Building an Equitable Workplace | March/April 2021 by Training Industry Magazine

M A R C H /A P R I L 2 0 2 1

BUILDING AN EQUITABLE WORKPLACE

DRIVING LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY | 18 Building the Capabilities of Diverse Leaders

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ALLYSHIP | 30 How Allyship Training Can Forge Change

THE POWER OF MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION | 44 Creating Community in Your Organization

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KEN TAYLOR

FROM THE EDITOR

L&D’S ROLE IN BUILDING AN EQUITABLE WORKPLACE

Building an inclusive and equitable workplace is a priority for many organizations this year. The social unrest of 2020 called organizations to reexamine their company cultures and make necessary changes. This includes examining corporate values, hiring practices, leadership demographics, decision-making processes, and opportunities for employee development and advancement within the organization. Many organizations are realizing that doing nothing is unacceptable.

L&D CAN ALSO BE TAPPED TO LEVERAGE THEIR CORE SKILLS IN DEPLOYING TRAINING AT SCALE AND WITH SPEED.

This edition of Training Industry Magazine examines the role of learning and development (L&D) in building equitable workplaces. Feature articles address a variety of challenges facing organizations today, including practicing inclusive leadership, leading with authenticity in a hybrid world, creating opportunities to engage in meaningful conversations that promote community and inclusivity, and raising the bar on diversity training. Creating and sustaining real change requires organization-wide efforts. It’s going to take more than one diversity training class to change perspectives, behaviors and mindsets. Business leaders will need to reevaluate all aspects of the organization to ensure the company culture promotes career growth and progression for all employees. L&D can ensure employees have access to professional development and advancement opportunities, as well as create opportunities to amplify voices and

perspectives by sponsoring employee resource and focus groups to get feedback and insights into the business. Those contributions should be formally recognized within the organization. L&D can also be tapped to leverage their core skills in deploying training at scale and with speed. Traditional diversity and inclusion teams lack the capacity to support mass change initiatives, but for many L&D teams, rolling out those programs is a core competency. L&D professionals have the capability to encourage participation, track progress and, most importantly, design programs that align with the company’s long-term vision. In conversations with heads of L&D and several companies, I am hearing this participation has already begun. Building a workplace culture that values and supports employees at all levels and roles is an ongoing journey. As the business evolves, leaders must ensure they have a finger on the pulse of their organizational cultures and be prepared to make changes when necessary. People are the heart of organizations – and learning leaders play an important role in providing employees with access to the development they need to progress in their current and future roles. As always, we love to hear your thoughts on the perspectives shared in this edition. Feel free to send any suggestions for us to consider. Ken Taylor is the president and editor in chief of Training Industry, Inc. Email Ken.

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CO N T E N TS

TA B L E O F VOLUME 14

ISSUE 3

MARCH/APRIL 2021

FEATURES

18 DRIVING LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY

18 22 26 30 35 38

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ALLYSHIP

THE POWER OF MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION

TRAINING’S ROLE IN DRIVING LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY By Laura Smith Dunaief

Learning professionals have an obligation to help their organizations do better.

PERSPECTIVE-TAKING IN VIRTUAL REALITY By Amy Lou Abernethy

Perspective-taking fosters workplace cultures characterized by empathy and collaboration.

THE LEADERSHIP PROBLEM OF INEQUITY

By Berkley Baker, DBA, MBA, and Sam Shriver, Ed.D.

Assess leadership’s role in combating inequality and fostering equitable workplaces.

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ALLYSHIP

By Grace Chang, Ph.D. and Samad Aidane, M.S.

Systemic change requires a systemic approach to creating allies in the workplace.

CONVERSATIONS THAT CATALYZE COMPLEX CHANGE By Dianna Anderson

Adapt your organization’s approach to communication to catalyze meaningful change.

PRACTICING INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP: HOW LEADERS CAN TAKE ACTION TO IMPROVE DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE By Emily Hastings

Inclusive leadership starts at the top with commitment, intention and accountability.

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RAISING THE BAR ON DIVERSITY TRAINING By Andrew Rawson

Deepen learners’ awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusion with impactful training.

CREATE COMMUNITY IN YOUR ORGANIZATION THROUGH THE POWER OF MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS By Natasha Miller Williams

Promote employee wellness and inclusion by creating more opportunities for connection.

LEADING WITH AUTHENTICITY IN A HYBRID WORLD By Scott Simmons

Lead your hybrid workforce into the future with transparency and authenticity.

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IN THIS ISSUE

THOUGHT LEADERS

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FROM THE EDITOR By Ken Taylor

L&D plays a critical role in supporting their organizations in the pursuit of equity and inclusivity.

GUEST EDITOR

By Dr. Theresa Horne, CPTM, CSM, SHRM-SCP Shift learners’ mindsets and enhance corporate cultures with these actionable tips.

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WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH By Stella Lee, Ph.D.

Mitigating biases in the workplace must be top of mind for the modern learning leader.

BUILDING LEADERS

17 55 57 59

By Sam Shriver and Marshall Goldsmith

When employees feel they belong, their guards go down, and their participation goes up.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION By Dr. Kristal Walker, CPTM

Build empathy and humanity into the foundation of your organizational culture.

PERFORMANCE MATTERS By Julie Winkle Giulioni

The remote and hybrid learning space enables learning leaders to cater to all learner preferences.

SCIENCE OF LEARNING By Srini Pillay, M.D.

Employees want to feel and be empowered, loved and respected.

LEARNER MINDSET

By Michelle Eggleston Schwartz

Protect employees’ overall well-being by opening up honest dialogue around mental health.

INFO EXCHANGE

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CASEBOOK Discover how the Academy for Professional Excellence helps employees perform by prioritizing health and well-being.

Keep up with the latest in the training industry by reading news from the last quarter.

CLOSING DEALS Voxy EnGen cultivates equitable workplaces by providing meaningful career pathways through language learning.

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DR. SYDNEY SAVION General Manager, Learning Air New Zealand KERRY TROESTER, CPTM Director, North America Sales Training Lenovo

CATHERINE KELLY, MA, BSN, RN, CPTM Director of Learning Programs Brookdale Senior Living

NATASHA MILLER WILLIAMS Head of Diversity & Inclusion Ferrara

SHIREEN LACKEY, CPTM Talent Management Officer, Office of Business Process Integration Veterans Benefits Administration

KEE MENG YEO Adjunct Professor Grand Valley State University & Davenport University

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DR. THERESA R. HORNE, CPTM, CSM, SHRM-SCP

GUEST EDITOR

RACE, GENDER AND AGE: SOCIAL CONSCIENCE OF LEARNING

In the context of professional development, learning should offer a full spectrum of possibilities tailored to learners’ unique needs, circumstances and preferences. So, how do social constructs – such as race, age and gender – affect how learning leaders develop programs to effectively engage and advocate for diverse learning communities? BREAKING BARRIERS A 1997 study found that race and gender play a role in how quickly minority employees move up in their organizations. The study found that, “determinants of promotion were systematically different for Black and White employees.” Armed with this research, learning leaders can begin to fully understand and evaluate the level of support needed to break barriers to equitable promotion.

IT’S IMPERATIVE TO BUILD DEVELOPMENT THAT IS INHERENTLY EQUITABLE. As a learning leader, it’s imperative to build development that is inherently equitable. And, in doing so, learning leaders must look toward mitigating obstacles and boundaries present for minority groups based on race, age and gender. AGEISM IN THE WORKPLACE Age is one facet to consider within diversity, equity and inclusion. Reviewing data regarding the age range of executive leaders and management will reveal whether this is an area requiring attention in your organization. The assumptions

that youth equals less experience or knowledge and senior equals unchanging or less technically savvy should be frequently and overtly challenged. Learning leaders can combat age discrimination against early and senior employees in many ways. Highlighting biases and stereotypes in training curriculum can assist in shifting your workforce’s thinking around ageism, and learning leaders can support the shift in organizational culture through targeted training, education and outreach. THE INTERSECTIONS OF GENDER AND RACE Gender equality spans decades of activism. Gender equality within the workplace is a priority for many organizations. A 2020 report by LeanIn.org and McKinsey shows steady improvement in representation of women in senior vice president and C-suite roles. However, they note that women “remained drastically underrepresented, particularly women of color.” With so many efforts dedicated to securing equal pay, affordable childcare and harassment-free work environments, it can be difficult to understand learning and development’s (L&D’s) role in these changes. Learning leaders can shape their organizations through consistent training, targeted messaging and strategic curriculum. Focused development strategies on gender-related differences in leadership can be helpful. Creating a women’s leadership development program specifically for women of color or hosting a virtual women’s brunch can enhance network opportunities for up and coming leaders, as well as provide coaching and

mentoring opportunities. Learning leaders have the unique ability to assist in opening dialogue around distinct cultural topics that affect engagement and foster a sense of belonging for employees. EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUPS If there is notable lack of racial diversity in leadership roles at your organization, it may be time to engage with employee resource groups (ERGs) to support equitable leadership development efforts. ERGs are groups of employees working together to build strong networks, align future leaders with organizational goals and engage specific employee subgroups. By meeting with minority groups directly and accounting for their specific needs, learning leaders can design targeted development opportunities. Additionally, building relationships that harbor twoway communication will open the door for frequent feedback to modify programs and generate innovative ideas. Being an ally for diversity, equity and inclusion is a role that requires more than offering services and should also encourage relationship building and targeted actions for improving organizational culture. Learning leaders have a great opportunity to reinvigorate their programs and refocus their efforts to boost engagement and positive culture change. In 2021, L&D can elevate social consciousness into strategic cultural change and upward mobility for underrepresented groups. Dr. Theresa R. Horne, CPTM, CSM, SHRM-SCP, is the chief consulting officer for Dynamic Training Partners LLC. Email Theresa.

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STELLA LEE, PH.D.

WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH

MITIGATING BIAS: THE ROLE OF AI IN D&I

Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered our daily lives, from self-driving cars to writing our emails and detecting fraud. Across many organizations, AI applications are being piloted to help automate and streamline business processes, such as recruitment, onboarding, training and performance appraisals. However, AI’s role in workplace diversity and inclusion has garnered much controversy. On one hand, AI has the potential to mitigate biases and provide more equitable access to the job market. For example, AI can be used in the recruitment process to screen resumes and identify the right candidates from a large pool of applicants. Proponents of AI promise that AI speeds up the hiring process and helps reduce unconscious bias by concealing candidates’ names and bypassing gender and racial references in resumes. There are even applications that can analyze a candidate’s facial expressions during interviews to gain insights on their personalities and potential fit for the company. On the other hand, AI is at great risk of perpetuating inequalities and amplifying stereotypes. Recent headlines in the news showcase examples of how AI technologies have learned to give preference to male applicants and, in one case, penalized resumes with the word “women’s” in them. In order to ensure AI supports rather than suppresses equity in the workplace, we need to know where these biases stem from and what we can do to prevent them. Let’s examine three common types of bias that can impact AI applications:

BIAS IN DATA For AI to work effectively, we need to feed the system a lot of data. For example, for a face-scanning mechanism to determine which applicants are the “best fit,” the system must be based on what has been successful in the past. In the case of executive-level professionals, this past dataset likely consists of predominantly white middle-age males. If we are unaware of this bias while introducing that dataset to the system, the system’s preference will skew toward this demographic group. Organizations can mitigate this issue by proactively seeking greater representation and more varied sample datasets.

EVEN WHEN INPUT DATA IS UNBIASED, ALGORITHMS CAN PRODUCE BIASED OUTCOMES. ALGORITHMIC BIAS Even when input data is unbiased, algorithms can produce biased outcomes. For example, in learning experience platforms (LXPs), learning content and activities are recommended to users based on attributes such as prior knowledge, test scores, demographic information, locations and learning preferences. As learners act on recommendations by selecting content, these actions are added to the system as a positive feedback loop. Over time, these recommendations reinforce bias coming from a certain group of users – perhaps younger workers who use

the system more frequently. As a result, more content is recommended to all learners based on one group’s preference rather than the workforce’s diverse learning needs. One potential solution to this problem is to audit system activities regularly and increase diversity in recommendations. HUMAN BIAS Believe it or not, a lot of manual work is required to create an AI system. Human inputs are needed to determine where to source and select data, what data to source and select, what is deemed important to measure, as well as how to interpret and present outcomes. These decisions are made by people – and not always by a heterogeneous group of people with diverse perspectives. To mitigate human bias, we need to think carefully about our intentions when configuring systems and be transparent about our processes. Start with clear documentation and communications to reveal any assumptions and explain the reasoning behind decision-making. AI applications can harm our employees and our organizations if they are not designed, engineered and audited properly. As L&D professionals, we should be deliberate and responsible in shaping how AI is used in the workplace. Dr. Stella Lee has over 20 years of experience in consulting, planning, designing, implementing and measuring learning initiatives. Her focus is on largescale learning projects including LMS evaluation and implementation, learning analytics, and artificial intelligent applications. Email Stella.

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BUILDING LEADERS

SAM SHRIVER & MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

THE OPPORTUNITIES EMBEDDED IN THE PURSUIT OF EQUITY

Simply stated, some people are just ahead of their time. They understand complex problems at their core but struggle to convince those around them of a viable course of action, because the rest of us don’t possess the necessary grounding to see what they see. We would offer that Roosevelt Thomas fit this description. A Harvardeducated organizational psychologist, best-selling author and consultant, he is often referred to as “the father of diversity.” In an era where most equated the objective of a diversity initiative with a targeted number, he implored us to broaden our perspectives and embrace the inevitable challenges and inherent opportunities of effectively managing diversity. In his words: “Managing diversity is about engaging people, different and similar, for the benefit of an organization. It is about mobilizing those people to make quality decisions, in open acknowledgement of differences, and the tensions and complexities that are inevitable when those differences gather under one roof.”

WHEN WE FEEL LIKE WE BELONG, OUR GUARD GOES DOWN, AND OUR PARTICIPATION GOES UP. Few shine a light of updated understanding on that insight than

Pamay Bassey, chief learning officer for Kraft Heinz. In her words, “Diversity is a reality; inclusion is a practice; belonging is an outcome; equity is the goal.”

are facilitated and whether inclusive practice is prominently displayed.

So, what is the role of the training function in the pursuit of equity? We believe it is primarily concentrated under the umbrellas of inclusion and belonging as follows:

When we feel like we belong, our guard goes down, and our participation goes up. We think less about how, or if, our input will be received and more about how that input might help our teams succeed and our careers advance. And, make no mistake about it, that sense of unencumbered comfort is a product of leadership. Do those leaders listen? Because if they truly listen, we know they truly care.

HIRING AND PROMOTION PRACTICE Interviews are crystalized moments of truth in determining the presence and perception of equity. Fundamentally, that perception is governed by the makeup of the panel that has been assembled. Similar to the selection of a jury – if the diversity of the hiring or selection committee is not at least partially aligned with the diversity of the talent pool being considered – it is much easier to be skeptical of the integrity of the process being deployed. Once identified, interview panels should not only be certified in behavioral interviewing techniques and best practices – intended to drive consistency of approach during discovery discussions – but should also receive in-depth, anti-bias training – intended to proactively address attributional effects stemming from interviewers’ unconscious assumptions and beliefs. Further, the panel should conduct mock interviews and receive targeted feedback from experienced mentors and coaches on how questions are asked, how interactions

HELPING LEADERS LEARN HOW TO LISTEN

Most of us find listening to others with whom we share common experience less challenging, as commonality can be an active accelerant in developing trust. Therefore, the challenge for leaders at all levels within an organization – and the training resources that support their efforts – is to learn how to listen to people that are different in a manner that ensures they know that you care! If we can all learn to listen more effectively in transparent acknowledgement of the complexities and nuances that our differences bring, we can actively explore the abundant opportunities embedded in the pursuit and achievement of equity. Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority in helping successful leaders get even better. Sam Shriver is the executive vice president at The Center for Leadership Studies. Email Marshall and Sam.

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DR. KRISTAL WALKER, CPTM

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

THE REAL UNSUNG HERO: THE TRAINING MANAGER’S ROLE IN BUILDING AN EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE

As our economic conditions evolve so does the role of the training manager. The ongoing COVID crisis, coupled with the recent social unrest, has not only overwhelmed our global economy but also altered the work agenda of learning and development (L&D) professionals. At the core of both issues is a reoccurring theme that continues to rise across issues, industries and organizations — the absence of inclusivity and equality. Examples of this inequality can be seen in our healthcare systems, as we continue to witness disparities in resources and COVID-related deaths among the African-American and Latinx communities.

• Benefit: Learners who can clearly see how a skill will positively impact their work performance are more likely to engage in training experiences.

Organizations must be more strategic and intentional in supporting employees across levels and backgrounds. This support should extend beyond job performance to overall employee wellness. In an effort to simplify what some might consider a complicated agenda, training managers should consider the following:

• Measurement: Measurement helps support return on investment and sustained learning transfer.

CONSIDER THE DESIGN OF YOUR TRAINING One of the major challenges of building an equitable workforce is in diversity of thought. We inherently bring so much of ourselves into our professional lives that it is almost impossible to separate the two without adequate training. At minimum, training around equity and inclusion should generate a level of awareness about issues and experiences that may be unfamiliar to the audience. At best, it should include these five elements: • Purpose: Purpose supports why a particular skill should be part of a leader’s arsenal.

• Skill Execution: Skill execution represents the “how to” of a learner’s ability to apply learning. Execution should be thoroughly explained to those expected to perform. • Challenges: Consider both the internal (e.g., biased thinking or lack of experience) and external (e.g., environment or work culture) challenges of learners.

EMPATHY AND HUMANITY ARE LACKING IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF MANY ORGANIZATIONS. CONSIDER YOUR ORGANIZATION’S TALENT DNA The demographic make-up of an organization can help or hinder equity and inclusion. If the population of minority populations is low so will the consideration of resources. While geographical barriers may exist that make it difficult to recruit diverse talent locally, many in the diverse talent pool are ready and willing to relocate for organizations that are intentional about creating truly

inclusive workplaces. Training managers can help execute tactics that ensure career opportunities are available to all candidates. This might require accommodations for audiences who need additional training or sponsorship. CONSIDER THE REALITIES OF EVERY EMPLOYEE Empathy and humanity are lacking in the foundations of many organizations. While some leaders admit these play critical roles in both diversity and inclusion and employee well-being, they may also admit that modeling these behaviors on a consistent basis is not always top of mind. Training managers have an opportunity to build meaningful connections with learners. Learners feel connected to trainers who display vulnerability, empathy and humanity in their delivery, making them more willing to share their realities and experiences. This powerful exchange might serve as the missing ingredient in bridging gaps in workplace equity. Training managers have long leveraged their knowledge, skills and expertise to assist organizational leaders in their roles. As we strive to create lasting solutions to an array of social and economic issues, let us not forget the unsung heroes – whose timely innovation, adaptability and agility have often saved the day. Dr. Kristal Walker, CPTM, has over 15 years of experience helping clients engage people, apply processes and implement technologies to improve performance. She is the vice president of employee wellbeing at Sweetwater. Kristal is also a facilitator for Training Industry’s Diversity and Inclusion Master Class. Email Kristal.

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e are at a pivotal moment in history where leadership diversity has never been more important to organizations’ relevance and success. Our customers, our employees and our society demand it. As Katherine Phillips wrote in a 2014 Scientific American research report – the less homogeneous a team’s representation – the greater its creativity, work ethic, ability to innovate, and capacity for complex problem-solving will be. Considering the accelerating challenges organizations are facing, leadership diversity is a clear imperative. However, the role of learning and development (L&D) in driving leadership diversity has been less clear. In larger organizations, ownership of the talent pipeline rests with human resources (HR) or talent management groups, where diversity recruitment and promotion and pay equity initiatives are emphasized. Meanwhile, learning functions have primarily driven the delivery of formal leadership training and diversity training across all levels of the organization. Within more robust leadership diversity initiatives, L&D might support formal, structured mentoring programs intended to extend the benefits of mentorship to a more diverse audience of prospective leaders. So, how well does this model work? Sadly, McKinsey’s 2020 “Women in the Workplace” report found that leadership pipelines are still nowhere near where they need to be. Traditional, formal leadership training events and standard mentoring programs have insufficiently prepared potential leaders to step into their new roles. As organizational consultants, learning professionals have an obligation to help their organizations do better. Learning teams need to partner with human resources, recruiting and talent teams to identify gaps and opportunities from initial recruitment to broader organizational culture initiatives. Then, L&D leaders should use their findings to inform the design of initiatives that source and develop diverse talent throughout the leadership pipeline. T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - BUILDING AN EQUITABLE W ORKP L AC E I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Here, we will examine the benefits of two often neglected, but crucial, levers where training can build the capabilities of diverse leaders – extended rotational programs and sponsorship programs.

