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Feeling Excluded In Your Inclusion Efforts?
“Help! I feel like I’m the only one at my organization striving for equity and inclusion. I’m frustrated and drained.” Can you relate to those feelings of weariness? I know you can! I’ve heard similar statements repeated numerous times, and this topic popped up again in one of my recent Q&A sessions. You’ve got a handle around equity and inclusion, and you keep getting more requests to do diversity trainings…but it’s really not your job. The problem is that no one else is stepping up to the plate and you feel stranded in your efforts. Fortunately, there are ways to take the pressure off you while at the same time,…
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You’ve been asked to train on equity & inclusion, but…
So, you’ve been asked to train on equity and inclusion, but there’s one small problem…you’ve never done it before! Eeeek…where do you start? A caller raised this great question during one of my recent Q&A sessions, and it’s one I hear a lot. There are a couple key steps that you can take, and I’m covering them below for you. Ready? Let’s go! Tip #1: Talk to your leaders about diversity and inclusion. Start by going back and chatting with the leaders or the person who asked you to do the equity and inclusion training. Ask them some basic questions like: Why do you want this training for our employees?…
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Train the Trainer: Continuing Education is Key
As a facilitator, your role is very different from that of a teacher or educator. How so? Instead of providing information or giving your opinion, you’ll focus on asking lots of questions that help members of the group learn and deepen understanding from sharing their reflections, feelings and experiences. You may: Relate to what someone has shared Offer a bit about yourself to make a connection Encourage interaction and productive dialogue in the group Most importantly, the emphasis is on group members interacting with their peers. Specifically, you’ll: Bring as many different voices into the dialogue as possible Help share the air time equitably Encourage others to join in the…
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Teach More Effectively by Infusing Equity and Inclusion
In my last post, I briefly discussed strategies that facilitators can use to make their courses and training more effective by infusing equity and inclusion. Here, I’ll cover how you can design activities so participants can interact with and learn from the widest variety of people. Broaden Perspectives to Infuse Diversity and Inclusion Encouraging/requiring participants to interact with people different from themselves provides the opportunity to broaden their perspectives as well as increase their comfort working across differences. Here’s what I commonly observe: when facilitators let participants form their own discussion groups without any direction, most people seem to choose to work with those they already know and with whom…
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Could you be the missing link in infusing equity and inclusion into ALL activities?
Lately, I’ve been talking a lot about equity and tools that facilitators can use to make their courses and trainings more effective by paying more attention to the diversity and group memberships of participants and facilitating greater interaction among them. In my last post, I explained how you can successfully invite verbal participation from a full range of participants across group memberships. Here, my goal is to expand on that a bit by helping you to acknowledge and engage the input and contributions across the range of group memberships. Why? I’ve been in too many sessions where the facilitator seemed far more enthusiastic about some people’s comments than others. Upon…
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10 Ways Infusing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Improves Your Training Programs
You already know the critical importance of teaching leaders and employees about diversity and inclusion. The content is key AND the ways we design and facilitate workshops is equally as important to accelerate learning and behavior change. When we intentionally create an inclusive workshop environment and model the very skills we are teaching, participants are far more likely to learn and to infuse issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion into their daily practices. To inspire you today, here are 10 of my favorite ways that infusing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion into your comprehensive training programs can help to deepen the capacity and competence of all…
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5 Strategies to Effectively Infuse Diversity and Inclusion into Your Next Training
From my experience, I find that most facilitators of courses and training sessions can infuse issues of diversity and inclusion to a far greater extent than they currently do. If you’ve followed my blogs, you may be familiar with a metaphor that I often use when speaking of how to infuse diversity and inclusion. I liken it to creating a layer cake – it all starts with a solid foundation. Acknowledge the Organization’s Commitment to Creating Inclusion As a very quick refresher, Layer 1 (the foundation layer) involves acknowledgment of the organization’s commitment to creating an inclusive environment for all members. In this layer, participants also begin to explore their…
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Is there a Disconnect Between Your Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Goals – and What’s Actually Happening?
Across the nation, most leaders would agree that there is a renewed energy, commitment, and in many cases, even a sense of urgency, to live up to the promises as set forth in their mission statements and strategic plans. Most often, I see diversity, equity and inclusion goals like the following: Deepen the capacity and competence of all members of the organization to create a more inclusive, socially just environment. Support and accelerate the professional/academic and personal success of the full range of individuals the organization serves. Create inclusive work environments that support the success of the full range of employees across group membership. All of this looks great on…
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Infuse Issues of Diversity and Inclusion into Your Next Decision-Making Course
I’ve been talking a lot lately about infusing diversity and inclusion into every level of the organization. As you analyze the current culture and climate, you’ll be taking a close look at the policies, practices, training and procedures your organization currently has in place. Today, I want to share some pointers on how facilitators can instill diversity and inclusion into courses focused on decision-making. There are a number of ways to do this, and I’m sharing some of the strategies I’ve found to be most effective with you here. Teach others to practice tracking group interactions with an Inclusion Lens. Set-up role plays of group discussions and have observers track…
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Your Organization Revised the Diversity Statement…Now What?
Organizations across the country are increasing their commitment to create inclusive cultures that support the success of the full breadth of their clients and employees. But after you revise the new Diversity Statement, what’s next? Revising the Diversity Statement is Just the First Step Too often, I see organizations roll out a list of unconnected activities and trainings without a strategic accountability structure in place to ensure meaningful, sustainable organizational change. As you are likely aware, organizations are typically slow to change and can get stuck in the inertia of the status quo. Especially now, we can no longer afford to be complacent or wait for someone else to lead…
