Increasing Cultural Awareness To Drive Workplace Equity

Creating diverse teams and building an inclusive organization can have a tremendously positive impact on business performance. It requires leaders to create the right conditions for their teams to succeed, to implement the practices necessary for their diverse team members to be confident contributors as individuals and for the company to truly thrive.

Workplace equity ensures that everyone has access to the same opportunities, searches for unconscious bias and stereotyping within the company, and acknowledges the negative effect it has when inequity does exist. To make a sustainable impact though, you and your leaders must learn not only to be culturally aware but also to increase your sensitivity and dexterity with a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace.

This powerful program helps you gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities to shift individual perspectives and group behaviors where needed to create equity at work. Participants go deep to explore these critical concepts and engage in group activities to understand how any marginalized team member may experience the workplace. They then work together to design enhanced leadership and communication practices to improve future performance.

To increase retention and enhance your learning experience, we recommend at least 2 separate workshops that build upon each other and are delivered approximately 2 weeks apart. This enables optimal self-reflection while also delivering sustainable change beyond the foundational learning achieved in Session I.

Session I:

Awareness & Knowledge
(90-120 minutes)

• Pre-work assignments to explore unconscious bias & learn culturally-sensitive vocabulary
• Review concepts of explicit vs. implicit bias, micro-aggressions, privilege & working norms for majority vs. minority culture
• Engage in group dialogue, exercises & reflection to uncover ways marginalized populations may experience their workplace
• Post-workshop assignments to guide self-reflection & additional resources to enhance awareness

• Self-Reflection: Videos
• Articles
• Podcasts
• Tip Sheets

Session II:

Skills & Beliefs
(90-120 minutes)

• Self-assessment & pre-work focused on fundamental leadership behaviors – like courage & being a change champion – to more effectively support colleagues of marginalized groups
• Review critical leadership behaviors & proven approaches for engaging & supporting diverse groups
• Observe key behaviors in action via video & practice new approaches before debriefing as a group
• Create developmental objectives to increase cultural dexterity & implement enhanced leadership & people practices – like recruitment, on-boarding, training & development – moving forward
• Post-workshop assignments to share individual & organizational development goals with direct supervisors, senior leadership & other team members as appropriate