GAPS IN FORMAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING Fully realized leadership training focuses on level-specific technical and interpersonal skills, covering topics from policies and procedures to giving effective feedback and solving strategic problems. Yet, the majority of this training lives in the realm of formal learning – instructor-led classrooms or training content delivered via video or other modalities. What’s missing from this prescriptive solution set? Critical elements of how great leaders learn, such as opportunities to practice new skills on the job and leverage social learning, are often neglected in learning experience design. It also discounts the benefits of expansive cross-organizational experience. As Herminia Ibarra observed in her 2019 Harvard Business Review article, “A Lack of Sponsorship Is Keeping Women from Advancing into Leadership,” most CEOs are not selected from staff positions but from positions with greater responsibility in major projects, budgets and revenue streams – positions that often have the least diversity. By integrating structured crossfunctional rotations and sponsorship programs, learning leaders can both leverage the value of informal learning and expand the range of experiences leaders need to increase their capabilities and visibility.

INTEGRATING EXTENDED CROSS-FUNCTIONAL ROTATIONS Some organizations have experimented with training leaders at varying points in the pipeline in functions across the business, but these are often too limited in scope or time and do not provide opportunities for disciplined

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RETHINKING CROSS-TRAINING LEADERSHIP Provide opportunities for high-quality, on-the-job training and practice by utilizing: • Extended role exchanges: Two leaders exchange jobs for a given period of time. • Co-leader rotations: An experienced leader in a particular area partners with a new leader to lead the function together for a prescribed period of time.

practice. For example, in new manager development programs, participants often rotate through departments across the organization for two weeks at a time. It’s nice exposure, but it doesn’t provide enough hands-on practice to develop necessary competencies. How do we fix this? First, we need to recognize that formal training only gets us so far. It might expand awareness, but it rarely provides opportunities for practice that prepare leaders to perform in the real world. As Sam Shriver articulated in the May/June 2020 issue of Training Industry Magazine, high-quality practice opportunities are essential. Examples of programmatic solutions that provide exposure, high-quality practice opportunities and visibility include extended role exchange programs and co-leader rotations. Either could be as short as six months or extend over several years. A role exchange is exactly what it sounds like: Two leaders exchange jobs for a prescribed period of time. For example, an organization pilots a structured role exchange between the regional heads of operations and sales. In the lead-up to the exchange, the two leaders meet regularly to teach each other the critical requirements of their roles. In addition, the firm sets clear expectations for the two leaders’ relationship as safety nets and coaches for one another. The two

candidates establish their own schedule for regular check-ins and peer coaching to provide support. During the six-month exchange, both identify opportunities to improve processes and build broader understanding – for themselves and their teams – of where the two departments intersect and opportunities to collaborate better. As a result, they jointly propose and manage two projects: One to solve an operational inefficiency and one to build and pilot an additional revenue-generating opportunity. Both leaders are promoted to new positions within a year; management notes that their expanded capabilities and visibility were instrumental to the organization. Co-leader rotations take a similar approach, with one key difference: One leader with experience in a particular area partners with a new leader to lead the function together for a prescribed period of time. One option is to then have the “new” co-head continue in the role while the more experienced cohead then rotates to another area.

LEARNING PROFESSIONALS HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO HELP THEIR ORGANIZATIONS DO BETTER. Both possibilities promote increased contact, a remedy suggested by authors Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kaley in their Harvard Business Review article “Why Diversity Programs Fail,” by exposing tenured leaders to a more diverse talent pipeline, positively affecting diversity and inclusion throughout the organization. To establish either of these, training must collaborate closely with HR to determine selection requirements, set expectations and establish structures. In addition, prospective rotation participants may need formal training or coaching to

support them as they prepare for their new roles. By utilizing informal learning with well-structured, crossorganizational rotations, leadership development can incorporate practice opportunities while broadening potential leaders’ exposure to a wider array of business roles and expanding their visibility to senior management.

SPONSORS CONNECT PROTÉGÉS WITH OPPORTUNITIES AND ADVOCATE FOR NEW LEADERS’ ADVANCEMENT.

WHY DIVERSITY-FOCUSED MENTORING PROGRAMS FALL SHORT Formal, diversity-focused mentoring programs are still failing to achieve their goals. In a 2010 Harvard Business Review article on the failures of mentoring women in the workplace, the authors observed that mentorship increased the likelihood of promotion for men – but not for women – for a number of reasons. In addition, there’s a tendency for senior mentors, who are often predominately white men, to attempt to mold mentees’ behaviors and thinking to make them more like themselves – a kind of reverseengineered affinity bias. Clearly, this is counterproductive to the goals of diversity in leadership.

FOCUSING ON SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMS Sponsorship programs offer a different approach. Sponsorship and mentorship are often described interchangeably but differ in key aspects. Catalyst provides a terrific infographic that captures the differences between organizational coaches, mentors and sponsors. Put simply, coaches provide developmental feedback; mentors provide advice and strategies to help navigate the organizational maze, and sponsors connect protégés with opportunities and advocate for new leaders’ advancement. Of course, these roles sometimes overlap, but they are distinct and serve different purposes. Traditionally, sponsorships grow organically: Someone with clout in an

organization advocates for an aspiring leader with whom they are familiar to be given a high-profile project or promotion. Because the sponsor’s reputation is on the line, it’s a higherrisk endeavor than mentorship. It’s also fraught with problematic opportunities for selection bias. A sponsorship program is a comprehensive solution that necessitates rewiring how established leaders consider potential candidates for promotion and opportunities. This may include integrating implicit bias awareness but also requires enhancing exposure and familiarity among potential sponsors of potential protégés’ capabilities. A sample structure for a diversity sponsor and protégé program includes training both existing organizational leaders and potential protégés on what effective sponsorship

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES • Coaches provide developmental feedback. • Mentors provide advice and strategies to help navigate the organizational maze. • Sponsors connect protégés to opportunities and advocate for their advancement.

looks like in your organization and the dynamics of effective sponsor and protégé relationships. It also requires developing exposure opportunities. In some organizations, a pool of diverse talent is established from which sponsors are encouraged to select when project or promotional opportunities arise. In others, executives are encouraged to lead existing or new employee resource groups to expand their exposure to the members and provide equitable access to appropriate opportunities.

CONCLUSION It’s time for learning leaders to reimagine how to effectively cultivate diverse leadership talent pipelines by integrating formal and informal learning and accelerating sponsors’ advocacy for diverse candidates. Initiating and facilitating these expansive initiatives in partnership with human resources and talent management will extend L&D’s value beyond formal training and help their organizations reap the benefits of diverse leadership throughout the pipeline. Laura Smith Dunaief is the founder of CareerCraft, a learning consultancy that partners with organizations to design, facilitate and manage leadership, communication and diversity training solutions that achieve strategic goals. Email Laura.

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The conscious attempt to understand another’s point of view can build new neural pathways, create real learning and reshape interactions.

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There is a gulf widening between us. It’s happening both inside and outside of the workplace. The remote working situations of the last year may have only served to increase the differences between people’s lived experiences. We may sit in a video-conference meeting and wonder why other people are reacting so differently from the way we are. We may scroll through the news and feel mystified by the actions of others. There is a cognitive skill that we all need to bridge this gap, and it’s the skill of perspective-taking. However, perspective-taking requires skill and motivation. Luckily, virtual reality (VR) removes motivation from the equation and allows us to experience immersive perspective-taking. That experience can be all we need to motive us to engage in this powerful skill — with or without a headset. Perspective-taking has been defined as “the ability to understand how a situation appears to another person and how that person is reacting cognitively and emotionally to the situation.” In other words, it’s the ability to place ourselves in someone else’s position while recognizing their point of view, experiences and beliefs. This recognition fosters understanding between people. There is no sole approach to perspective-taking. However, the conscious attempt to understand another’s point of view can build new neural pathways, create real learning and reshape interactions. Try it right now: Think of someone you work with who has a very different approach or point of view. Spend one minute considering the world from your co-worker’s perspective, literally imagining what their life is like. Now, believe or not, that one minute has put you in a better frame of mind to interact with that person. The simple prompt to consider someone else’s perspective results in more positive outcomes. And, the more skilled you become, the better outcomes you can expect. Imagine – anytime you needed to – you were able to pause, take a deep breath and engage in skilled perspectivetaking. Through understanding and effort, you can have more fruitful

discussions rather than heated arguments. You can have understanding instead of frustration. You can find creative solutions instead of impasses. That is the power of perspective-taking. Fortunately, perspective-taking can be learned and practiced. Some of us find it easier to master than others, but it’s a technique that anyone can access at anytime, anywhere. However, we all have to overcome some common barriers, including ourselves.

Your Brain’s Job Is Self-Protection It is important to acknowledge that our brains are hardwired for egocentric anchoring and adjustment. In other words, the very organ we use to make sense of our world places us at the center. It makes us the hero and ascribes others supporting roles. This phenomenon explains why we immediately refer to our own experiences, opinions and perspectives as our default. There are four common internal cognitive biases everyone faces when trying to take another’s perspective (see sidebar). When we engage in perspectivetaking, we move away from an egocentric starting point in order to understand others. It’s not easy; the process is gradual and requires hard work. However, with practice, our skills improve. As we reach positive outcomes, we become more and more motivated to put in the effort. Now, imagine that same co-worker, again. This time, instead of having to use your imagination, what if you were able to put on a VR headset? Once you put it on, you are immersed in a scenario where you see yourself from your co-worker’s point of view. You can hear your co-worker’s thoughts and experience a scenario from their perspective. Consider what insights this experience might give you and how it might encourage perspective-taking outside of the headset. Perspective-taking creates empathy. Companies are using VR to transform the way their employees care for and

consider their customers and their co-workers.

