workforce. With diversity & inclusion, this means helping everyone understand their own diversity and how they see the world and how they interact with the world based on their own diverse background. Addressing attitudes and behaviors leads to improvements in both employment and service delivery. These, in turn, can save time and money and lead to much improved value for your customers and clients. We will work with you to understand current attitudes towards race, gender and other forms of diversity among your employees, and to design and deliver an appropriate training course. Our approach is to encourage people to see themselves, and others, beneath the surface through improved self-awareness and dialogue skills, rather than learning "politically correct" behaviors. As in all of our training, our sessions will be highly interactive, use real-life examples, and be directly applicable in the workplace.

Examples of our Diversity courses include the following:

Diversity Awareness (1-day class)

This one-day workshop is an introduction to Diversity and can be used as a basic course for employees as well as managers and supervisors. The course addresses a wide range of topics including the differences and similarities between EEO, Affirmative Action and Diversity. It introduces participants to the concept that Diversity is about all of the ways in which people are similar to one another as well as how they are different and how the similarities provide bridges to understanding when our differences are creating barriers to effective working relationships. Using interactive exercises, participants explore increasingly interesting levels of similarities and differences that they have with one another in the room. The class also provides an opportunity to build the Business Case for why Diversity and Inclusion is critical to the organization’s future success and even survival. We then allow the participants to explore their own awareness of biases and prejudices in everyday interactions and to discuss where their organization is in terms of creating an inclusive workplace and to evaluate their own role in creating an inclusive workplace. Using a powerful video on bias and stereotyping in our society, the class begins to explore the concept of stereotypes – where they come from and how they affect our daily interactions. A wide range of stereotypes is explored that are common in the workplace in addition to race and gender stereotypes. The affect of these stereotypes on productivity and team effectiveness are explored. The class closes with a set of skills and tools participants can begin to use to understand when and why Diversity tensions arise in their workplace and in their daily lives and how to begin to effectively address these situations.

Creating Inclusive Workplaces (1-day class)

This class is designed for employees and is a follow-up to the awareness class described above. The participants delve more deeply into the how stereotypes impact workplace effectiveness and the process of identifying our own stereotypes is further explored. Then the focus of the class goes to practical interpersonal and communication skills that allow participants to identify potential workplace conflict and miscommunications and then to resolve such situations in a way that working relationships are strengthened and communications are unblocked and open.

Managing A Diverse Workforce(1-day class)

This class is designed for managers and supervisors and is a follow-up to the awareness class described above. Like the advanced class for employees, this class allows the participants to delve more deeply into the how stereotypes impact workplace effectiveness and the process of identifying our own stereotypes is further explored. Then the focus of the class goes to practical interpersonal and communication skills that allow participants to identify potential workplace conflict and miscommunications and then to resolve such situations in a way that working relationships are strengthened and communications are unblocked and open. The class is designed for managers and supervisors so that time can be spent on management responsibilities for creating and managing a more diverse and inclusive workplace and to provide specific skills and tools that managers need to effectively manage a diverse workplace.

Multicultural teambuilding and team working

Teams from different cultures and backgrounds can face challenges in communication and work styles. Interventions to build awareness and understanding in the team can have a huge effect on team productivity, output, and each individual’s work satisfaction. By learning about the different talents brought to the team by people’s unique experiences, attitudes and talents, new ways of working together, communicating, and developing results and leadership can be created. We design highly interactive exercises, training, or processes which meet the unique needs of your teams in learning to work and communicate together in new and effective ways.

One-to-one coaching on diversity and intercultural issues

Whether it’s the CEO, the Human Resources Manager, a Service Head or a leader in diversity, or a manager or employee elsewhere in the organization, there is a complex mix of skills and knowledge required for success in managing a diverse work team. We work to help individuals understand the requirements they have, how they can increase their effectiveness, manage their teams, improve inappropriate behavior, or deal with difficult situations and employees. Our experienced coaches will support you, through regular sessions, in the leadership, management and technical skills required to lead to success.

Generations Working Together

Today we have four generations working together in the workplace. They come to the workplace with different experiences and cultural messages. These differences do not represent “right” or “wrong” ways of doing things – just “different” ways of doing things. To work at peak effectiveness and efficiency, it is critical that these generations understand one another and how to work together.

Micro-Messages: A Workshop in Subtle Communications

Subtle messages, both positive and negative, can make or break workplace relationships. Most people are not even aware of the micro-messages they send out to those around them. Becoming aware of your micro-messages; understanding their impact and managing them is critical to making teams work effectively.