Diversity

Narratives as Bridge Builders

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Last week we had the honor to attend, participate and present at the Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations at the University of Patras in Patras, Greece.  This conference has a history of bringing together practitioners and scholars who are deeply committed to issues of diversity, inclusion and equity.

This year the theme was: “Border Crossing Narratives: Learning from the Refugee Experience.” Border crossing and its narratives are politically defined in public discourse. We engaged in intercultural learning in the wake of the global refugee crises and total globalization.  The concept of “global othering” has become part of the rhetoric that views these individuals as a threat to identities, institutions and society at large.

The diversity of the narratives themselves was on display: a scholar examining the impact of waiting in the Transgender community; a local activist creating loving community for refugee children to tell their stories of loss and tragedy through art and movement; a nurse caring for refugees who are in need of their insulin, their chemotherapy drugs or just a warm blanket; and a non-profit organization who illuminated the voices and faces of refugees in the streets of their community.

They all shared powerful narratives that gave us the chance to open our hearts and minds to the journey marginalized individuals endure – under the most horrific of circumstances.  Most importantly – just as the city of Patras built the longest multi-span bridge from Rio-Antirrio – these narratives built bridges from ethno-centrism to ethno-relativism, from hate to love, and from skepticism to conviction.

Narratives are powerful agents of change.

What’s up with sharing our pronouns?

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How pronouns can pave the way to equity and inclusion

From local coffee shops to global corporations to families, the communication of our pronouns is emerging as another crucial expression of identity. Enact is choosing to communicate our pronouns too, and we wanted to share why.

Alchemy Coffee Collective in Berkeley, CA

Alchemy Coffee Collective in Berkeley, CA

Forcing individuals to conform to pronouns that do not accurately reflect their true identity is another form of marginalization and exclusion. The main principle is that gender is a social construct, separate from biology. As such, each person may define what (if any) gender they identify with. While this can seem complicated, it is both compassionate and good for relationships & results to honor and respect each person’s gender expression in the workplace and beyond.

We want to help lead the change in inclusive behaviors—both as individuals and allies–by supporting the personal choice to use They/Their, She/Her, He/His, or other pronouns/identities. We will be communicating our pronouns and invite others to inform us of theirs.

As leaders in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work, we’ve seen how new behaviors, words, and habits can be uncomfortable at first. It’s like the old story of walking through tall itchy grass in shorts. The more often we travel these new paths, the easier and more comfortable we feel. Furthermore, we pave a path for others to follow with less “itchiness.”

In the spirit of allying and embracing each other’s full humanity, we are ready to lean into discomfort together.

 Ask yourself…when someone requests a different pronoun than you expect, do you: 

A. Try to argue or force the person into conforming to existing norms
B. Encourage dialogue and educate yourself, even if uncomfortable, as you fulfill their request
C. Join in the eye-rolling, “some people are so sensitive”
D. Do nothing

At Enact, we answered B and welcome you to join us.

You can CLICK HERE to learn more about our consulting solutions for creating equitable and inclusive work cultures.

Women and Power — Panel discussion – BigTalker

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Enact Associate Susannah Baldwin, PhD recently spoke on a provocative and insightful panel titled: “Women and Power”, hosted by BigTalker. The discussion revolved around women’s discomfort with playing the power game as it exists in many organizations, how to “self-promote” with integrity, and embodying your leadership role by claiming your authentic strengths. Pamela Hopkins, Managing Partner at Enact will be speaking in the second of the series on March 16. More details to come.

Check out more information on BigTalker’s blog below:

https://blog.bigtalker.io/women-and-power-panel-discussion-8a69be9a6066

When Sports and Politics Collide in the Workplace

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Historically, it was taboo to discuss  politics in the workplace. Instead, Americans would play it safe and discuss sports. The biggest conflict would be which team was favored over the other. It all changed this weekend when football couldn’t be discussed without talking about political positions.

On Friday, during a campaign rally for U.S. Senator Luther Strange  President Trump suggested that the NFL should fire players who protest by kneeling during the national anthem. 