The Benefits of Perspective-taking • Counteracts expressions of bias. • Decreases implicit bias.  • Reduces the expression and accessibility of social stereotypes. • Increases the positivity of group-based judgments. • Decreases in-group favoritism. • Increases team creativity. • Improves conflict resolution. • Creates successful leaders.

Perspective-taking in Training

Hilton created scenarios where team members experience the guest’s perspective during checkin, breakfast service and room service. By experiencing the guest’s perspective, team members are able to design processes and programs that support a great experience. Perspective-taking in VR can transform not just the customer experience but also a company’s culture by using it for equitable and inclusive workplace training. PwC recently released a case study on using VR for their inclusive leadership training. Instead of classroom training or eLearning, managers put on headsets to experience hiring, staffing and performance scenarios. Their early data compared VR learners to classroom learners and resulted in: • 4 times faster training times. • 275% more confidence in applying new skills.

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4 Internal Cognitive Biases

There are four common internal cognitive biases everyone faces when trying to see from someone else’s perspective. As you develop the skill of perspective-taking, you learn to recognize these biases in yourself and others.

1. Fundamental Attribution Error

“We blame others when bad things happen to them, but blame external situations when bad things happen to us.” Acknowledge that luck and privilege play huge roles in everyone’s lives. Everyone we know faces circumstances we aren’t aware of. Recognize your mistakes and hold yourself accountable for them, and – if you haven’t – try giving others the benefit of the doubt.

4. Confirmation Bias

“We selectively focus on information that confirms our own beliefs.” Be open to surprise and revelation during collaboration. Learning something new is a positive experience, but it isn’t always easy. Allow yourself to be wrong. Be ready to accept others may have different views that are as valuable as yours.

• 3.75 times more emotionally connected to the content than the classroom learners. These are examples of how companies are using perspective-taking experiences in training. These are the same VR experiences that can motivate employees to practice perspective-taking beyond the headset.

After Motivation, Action!

When people have impactful, VR-powered, perspective-taking experiences, they are in a heightened state for learning. Employees remove the headset and are uniquely primed for new types of behavior and learning. They are more motived to learn. However, even without this experience, you can strengthen your perspectivetaking skills, using these four steps:

1. Seek understanding

When communicating with others, our default is to consider our personal goals. In

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2. Naïve Realism

“We think we see the world as it truly is, and we expect other rational beings to see the world similarly. [When] others’ perceptions differ, perceivers will assume the others are too lazy to [understand], biased, or subject to different (usually inferior) information.” Consider why you hold your perspective. Ask yourself if the other person has had the same experiences as you or if your different circumstances may have led you to different conclusions. Remember that others will perceive situations differently. Witnessing the same events doesn’t mean having the same experience.

3. Intergroup Bias

“We prefer members of our own in-group and have prejudice against out-group members.” Inwardly acknowledge this bias when collaborating with someone outside of your social circle. Seek input from people who are different from yourself.

this first step of perspective-taking, we mindfully choose to set aside our own goals. Instead, we purposefully center the perspective of the other person. We let go of our egos. We decide, instead, to engage with the other person’s lived experiences and the way they perceive the world.

2. Ideate

How are they perceiving the world? In this step, we imagine several possibilities; we work through the common barriers to perspective. Then, we navigate them to see the other person clearly and imagine how they might be thinking about a situation. These are assumptions; they may not be the truth, but they’re as close as we can get. We do this until we’re ready to build a hypothesis.

3. Hypothesize

Now that we have some ideas, we narrow our thoughts down to our best guesses. These should be solid hypotheses

we can test and use to connect in our interaction with the other person. If our hypothesis is correct, what outcomes can we expect? If we are wrong, how might we know?

4. Observe and adjust

We hold our hypothesis lightly and are ready for new information about the other person. Now, we are ready to engage with, observe and adjust our assumptions. We have an open discussion. We are curious and ready for insights. Were we able to connect and collaborate with them? If yes, success! If not, it’s time to go deeper and further challenge our assumptions. Whatever the outcome, the process of perspective-taking isn’t over. It’s a constant cycle of empathy, imagination, estimation and discovery. Amy Lou Abernethy is the co-founder and creative director of learning at AMP Creative, an agency that designs learning experiences for enterprise companies. Email Amy.

2020 was a year that delivered 20/20 hindsight. Leaders navigated the challenges of COVID-19, racial tension and political instability simultaneously. Lives lost to disease, an economic downturn and protests dominated our news feeds. At the precipice of the new year, our 2020 challenges seem to have intensified. Polarization could cause the workplace to become more divisive. In this business climate, even the prospect of inequity is untenable. Inequity impacts employee morale, customer sentiment and organizational performance. In addition to swelling calls to reduce disparities, barriers like unconscious bias, ignorance, apathy and fear present obstacles to a harmonious community landscape. Part of the solution rests in objective leadership frameworks (OLFs). These are structural approaches leaders can apply to mitigate the effects of bias and reduce systemic inequities. OLFs provide leaders with tools to improve their efficacy in leading today’s workforce. Developing leaders through the use of OLFs is a practical pathway to pursue inclusive, sustained organizational success. Let’s take a moment to assess OLFs’ role in supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives, increasing leadership efficiency, and creating an organizational culture anchored in equitable leadership practices.

Inequity and Unconscious Bias Often, inequity is the outcome of being treated unjustly or unfairly. If an individual experiences behavior inconsistent with what is morally fair or that departs from established rules and generally accepted beliefs of equality and justice, they feel unjustly treated. It’s important to note that inequity isn’t based only on being treated unjustly; the perception alone result in feelings of being unfairly treated. While most leaders try to behave equitably by managing conscious bias, it’s the unconscious biases that undermine wellmeaning efforts. Unconscious biases are oblivious tendencies, blind propensities, unknowing favoritism, negligent partiality,

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unsuspecting leanings or inattentive inclinations. Unconscious bias is the presence of unfairness, occurring underneath conscious thought and rendering well-meaning conscious efforts less effective.

The Business and Social Impact of Unconscious Bias In the workplace, unconscious bias may cause employees to question their value to the company or the magnitude of their contribution – resulting in low morale and disengagement, increased turnover, and decreased productivity and organizational competitiveness. The types of unconscious biases that impact equitable leadership in today’s workplace include availability, in-group, Semmelweis reflex, observer-expectancy, confirmation, conformity, affinity, framing effect, status quo and group attribution. These cognitive biases are dangerous to organizational performance because they can: Ϝ Weaken the ability and willingness to create value. Ϝ Increase the risk and likelihood of value erosion. Ϝ Diminish the character and culture of the organization. Ϝ Weaken the corporate brand. Ϝ Stifle opportunities to be authentic.

Objective Leadership Frameworks as a Solution Inequitable leadership not only hurts the corporate entity but also negatively impacts relationships with customers, employees, managers, peers, suppliers and partners. So, what’s an antidote for unconscious bias in the workplace? It’s making the unconscious conscious by replacing leadership partiality with leadership objectivity. As an innovation coach, I work with startups on customer adoption for new technologies and services. I developed a model that I believe is useful in assisting an organization in innovating its equitable leadership

efforts. Let’s explore this four-phased approach of awareness, adjustment, abandonment and authenticity.

leaders can become less reactive, more responsive and increasingly equitable in their decision-making.

Awareness

Abandonment

The first phase is awareness. This phase aims to validate that an unconscious bias exists and is a threat to the organization. Leaders and employees believe in the merits of equity, but – until we experience evidence to the contrary – most people are reticent toward prescriptive action. As leaders, we must identify specific examples of inequity and use data to communicate the problem, its prevalence and its impact. Awareness of these conditions can strengthen belief in and commitment to necessary adjustments.

The third phase is abandonment. In approaching innovation, authors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne discuss the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create (ERRC) Grid in their book, “Blue Ocean Strategy.” When it comes to unconscious biases, it’s not enough to merely reduce some behaviors; we must eliminate them (e.g., racial profiling, sexual harassment, bullying, etc.).

The Georgia State University (GSU) story of “Eliminating Equity Gaps Through Data and Institutional Change” by Timothy M. Renick, Ph.D., is an exemplary story of creating awareness to promote action. As the title suggests, his research details how GSU explored the factors negatively impacting graduation rates based on race, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors. After becoming aware, they took action and graduation rates improved by over 30%.

Adjustment The second phase is adjustment. Once we become aware, we can adjust. This phase aims to change behavior through deliberate thinking and objective action. In his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Daniel Kahneman defines system 1 and system 2 thinking. The first “operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control,” and the second “allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations.” Unconscious biases rely on less rigorous, preprogrammed mindsets that lead to inattentive decision-making. By employing OLFs (see sidebar),

The goal of this phase is to lay the foundation for sustained organizational success by abandoning biased behavior. Economist Joseph Schumpeter described creative destruction as innovating by destroying existing processes to make way for new creations. Failure to do so may result in catastrophe. We often innovate our approaches to technology and business processes, but how often do we apply those approaches to our people development methods? Through abandonment, we leverage OLFs to create and support a shared organizational vision. Division is often a byproduct of no vision. A shared vision focuses our attention, consolidates group effort and recasts our differences as differentiated capabilities that help us achieve a common goal. We also create credible connections. Mutual dependence in pursuit of a shared goal helps establish a credible connection. According to contact theory, contact between two groups can promote tolerance and acceptance, as long as there is equal status and common goals. Consider military training as an example. Basic training begins with a reprioritization of individuality and collective goals. Social, economic and cultural differences are deprioritized for a shared vision of success, resulting in a shared sense of equivalency. Recruits

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learn the value of mutual dependency as indoctrination into a new community leads to a sense of unity.

