Skills for Challenging Diversity Dialogues: A Workshop for Inclusive Leadership (1)

Are you interested in creating a workplace that inspires openness, creativity, diverse opinions, and thoughts? After all, you cannot truly embrace diversity without accepting different viewpoints.

Many leaders struggle with this because they don't know what to do.

The Problem:

Fear is the number one reason people don't engage in diversity dialogues. Fear of offending others, fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of being canceled or castigated by co-workers or the company itself. But isn't fear also the basis of hate and bias? So how does staying silent, or not asking questions, challenging, or debating, create an inclusive and equitable workplace?

It doesn't!

Resentment builds, othering begins, and the tactics you thought you were respectful of diversity backfire.

But, you are a Leader. So how do silence and fear square up with inclusive leadership?

They don't.

Before you know it, your well-intentioned strategy to keep everything under control starts to splinter – it is not sustainable. That's because it is unnatural for people to work in fear and simultaneously respect one another.

It doesn't have to be that way.  

The Solution:

A new approach that encourages openness is required. We need to embrace the possibility of being wrong and making mistakes to unify teams and reduce biases and inequities in the workplace.

The approach involves learning active listening skills and respectfully addressing differences in points of view.

Learning these skills can help you build authentic relationships, reduce your risk of accusations of harassment, drive innovation, embrace curiosity, inspire difficult conversations that can reduce inequities, and become a more respected leader.

Successes in conducting diversity dialogues in various contexts have inspired this workshop. For example, before starting my business, Diversity at Work,  I had worked in the not-for-profit sector, where I frequently met with diverse cultural groups to mediate and bring about mutually beneficial changes. These experiences, combined with facilitating an Interfaith Dialogue group, my practical work with bullies and perpetrators of hate crimes, have taught me the importance of actively listening and encouraging conversations to reduce bias and misunderstanding.

Workshop Objectives:

· Recognize the importance of active listening in advancing DEI culture.

· Understand the significance of engaging in diversity dialogues.

· Utilize diversity dialogue tips in communications.

· Demonstrate diversity dialogues in communication.

· Discuss ways to transfer the knowledge to your team.

Topics covered in this workshop include:

· The business and moral imperative for active listening

· Specific listening challenges leaders face

· Components of active listening

· Tips for being a better listener

· The importance of diversity dialogues for reducing bias

· The art of debating

· Strategies for getting yourself heard when you want to voice disagreement or inequities

· Responding to false or accurate accusations of bias/discrimination

· How to prepare for diversity dialogues

· Ways to implement what you have learned.

This workshop is suitable for  LEADERS  who:  ( PLEASE  CAREFULLY READ  so you know if it is a good fit)

· Are TRULY sincere about having honest, diversity dialogues.

· Want to learn how to listen without judging.

· Are interested in learning how to implement strategies for hearing different viewpoints in the workplace.

· Are genuinely concerned about the growing divisions in the workplace and want to do something about it.

· Want to improve their communication skills.

· Are looking for practical skills that can help them manage an increasingly diverse workforce.

· Are not afraid of taking risks that will inspire positive change

  

You will come away with skills and a formula for encouraging diversity dialogues and mitigating conflicts. These are essential skills that every leader today should have.  

Methods: presentation, small and large break-out groups, videos, self-reflection exercises, role-playing

A pre-training assignment will be sent one week in advance of the workshop. It involves reading an article and listening to a video. The assignment is mandatory, and we will be referring to these items. It will take approximately 1 hour to complete.