This caused a tweet storm between players, owners and President Trump and ultimately sparked an increase of protests. The protest spread into the sports of baseball and basketball this weekend for the first time.

Trump suggests that, “this has nothing to do with race…this has to do with respect for our country.” On the other side of the conversation, the athletes feel that they are standing together in non-violent protest about social injustice. Many who knelt say they support the military, consider themselves patriots, and are exercising their right to free speech.

The lack of productive discussion around this topic is building the divide between people and reinforcing us/them thinking. As the conversation spills into our work environments, employers are struggling with how to respond. In general,  we have not taught our employees how to talk about differences in a respectful and productive way. We don’t provide many opportunities to share stories and reach understanding which compounds the divide in the workplace.

Now is the time to have productive discussions around the topics of diversity, equity and inclusion. It starts with genuine curiosity and suspension of your own perspective to explore someone else’s.

A few questions to start the conversation:

  • What is your response to current events surrounding the athletes’ actions?
  • Why do you hold that perspective?
  • What experiences have you had in your life that contribute to how you think about this issue?
  • How do you feel about what is being said and done by all parties?
  • What information would you like to gain to understand the situation better?

Do you need help facilitating this conversation at your workplace? Let Enact Leadership help. Contact us now.

Enact Trains 200 UCSF Faculty & Staff: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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Enact Leadership is proud to support the UCSF School of Medicine Differences Matter Initiative. This summer, we worked in partnership with the Dean’s Diversity Leaders to facilitate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training to 200 faculty and staff.

Four full-day sessions have been implemented so far, with more in-depth training planned over the coming months to educate participants on creating an equitable and inclusive learning environment. From this group, a subset of faculty will be identified to lead further training. The goal is to enhance individual and group awareness, alignment, action and accountability toward lasting change as part of Differences Matter.

Learn more about the Differences Matter initiative.

Please Help and Share your Feedback

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Over the past few years Enact Leadership has been engaging in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion consulting, training, and coaching work in a variety of organizations.  These organizations span multiple industries/sectors including: healthcare, retail, financial services, consumer product goods and not-for-profits.

As we continue to develop better solutions to this organizational and societal challenge/opportunity, we would like to learn more from an even broader set of organizations.

We are inviting you to participate in a very short survey to share your thoughts and experience in this important work.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2VHX2W7

In return, we will share our results with you. We look forward to continuing to serve your efforts to create more diverse, equitable, inclusive and successful work environments.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to participate!

Enact Leadership’s Approach to Developing Diverse & Inclusive Organizations

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Enact Leadership helps organizations and their leaders build diverse, equitable and inclusive cultures. We work with organizations and individuals to move beyond awareness and drive action. Enact has created the 4A’s Model to solve the toughest organizational challenges in this domain.

Enact Leadership’s 4A Model to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Awareness:

Self-examination about an individual and organization’s world view. What is the individual’s personal story? How do they see the world? How did this shape their biases and impact micro-aggressive behaviors?  What data has the organization gathered? What is the specific context and opportunities do they see?

Alignment:

In this phase, we work to align participants within their specific teams as well as to align to the organization’s larger stated goals. It is not enough to simply state the organization’s goals. Each individual needs to understand his/her role in creating an inclusive work culture.

Action:

Diversity and inclusion initiatives require conscious action through courageous conversations. Enact focuses on a variety of hands-on activities, tools and techniques to help individuals take action, engage in courageous conversations, and seek opportunities to be allies for others.

Accountability:

For any initiative to be successful, there must be personal accountability. Our approach teaches leaders how to hold themselves and others accountable, deliver on commitments and address the impact when those commitments aren’t met.

Enact’s 4A’s model is the foundation of our Inclusive Leadership Programs. We offer organizational solutions to meet a variety of diversity, equity and inclusion needs. Whether you want a workshop to introduce the topic of inclusion or you are looking to launch an organization-wide strategy, Enact can help.