Authenticity The word authentic means “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.” In this final phase, the continued reduction of unconscious bias helps create a culture of mutual respect. The goal of the authenticity phase is to grow beyond tolerance to appreciation. The practical steps to authenticity begin with agreement and alignment on the fact that people have the right to differing opinions. Salespeople pursue this progression by seeking the smallest point of agreement with a prospect, then capitalizing on the momentum imbedded in that unity. Having honest dialogue from that point forward allows for disagreement and challenging discussion. Debate and conflict can be productive when conducted with honesty and respect. Moreover, calling attention to shared success conveys the importance of winning as a team as opposed to a collection of randomly assembled individuals. Lastly, public praise can positively affect the recipient, the team and the praise giver. These actions can help in building a corporate culture that demonstrably values individuals, the teams they work with and the institutions they serve. If nothing else, 2021 provides all of us with not only an opportunity to recover from the myriad of disruptions we endured in 2020 but also to usher in a renaissance of sorts. Perhaps the key is not as much about developing new tools to help us enhance our objectivity and transform environments defined by inequity as it is about figuring out how to use existing tools on a far more diligent, strategic and inclusive journey from heightened awareness to progressive authenticity. Berkley Baker, DBA, MBA, is the founder and CEO of Creative Innovations with Measurable Impact (CIMI) and master trainer at The Center for Leadership Studies. Sam Shriver, Ed.D., is the executive vice president at The Center for Leadership Studies and co-author of “Lessons from Leaders.” Email authors.

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Steps for Using an OLF Identify OLFs consistent with the corporate culture. OLFs are approaches to leading and decision-making that enable leaders to lead equitably. A nonexhaustive list of OLFs includes the army leadership model, situational leadership®, DISC®, emotional intelligence and more. Generally, OLFs are intended to improve individual effectiveness, enhance organizational performance and develop leaders. Leverage OLFs to adjust organizational behavior by reducing unconscious bias. Conscious efforts to consistently align decisionmaking with published corporate values reinforce those values while demonstrating equitable leadership. Leaders should refer to the corporate OLFs adopted by the culture when making decisions. Evaluate the effectiveness of OLFs in enabling equitable leadership practices. In some cases, leaders may find existing corporate OLFs to be inequitable and in need of adjustment.

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While concerns about inequities and lack of diversity have been mounting for years, the events of 2020 laid bare longstanding, structural inequities and brought these issues to the forefront of our national consciousness. In the face of public outcry, organizations are pledging to increase their investment in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training. According to a recent survey by Fortune and Deloitte, 96% of CEOs confirmed that DEI is a strategic priority for their organizations. Learning and development and talent leaders are expected to intensify their efforts to stamp out systemic inequities and accelerate organization-wide culture change.

Allyship as a Pathway to

Systemic Change

Individual efforts alone, no matter how well-intentioned, rarely affects systemic change. Systemic change ultimately stems from everyone in the organization taking action. That’s why the practice of allyship is emerging as a strategic mechanism used by individuals and organizations to collaboratively promote equity in the workplace. According to sociologist Tsedale M. Melaku, allies are a collective of “collaborators, accomplices, and coconspirators” who “drive systemic improvements

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to workplace policies, practices, and culture.” However, most existing DEI training is designed to address bias on an individual level and not necessarily on the systemic level. Organizations are starting to recognize the need to develop allyship training for system level change; companies such as Microsoft, Levi Strauss & Co. and Airbnb have recently rolled out allyship training to equip employees with skills to combat inequities and act as effective allies.

Importance of Allyship Training It is not enough to get allies to come to the table. To harness the full power of allyship, it is important to understand the issues that impede collaboration between allies and design training programs that promote effective allyship. Allyship work is challenging, because it requires individuals with different experiences and cultural backgrounds to collaborate and work toward common goals and outcomes. Allies can bring potentially conflicting worldviews, values and mindsets which – if not managed appropriately – can lead to misunderstanding and conflict. Therefore, allyship training is most effective when designed with the diversity of allies in mind and when it fully prepares them to overcome the challenges inherent in working in diverse teams.

Designing Effective Allyship Training: A Neuroscience Perspective So, what kind of training builds allies? There isn’t one defining characteristic, but there are insights from neuroscience research that should be considered when developing and delivering training.

Minimize Threat The impact of threat in DEI training is often underappreciated but can be especially detrimental in the context of allyship training. When people are told they are part of the problem because they belong

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to an advantaged group (e.g., white, male, straight, etc.), it is natural to feel attacked. This also challenges their sense of fairness; they may feel blamed for the actions of a group they cannot help but belong to. This is important because activating someone’s threat system leads to defensiveness and is not conducive to establishing allyship. How concepts are presented is also important. For example, training often includes discussion about implicit biases and techniques for bias mitigation. Learners can often feel criticized for possessing biases if it is not explained that biases arise from the brain’s natural tendency to create shortcuts based on our experiences to help us function within our world. This does not give people “a pass”; they should work to mitigate biases that are maladaptive, but they need to understand the origins of bias in order to avoid feelings of blame or defense.

Learners can also feel threatened by other groups within the allyship. Disadvantaged people’s sense of status and fairness can be challenged, and they can feel resentment and demotivation when advantaged allies draw attention to themselves – intentional or otherwise – or are given credit for successes. While many think of allies as primarily individuals from an advantaged group, an ally can also be a member of another disadvantaged group (e.g., an Asian American supporting Black Lives Matter). Although people from other disadvantaged groups can be helpful allies to the main group being affected, it is important for training designers to account for potential conflicts that may exist between disadvantaged groups. Training should raise awareness about these issues and help learners deal with potential threats.

Allyship necessitates speaking for others when inequity is happening. This can be difficult due to potential repercussions. Allies, particularly advantaged allies, could also be fearful of making missteps. These fears can prevent potential allies from behaving as allies, even if they believe in the cause. Typically, training does not adequately address threats pervasive in allyship or provide strategies to help deal with threats, despite research pointing to promising emotional regulation techniques. While it is impossible to remove all threats, it is important to be mindful of the many threats people face and to address them when possible, because they can cause potential allies to disengage from training and prevent them from opting in to allyship.

Get Buy-in Allyship training is about winning hearts and minds – not forcing people to be allies. People need to feel that they are choosing to be part of something rather than having it be imposed on them. In fact, removing autonomy by telling people how to think can backfire and make people even more biased in their thinking. To gain buy-in, training must recognize humans’ egocentricity and help learners see why allyship is relevant and valuable to them, keeping in mind that different subgroups within an allyship have different needs. Ultimately, this can mean the difference between someone passively accepting change and someone actively driving change.

Include People as Part of the Solution Effective allyship training brings diverse groups together to face difficult challenges. How differences in background, viewpoints and values are handled can promote or hinder collaboration among allies. Diversity training that emphasizes the differences between groups can lead to increased bias. On the other hand, overemphasizing harmony between groups can also backfire. We should not ignore the reality that people have very different lived experiences with inequity but dwelling on those differences may not lead to desired outcomes. To this point, one of the most effective interventions

for prejudice reduction is redefining social categories by highlighting intergroup similarities.

situations they face and their sphere of influence to affect systemic change.

Behavioral change is difficult and effortful, because our brains are wired to rely heavily on shortcuts. Practice is needed for longterm behavioral change. Simulation is an effective tool, because it can mimic the reallife pressures people face while enabling them to practice speaking out.

People need to feel part of a cohesive team of allies working toward shared goals of initiating positive social and business changes. This is where training often falls short. Placing blame on training participants can not only set off a threat response but create an “us” vs. “them” mentality. Research has revealed how easy it is to create division; even when people are assigned to arbitrary groups, they differentiate between in-group and out-group members. Why is this important? In-group bias, the tendency to prefer someone within your social circle or group, is a well-established phenomenon. Brain imaging studies reveal that reward areas of the brain become more active when in-group members succeed compared to out-group members, suggesting we are more likely to celebrate the success of our teammates. People are also less likely to empathize with someone whom they perceive as belonging to a different group. All this impacts how we behave towards others.

Human-centered Design One-time, one-size-fits-all DEI training results in disengaged learners who view training as a box to check. To better inspire allyship and promote long-term changes, organizations should examine their training through the lens of humancentered design to be more intentional in the following:

1. Meet people where they are. It’s critical to identify where learners are on the “allyship continuum” to customize training for the target audience. Organizations possess different cultures and starting points for DEI, and people within organizations have different understandings of and experiences with DEI. People at all levels are critical in cultural change. However, it is a disservice to ignore that, in addition to personal differences as an advantaged or disadvantaged person, a learner’s function and level within the organization impacts their knowledge about the organization,

3. Provide practice opportunities.

4. Consider the holistic learning journey.

Conducting empathy interviews helps designers better understand and empathize with learners. User personas can then be developed to characterize their motivations, challenges and training needs to ensure that the unique needs of the audience are considered in design. When this is not done, we lose an opportunity to gain allies; if people feel that training is not relevant for them, they are likely to tune out.

2. Be specific. With knowledge gleaned from empathy interviews, designers can use realistic examples of how exclusion and inequity could show up in the target audience’s world. Training that is vague will not be much use to learners. For example, it is easy to agree not to be racist, but people may not recognize all the ways that racism shows up or specific behaviors to enact in response.

One-off training on everything at once can overwhelm learners. Consider how learning opportunities can be scaffolded and reinforced across a holistic learning journey.

Conclusion There is an outcry and a yearning to address systemic inequities. However, lasting systemic change does not happen organically and requires a coalition of allies to forge change. Effective training is needed to build and prepare allies. Leveraging insights from neuroscience insights, we can be more intentional when designing training to ensure authentic allyship and prepare allies to affect lasting, systemic change. Grace Chang, Ph.D., is a cognitive neuroscientist focused on applying her research background and industry consulting experience as associate director of learning research and development at Ernst & Young. Samad Aidane is a cross-cultural leadership development researcher, trainer, consultant and coach. Email Grace and Samad.

The Impact of Threat Our brains are sensitive to potential threats in the environment, whether physical or social (e.g., losing status). When threatened, our amygdala, a brain structure critical for processing emotions, becomes more active and initiates a series of biological events, resulting in a “fight or flight” response. While the rational frontal cortex of our brain can down-regulate this

automatic threat response, this is difficult to do if the threat is strong or if we are not motivated to do so. Threats draw our focus and can make it difficult to engage in the thoughtful, creative thinking needed to shift how we think. Our brain’s reaction to threats is important, because allyship training and allyship itself are ripe with opportunities to experience threat.

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Conversations that Catalyze Complex Change BY DIANNA ANDERSON, MCC

One thing we can all agree upon is that, if we can’t talk about something, we can’t change it. That’s often where the agreement ends, though. This problem is more prevalent when the change that we want to make involves complex, emotionally charged issues, such as racial injustice, sustainability and bridging divides of all kinds. That’s a problem that we need to solve, but we’ll only solve it if we don’t treat it like a problem.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMPLICATED AND COMPLEX CHANGE Change has changed, but – for the most part – our approach to initiating and talking about change hasn’t. It used to be that most of the major changes we engaged in were complicated but not complex. Complicated change may have a lot of moving parts, but they are, for the most part, parts. That is, pieces that can be fixed or changed to make improvements, such as reengineering a process to make it more efficient or automating an enterprise-wide management system. We approach complicated change like a problem to be solved, because that’s what it is. We analyze the process, define the desired outcomes and then plan initiatives to address relevant issues. Sure, there are lots of curves and curveballs to be addressed along the way, but a linear process driven by logical conversations typically results in predictable progress and measurable outcomes. We typically favor this kind of change, because it feels comfortably tangible. In fact, many people believe that all change should occur like this and often act as if it does. Therein lies the problem, because complex change is a different creature. If complicated change is predominantly mechanistic, complex change is largely organic. Our shared limiting beliefs about ourselves and our world are the origin of our most complex issues. When we approach changing people in the same way that we approach changing parts, we end up deeply frustrated that a

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WHEN WE CHANGE HOW WE COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER, WE CHANGE HOW WE SEE EACH OTHER AND WHAT WE BELIEVE IS POSSIBLE. training class or two did not completely eradicate patterns of behavior that people have been rewarded for engaging in for decades – if not lifetimes. Let’s take a moment to unravel complex change in simple terms to better appreciate what makes it so complex.

HOW OUR BELIEFS GROW INTO CULTURES THAT BLOSSOM INTO SYSTEMS Our beliefs are like seeds planted in our minds that grow into behaviors. A simple example would be a belief that being a good and effective leader means keeping everyone and everything under control. When leaders believe that’s what successful leadership is, they engage in behaviors such as telling people what to do and punishing them for making mistakes. These accepted behaviors come to define corporate cultures — even if the plaque with the company values says something entirely different. To ensure that these behaviors are consistently repeated throughout an organization, complex systems are built to reinforce them and disenfranchise people who don’t comply with the expected norms. Fear is used to ensure that the system runs smoothly by making it very difficult for new behaviors to sprout up and take root in organizations. Witness the careerending move where someone spoke their truth and found themselves plucked out of the line for possible advancement.

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It’s important to note that fear controls everyone in the organization. Senior leaders are not exempt. They have their own set of unwritten rules they must follow. Violating those norms can be just as devastating for them as anyone else – only the consequences are typically more public and harder to recover from.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CATALYZING COMPLEX CHANGE? It’s important for everyone who dreams of truly changing any complex system to understand what we’re up against. The process of unearthing old beliefs, planting new ones, growing new skills,

and using them to completely reimagine and establish new systems will not be easy. We will come face-to-face with our own limitations over and over and over again. If we are to stay the course and truly establish sustainable new ways of being and doing, there are some conversations we need to have right now to give ourselves a better chance of success:

WHAT MAKES COMPLEX CHANGE DIFFERENT? It’s essential that the various stakeholders who will play a role in supporting complex change understand what differentiates complex change

QUESTIONS TO CULTIVATE SHARED CURIOSITY • How will resolving this be a gift? • How do you see this situation? • What is bothering you/us the most about this? • What is your experience with this? • What would you say or do if it didn’t matter? • How are we getting in our own way?

• What is one step we can take to move this forward? • What are we not talking about that we need to? • How is fear impacting this situation? • What is the next question we need to explore? • What is truly at stake here?

from complicated change. Use these conversations to set reasonable expectations for progress, identify necessary areas of support, outline how various parts of the organization will work together, allocate adequate resources and so on. These conversations will build your organization’s shared ability to recognize how old patterns get in the way of establishing new ones. Develop the habit of getting curious when people get frustrated, and explore underlying beliefs or patterns of behavior that are sparking the reaction.

WHAT SKILLS DO WE NEED? It may be challenging to have those conversations at first, because the sad truth is few people possess the skills needed to engage in conversations that can untangle complex issues. We need to hone our abilities to stay present, get curious, recognize our own limiting assumptions and beliefs, and support each other to expand our worldviews if we are going to break through our shared limited thinking and create a new future. A powerful way to build these coaching-based leadership skills is to teach them to people who are involved with complex change initiatives. When we change how we communicate with each other, we change how we see each other and what we believe is possible. That change alone can—and will—change everything.

HOW HOW DO DO WE WE MAKE MAKE IT SAFE FOR EVERYONE IT SAFE FOR EVERYONE TO TO CHANGE? CHANGE? When people are fearful, they don’t change because it is too risky. Yet, fear-based leadership practices are the very mechanism keeping old ways of thinking and working in place. That’s why it’s important to talk about how your organization as a whole will make

QUESTIONS TO PREPARE ORGANIZATIONS TO ENGAGE TOGETHER IN COMPLEX CHANGE • How will we enable our leaders — and the entire organization — to understand and appreciate the differences between complicated and complex change? • What skills and capabilities do we, as an organization, need to build to be able to successfully discuss and guide complex change? • How will we make it safe for people to talk about what matters most and try new ways of thinking, communicating and working together? • What is at stake for us if we ignore questions 1 through 3?

IF WE DON’T CHANGE HOW WE APPROACH AND TALK ABOUT COMPLEX CHANGE, IT IS LIKELY THAT NOTHING WILL CHANGE AT ALL.

it safe for everyone to change. Begin those conversations with how to make it safe for senior leaders to talk about the things that matter most, try out new approaches, and learn with and from each other. If it is safe for them to lead in new ways, the rest of the organization is far more likely to follow their lead and risk changing, too.

WHY DOES MAKING THIS CHANGE MATTER? People are motivated to change in order to attain the things that matter most to them. They decide to engage in change when they believe that they are capable of attaining their desired outcomes. They will stick with the process of making change real and sustainable if they are rewarded for doing so and believe that what they are working toward is worthwhile. Prepare people in your organization to embark on the long journey of making significant change happen by defining and demonstrating what’s in it for them and for the organization. Create a shared vision of what success will look like and feel like. Then, talk about that vision often, so it sustains people when the going gets tough – which it inevitably will. Plant those seeds now, so they grow into resilient determination to break through limiting beliefs and patterns and grow a new way of being, together. Complexity and complex change are our new reality. Addressing complex change is giving us the opportunity to weed out our limiting beliefs and plant new ones that can grow into a more just, equitable and sustainable world. To prepare the soil, we must first talk about the process of change itself, and build the skills to have much more appreciative and evocative conversations. If we don’t change how we approach and talk about complex change, it is entirely likely that nothing will change at all. Dianna Anderson, MCC, is the CEO of Cylient, an organization that partners with its clients to wire up coaching cultures where people feel safe, seen and supported to realize their fullest potential. Email Dianna.

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Companies with inclusive cultures give voice to a workforce comprised of varying genders, ages, religions, races, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations. Inclusion is more than a fad or slogan. Organizations with diverse workforces consistently outperform less diverse competitors while attracting top talent. Despite these benefits, significant gaps in opportunities for minorities, women and members of the LGBTQ community remain. The CEO of any organization is more likely to be named John than to be a woman, and white candidates are 50% more likely to receive a callback for an interview than Black candidates. Today’s leaders must make significant progress by taking meaningful steps to improve diversity and inclusion from the C-suite to the front line. Real change starts at the top with commitment, intention and accountability.

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Understanding the Problem There are many historical and sociological factors that cause certain populations to experience more barriers to success than others. Those who have not experienced bias or exclusion may be blind to challenges others face. Therefore, leaders must heighten their awareness of both conscious and unconscious biases to create inclusive workplace cultures. Bias is part of human nature. Our minds process tiny bits of data to make quick judgments every second of the day, most of which happens subconsciously. Overcoming bias in the workplace requires leaders to improve awareness of these unconscious assumptions and their impacts on decision-making.

Unconscious Bias Unconscious bias is a collection of preferences, attitudes and stereotypes

that influence thinking and behavior in ways people don’t realize. It’s not only about race, gender or economic status— although it can be. One famous example of unconscious bias involved an update to iPhone screens’ functionality, requiring people to swipe right to hide an app. Swiping right is easy to do while holding a phone in your right hand but difficult with the left hand. Considering left-handed people only make up about 10% of the population, they are frequently overlooked in product design.

Bias in Recruiting Another example of unconscious bias is affinity bias – the tendency for people to feel most comfortable around individuals who resemble themselves. Sometimes when hiring managers want a candidate who is a “good culture fit,” they inadvertently seek out someone who looks and sounds like the rest of the team, leading to a lack of diversity. Many industries exclude diverse talent pools

through outdated and biased recruiting practices, such as only recruiting from elite universities. This practice disregards individuals’ expertise and abilities because they lack the connections or resources to attend those institutions. Several studies have also shown that resumes with African American-sounding names are less likely to get callbacks, and men are twice as likely to be hired as women. Only 25% of C-suites are made up of women. Worse, only 4% of those leaders are women of color. In nearly every employment category, women of color are the most underrepresented population compared to white men, men of color and

Real change s tarts at the top with commitment, intention and accountability.

white women. Another common issue is beauty bias. People who are perceived as attractive are often held in higher regard than their plainer-looking counterparts. For example, in his book “Blink,” Malcolm Gladwell revealed that, in the U.S., less than 15% of males are over 6 feet tall, yet nearly 60% of Fortune 500 CEOs are over 6 feet tall. Recruiters are not likely seeking exclusively tall employees, revealing that unconscious bias could be to blame.