Overview of Enact’s Best-Selling Inclusive Leadership Programs

Power of Inclusion:

One to three-day format focused on creating sustainable results on diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. Our program leverages Enact’s Inclusive Leadership Assessment to improve self-awareness, organizational alignment, accountability and tangible actions for ongoing change.

Global Mindset:

One-day program focused on intercultural sensitivity and how to work across cultures.  The Intercultural Development Inventory is incorporated into the program. This workshop is ideal for global teams.

Side-by-Side:

Half-day or one-day workshop focused on generational differences. This program enables individuals to work side-by-side with colleagues from all generations, leveraging the differences to engage values, mindsets, skills and behaviors to ultimately drive results.

Brave Spaces:

Half-day or one-day session about how to lead courageous conversations and create brave spaces in the workplace for diversity, equity, and inclusion topics

In addition to these popular programs, Enact also provides consulting services to help innovative leaders and human resource executives build a strategic roadmap to create a culture that values diversity, equity and inclusion.

Are you interested in learning more? Contact us at info@enactleadership.com.

What Millennials want most is what every company needs.

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So why are so few giving it to them?

The future is here and the world is desperate for a new kind of leadership. Companies need to be increasingly adaptive and nimble to stay relevant in today’s market. The demands of an increasingly younger workforce are requiring massive shifts in the way we think about everything in business. Leaders today can’t just focus on the ‘what’ of business and succeed with traditional strategies and business know-how of the past.

Traditional hierarchical organizational structures have been replaced with matrix-like structures. This requires leaders to be skilled at communicating and adept at influencing others who may not directly report to them. Leaders are confronted with the necessity of building a collaborative, diverse work culture that empowers and engages employees. Their prior leadership approach of directing and telling doesn’t work well in this new environment. The workplace reality becomes ever more emergent, ever less static. And the leaders that are increasingly taking the helm – Millennials –  simply aren’t getting the development that they want – and need.

The leadership gap and shortage crisis is real. Several studies have found that crucial leadership skills in organizations are insufficient for meeting current and future needs. Fortunately, millennial leaders are hungry for the learning and development opportunities that will prepare them to lead tomorrow’s businesses. Gallup has reported that Millennials value development more than other generations do, and Bersin by Deloitte found that Millennials rate L&D as the #1 job benefit, more important than healthcare, cash bonuses and even flexible working hours!

Unfortunately, supply is not meeting demand. Seventy percent (70%) of millennials report that they are receiving no leadership development whatsoever. None. A  study conducted by Brandon Hall Group in 2015 found that only 20% of organizations identified the Millennial leader group as critical for development over the next 24 months. This has created a significant leadership gap.

Most companies simply aren’t prioritizing the leadership development of Millennials. They are the leaders who will make or break not only the future of individual companies that they lead, but also our collective future. It seems to me like they are worth investing in.

Enact offers a variety of programs focused on developing Next Generation Leaders. Contact us at info@enactleadership.com for further information.

Recruiting Top Talent Requires More Than a Beer and Barbeque Test

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Corporate culture is one of the top talent challenges facing business leaders. Some organizations in an effort to create an ideal corporate culture, experience unintended consequences caused by hiring a homogenous group of employees.

For example, Brian Scudamore, CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, fired his entire organization in 1994 because he didn’t feel that he had the right people on board. He then implemented a “Beer and Barbeque Test” to hire new employees. He invited candidates to a barbeque so that he could talk casually with them over a beer. His intention was to find ambitious and driven individuals who mirrored his values.

The challenge is that this approach to recruitment creates a ‘similar-to-me’ hiring bias. Did he invite individuals who were completely different than him? Did he spend time working to understand the viewpoints of the candidates who challenged his ideas and thinking? I don’t know the answers to these questions. I do know that it concerns me that other organizations will see this approach as a great recruitment model. This approach can lead to a corporate culture where everyone gets along but there is limited innovation and creativity. Diversity and inclusion efforts within organizations must be intentional or they will be impacted by unconscious biases.