How Millennials Are Changing the Workforce More than 44% of millennials classify themselves as non-white, making them the largest and most diverse generation in American history. They define diversity differently than previous generations, seeing it as a mix of unique identities, experiences and ideas rather than solely based on race and gender. Gen Xers and baby boomers are more likely to focus on representation and equal opportunities while millennials focus on teamwork and creating inclusive environments. Millennials believe that diversity and inclusion programs improve economic opportunities and outcomes to encourage individualism, collaboration and innovation. To attract and retain millennial talent, organizations must demonstrate a commitment to creating inclusive work environments.

What Makes a Leader Inclusive? Thoughtful organizational missions, policies and practices are essential for inclusivity, but it ultimately comes down to individual leaders. Managers’ words and actions have the most impact on employees. People who feel genuinely included collaborate more effectively and are more inclined to share ideas and opinions. Research by Deloitte University found that inclusive leaders share six core traits: 1. Visible commitment: They talk about their commitment to diversity, take real action to challenge the status quo and hold others accountable to make inclusion a priority. 2. Humility: Inclusive leaders are humble and admit when they don’t know something or have made a mistake, creating space for others to contribute freely without fear of being wrong. 3. Awareness of bias: They show personal awareness and openness to feedback about their blind spots. 4. Curiosity about others: These leaders are described as open-minded, good listeners that enjoy learning about others and can demonstrate empathy.

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5. Cultural intelligence: They are sensitive to cultural differences and adapt to accommodate and include them. 6. Effective collaboration: Inclusive leaders empower teams by encouraging diversity of thought, psychological safety and team cohesion.

How to Address Bias in Hiring Practices Objective hiring practices are essential for creating diverse and inclusive workplaces. These simple changes can address biases in recruiting: • Set firm goals for a diverse candidate pool. If the organization is not attracting a diverse group of applicants, they should look closely at the job description and their overall reputation as an employer. • Use blind applications in the candidate review process. One study found that, when companies used blind applications, a woman was 25 to 46% more likely to be hired. Use a special software or simply a black marker to hide identifying information like names, age or gender from resumes before the hiring team reviews applications. • Limit referral hiring. It is easy to fall into the affinity bias trap when relying on referrals. Referred candidates are usually from a common social circle and likely look, speak and think like the hiring team, decreasing the chances of building a diverse workforce. • Standardize interview questions. Unstructured interviews are unreliable for predicting success. Using standardized questions and an interview scorecard minimizes bias and allows the interviewer to compare candidates objectively.

Equalize Access to Leadership Access to company leadership must be driven by business demands and the team’s needs rather than what employees want or expect. Some feel more comfortable asking for their boss’s time than others, often for

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cultural reasons. Inclusive managers make an effort to reach out to every employee to ensure they are comfortable asking for time when they need it. They encourage quieter team members to contribute by asking probing questions, and they refrain from holding meetings outside of business hours. After-hours meetings are difficult for caregivers, students and people with demanding personal lives – providing an unfair advantage to anyone with fewer outside commitments.

Addressing Bias Through Development Managers can improve inclusivity in their teams through the thoughtful development of employees. Creating clear, documented evaluation criteria for performance evaluations is essential. Focus on performance – not potential – and distinguish personality traits from skills to prevent assessments from becoming about employees’ likeability, which could be attributed to unconscious bias. It also avoids vague evaluations that don’t help employees improve and grow. Organizations can also set clear policies regarding promotions and pay raises and share them with all employees. Transparency about staffing and salary decisions reduces pay disparities. Quality anti-bias training and leadership development can give leaders the

tools they need to create an inclusive workplace. Author of “Making Diversity a Competitive Advantage,” Dr. Tyrone Holmes, tells us that employee development should “help individuals develop the skills they need to effectively communicate, resolve conflict, and solve problems in diverse settings. Such skills include the ability to communicate across cultural differences, the ability to resolve diversity-based conflicts, the ability to provide coaching and mentoring for a diverse range of employees, and the ability to contribute to the creation of culturally inclusive environments.”

The Time for Change is Now The world is facing challenges that require effective leaders and teams. Leaders must examine their own unconscious bias and take ownership of their role in creating a more equitable world. Leaders that face today’s challenges with humility and curiosity while committing to meaningful change will build diverse, high-performing teams that are well-positioned to thrive in the future. Emily Hastings writes for Crestcom International, a trusted leadership development partner that transforms managers into great leaders with a resultsdriven approach. Email Emily.

Inclusivity Improves Organizational Performance There are many types of bias: gender bias, racial bias, confirmation bias, age bias and more. Improving diversity and inclusion at work is not only the right thing to do but is also good for an organization’s overall performance. A McKinsey & Company study revealed that gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform competitors and ethnically diverse companies outperform others by 35%. Highly inclusive companies see 1.4 times more revenue than similar organizations. However, 57% of employees say they believe their companies should improve diversity in their workforce, and nearly 25% of employees report they have experienced discrimination in their current workplace. Workers are expecting more progress from the companies that employ them.

Raising the Bar on Diversity Training By Andrew Rawson

think and act inclusively — whether interacting in-person, online or on the phone. Training should challenge learners’ decision-making with realistic scenarios that depict different aspects of inclusive and non-inclusive behaviors, showing that DEI goes beyond race and gender and encompasses abilities, age, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, veteran status, diversity of thought and other characteristics.

Training should challenge learners’ decision-making with realistic scenarios.

Ensure content is relevant, realistic and thought provoking

Just as the #MeToo movement sparked a demand for new approaches to sexual harassment training, the recent social and racial justice movement has raised expectations for diversity training. While every organization is different, learning and development (L&D) leaders are recognizing the need for diversity training to provide relevant, engaging learning experiences that address topics ranging from combatting systemic racism to cultivating allyship. L&D leaders also understand that diversity training isn’t a one-time event. It should be an ongoing, year-long program that is part of a multipronged strategy to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Training should also be aligned with the organization’s values and woven into policies, practices, processes and operations. A strong DEI culture benefits everyone and can result in more innovation, higher

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employee engagement and retention, improved decision making, and enhanced brand reputation. In a 2020 McKinsey report on workplace diversity found that “diverse teams are more innovative — stronger at anticipating shifts in consumer needs and consumption patterns that make new products and services possible, potentially generating a competitive edge.” By fostering a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture for employees at every level, diversity training can be a key component in DEI initiatives. Effective diversity training should:

Focus on behaviors Key to raising awareness and changing attitudes is deepening learners’ understanding of the behaviors that help or hinder DEI. Behavior-based training focuses on what it means to

To motivate positive behaviors and engage learners, training should be relevant to their work environments and experiences. Tailoring content to the organization’s industry, culture and even specific job functions adds authenticity and relevancy — important factors in any DEI initiative. Integrating video storytelling is one of the most effective ways to foster emotional connections with learners by dramatizing how concepts play out in the real world. Video storytelling can be used throughout the year to complement ongoing training and DEI efforts. For example, sending out short videos on a specific topic – such as racial identity or the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on minority groups – to address employee concerns or situations that arise. Given the evolving issues impacting the workplace, diversity training must evolve, too, to keep pace with changes inside and outside the organization. Further, as more training moves from onsite to online, employees want a highquality mobile training experience that is available to them 24/7 on any device and in multiple languages.

Raise awareness of conscious and unconscious bias Reducing bias has become one of the central issues to improving DEI. Everyone has biases — conscious and unconscious; it’s the way the brain works. While unconscious and implicit biases can’t be eliminated entirely, training helps individuals understand why these biases occur, how to recognize common forms of bias, and what they can do to manage and minimize these assumptions. If not actively managed, unconscious bias poses a serious barrier to DEI efforts and can lead to potentially discriminatory decisions regarding who to hire, promote or lead a project.

Address the nuances of microaggressions Telling a Black coworker, “You’re so articulate,” or ignoring the ideas of women in meetings led by men are examples of microaggressions — subtle slights, snubs or insults that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages about someone based on their race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation or other characteristic. Whether intentional or unintentional, when microaggressions persist, people on the receiving end may

feel judged, excluded, unwelcome and unsafe, which can affect their mental and physical health, engagement, morale, and overall productivity. Through training, employees can learn how to recognize microaggressions and respond in constructive ways. The aim is to make employees more aware of and sensitive to the impact of microaggressions on members of marginalized groups – not to make people feel defensive or guilty.

Offer actionable insights on empathy, compassion and allyship The current focus on soft skills corresponds with an emphasis on empathy, compassion and allyship to create a more welcoming, inclusive workplace. Training employees on the benefits of empathy and allyship reinforces the organization’s commitment to inclusion and employees’ psychological and physical well-being. Especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to fuel feelings of isolation and burnout, allies can help foster a sense of belonging by checking in regularly with marginalized employees, listening to their concerns, and offering guidance on career growth and opportunities. Allyship can be expressed in many ways — from inviting

Developing a Comprehensive DEI Strategy The heightened focus on diversity training spurred by last year’s movement for social and racial justice has created an opportunity for L&D leaders to make diversity training more modern, interactive and relevant for an increasingly multicultural, multigenerational workforce. As part of a comprehensive strategy to improve DEI, behavior-based training can be a valuable tool to showcase the benefits of an inclusive workplace and motivate employees with practical insights and actions to address barriers and blind spots. + Make diversity training part of a multipronged DEI strategy.

+ Raise awareness of conscious and unconscious bias.

+ Align training with the organization’s values, priorities, policies, processes and practices.

+ Address the nuances of microaggressions.

+ Focus on behaviors. + Ensure content is relevant, realistic and thought provoking.

+ Offer actionable insights to foster empathy, compassion and allyship. + Survey learners.

different people to lunch or a virtual coffee break to speaking up against toxic behavior and having honest conversations about racism, discrimination and bias.

The key to raising awareness is deepening learners’ understanding of the behaviors that help or hinder DEI.

Survey learners Along with tracking and analyzing data on DEI initiatives, surveying employees on their training experiences can provide valuable feedback and uncover other topics and issues to address in continued DEI-related efforts. Asking employees how they felt about the training and whether it answered their questions and provided actionable steps sends a message that the organization cares about their opinions and ideas.

Window into an evolving workplace One of the challenges for L&D and human resources leaders in 2021 and beyond is making DEI training and other initiatives engaging and effective for a multicultural, multigenerational workforce. As part of a holistic strategy, and with the support of senior leadership, behavior-based diversity training opens a window to an evolving workplace culture in which marginalized and underrepresented groups are encouraged to participate, contribute, lead and succeed. Andrew Rawson is the chief learning officer and co-founder of Traliant, an innovator in online workplace compliance training, including diversity training, sexual harassment prevention training and other essential topics to help organizations create a respectful, inclusive workplace culture. Email Andrew.

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Now more than ever, we need to connect authentically to thrive in our work environments, yet we wrestle with myriad issues that complicate and hinder our efforts. A global pandemic made many holidays solitary affairs and required homebound employees to adjust to new ways of working. Nationwide protests against police brutality reminded us that many feel unsafe, and civil unrest made public our deepest divides. Many of us are starved for ways to experience feelings of belonging and trust. And, as people bring that longing, wariness and fear to their work, our diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts are more important than ever. How can we create community as we acknowledge so many hard truths along the path to our new normal? How can we build bridges of trust when people are on edge? How can we confront these issues — especially given the hurdles we face? The answer lies in meaningful conversations.

Meaningful Conversations Are at the Center of Connection On the surface, meaningful conversations might sound like big exchanges surrounding an organization’s culture. They aren’t. Meaningful conversations are a series of moments tackling deeper issues, fueled by the desire to do the emotional work necessary to make the workplace more personal. Inclusion demands that we deepen our sense of community through authentic self-expression and commitment to one another. Although organizations should approach these conversations

with urgency, we must keep in mind that the process of engaging in constructive, open dialogue is ongoing. The good news is that truly meaningful conversations can be encouraged not only in person but in virtual settings as well.

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More resilient teams and team members. Meaningful conversations encourage us to consider our experiences and perceptions beyond the checkboxes used to label our identities. When we dig deep to find ways to connect — by seeking to understand each other’s differences and similarities and by asking questions and challenging assumptions — we find commonalities. We connect.

Foster Everyday Conversations for a Worthy Challenge Some people avoid deeper conversations in the workplace for fear of bringing up historically off-limits topics. Yet, if those people could be convinced of the merits of these efforts, their attempts could lead to a healthier work environment while yielding dramatic results for the bottom line. Studies show that, when we effectively equip managers to facilitate open dialogue and foster psychological safety, organizations can realize a 27% reduction in turnover, a 40% reduction in safety incidents and a 12% increase in productivity. It takes time, skill and intention to promote compassionate, inclusive and respectful interactions and foster connection through empathetic conversations. However, in the end, it’s worth it to achieve: Increased individual self-awareness for employees.

Best Practices for a Culture of Conversations that Matter As companies aim for more open, direct dialogue, they can follow several guiding principles to create an environment of transparency and curiosity. Whether teams are co-located or remote, following these best practices will foster conversations that build cohesion.

Set the tone — and role model from the top.

Build trust with your employees and partners by setting high standards for your leadership’s commitment to openness. Leaders must model the company’s values and showcase acceptable behaviors. Listening, responding to feedback and committing to participate in open dialogue are requirements.

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If employees never see or hear their leadership teams openly creating an environment for meaningful discussions, it will never cascade down. Setting precedent, from the C-suite in particular, is critical to both illustrate and inspire. Activities as simple as how executives behave and respond during company town halls, panels and other meetings set the standard of transparency for employees. Moving an organization towards deeper dialogue requires deeper leaders. Without role models, employees will be hesitant to engage.

Make it safe for everyone to participate in vulnerable conversations.

the goal by grounding conversations in empathy and creating welcoming spaces. Include partners from diverse backgrounds when selecting the content, setting and participants. Call on subject matter experts for assistance who can share tips and resources on facilitating formal discussions, establishing ground rules and reaping the benefits of curiosity. Employees and partners have spent much of the past year isolated from their communities. Consider that the workplace may be the only source of socialization, particularly for the immunocompromised or those with mobility issues. Creating opportunities for connection not only promotes inclusion but also has significant impacts on wellness.

Some voices won’t be heard without help, but they’re needed. Establish and honor a commitment to an equitable workplace by acknowledging that challenge. Appreciate that all employees’ lived experiences contribute value to our organizations; at the same time, remember that those differences may limit their ability or willingness to contribute opinions. We can make conversations more collaborative by centering and amplifying marginalized voices. For example, D&I topics like bias, privilege and code-switching remain taboo in many sectors, and it will take time for every team member to feel comfortable enough to open up about their own experiences at work. We can’t shy away from difficult topics, so we invite hard conversations by creating opportunities dedicated to these areas. This will give employees permission to share and listen. These efforts are branded in some organizations as “culture convos” or “diversity dialogues” but can also occur informally at the start of team meetings or in one-on-ones. Managers, regardless of expertise, often worry about taking on this agenda. They’re concerned they don’t know enough to avoid a negative experience while managing an exchange of views. Keep your employees at the center of

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Assess and measure success as you go.

Meaningful conversations require that we frequently check in with employees, inviting them to evaluate and share how our actions help or hinder an inclusive workplace. Demonstrate receptiveness to feedback by ensuring there are multiple ways to listen and receive input from all levels of the organization. Stay connected to employee resource groups (ERGs). As powerful networks, they provide additional opportunities and safe spaces where people can voice their needs. ERGs are a safe place to make opinions and feelings known, so empower them and turn to them.

Pulse checks, engagement surveys and even the content of the conversations offer a glimpse into how employees are increasing in their own self-awareness and understanding of the company’s goals. Use data to reflect on your organization’s growth. Identify a set of key metrics to track, such as the number of attendees in formal sessions, participant ease expressing opinions or feeling heard, or self-expressed growth or new learning.

Ferrara’s Day of D&I Series Opened Up New Conversations Ferrara is one year into its formal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Our diversity and inclusion mission is to foster diversity and empower all employees to authentically share and grow together. We see this as a way to propel our business forward and to establish an inclusive culture where collaborative minds unite. Meaningful conversations form the core of every initiative. At the beginning of our D&I journey, we brought employees together to share their ideas. This started with listening to how the company, leaders and teams were described. We listened for bright spots and for stones that needed to be turned over. This established our mission, priorities and goals. In fact, once the goals were established, employees saw their ideas in the plans. Early on, they knew we heard them and that sharing mattered. In 2020, we continued to foster a culture of listening, sharing and conversation with a series branded “Day of” events. The first, a “Day of Understanding,” offered a full day focused on talks around diversity and inclusion, led by our CEO and ERGs. ERG members facilitated small group and classroom sessions on bias, code switching and privilege, inviting attendees to share personal stories. Executives joined panels and offered deeply personal examples from their careers and home lives.

The success of the event led to its continuation, a “Day of Solidarity,’’ hosted on Juneteenth by our Black ERG, and a “Day of Wellness” in October in observance of World Mental Health Day, led by our emerging professionals group. Both events followed the format of rich breakout discussions on topics like race, mental wellness, thriving during the pandemic and equity. While there’s no correct way to start, these themes are just a few examples of the conversations that opened doors to self-reflection and camaraderie among peers. As we faced new uncertainties and addressed systemic racism in earnest, we encouraged managers to lead group calls on current events. This involved members of our executive team and other leaders hosting meetings to discuss how team members were processing situations, how to take action as individuals, how to provide support to one another and how to embrace our role as corporate citizens.

emotional and social gaps and build a bridge with lasting benefits. Confronting the systems and barriers that have downplayed our sense of openness at work is a task we must face together. With role modeling, encouragement and an organization’s willingness to weave narratives into the corporate culture, we can improve the quality of work and life for all. Natasha Miller Williams is head of diversity and inclusion at Ferrara and oversees the strategic development and implementation of the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. She is on the editorial board of Training Industry Magazine and lives in the Chicago area with her husband and sons. Email Natasha.

We gathered data to measure employees’ self-awareness from engaging in these discussions. From our very first “Day of’’ event in February to the most recent, we’ve gone from just over 50% of employees describing their self-awareness around D&I as “at least progressing” to 100% reporting they are “progressing or excellent” in their own self-awareness around D&I following the October event.

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Leading with

AUTHENTICITY in a Hybrid World BY S C O T T S I M M O N S

Over the last decade or so, many organizations have adopted hybrid models for in-office and remote work. In some cases, this meant one or two employees worked from home a few days a week. In other instances, company-wide policies enabled regular telecommuting for everyone. However, until February 2020, remote work was still considered the exception – not the rule. As such, most management

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strategies still centered on the inperson model. COVID disrupted this entirely. In May 2020, Gallup reported that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. workforce was working from home. By August, one in four employees was still working entirely remotely, and a majority of those employees have said they’d like to stay remote. Even those returning to

the office likely won’t be there full time; nearly 80% of top executives expect employees to spend at least a quarter of their time working from home in the future. This in-and-out-of-office blend presents a whole host of new workforce challenges. Now that they can no longer rely on the in-person model of operating, companies have had

to reinvent routine tasks. Recruiting, hiring and onboarding are all being reimagined. New hires must somehow be assimilated into a workforce culture that, overnight, moved out of the office and into people’s homes. And, no one is feeling this pressure more acutely than leaders and managers. How do you develop and manage employees remotely, have difficult conversations over web camera, and ensure that geographically distributed teams are collaborating and contributing successfully and equitably? There is no single answer to these questions. However, the one thing all solutions have in common is effective, authentic communication.

Communication is hard. Hybrid communication is harder. Communication is essential to a functioning workplace. According to a national survey by Pew Research Center, 85% of people believe communications skills are “extremely” or “very” important to be successful in today’s economy, and that’s from a year when most employees were still in their offices. Communication is important, but it’s even more critical in a hybrid workforce. Managers risk falling prey to the “out of sight, out of mind” mindset. It feels natural to check in with an employee when you bump into them in the kitchen or cafeteria; it’s much harder to conduct that spontaneous interaction when the person is miles or time zones away. Employees often experience a similar problem: It can feel much easier to troubleshoot a small issue when they can pop into their manager’s office for a quick chat than when trying to describe it over email or scheduling a meeting to resolve something minor. Furthermore, there are issues of teambuilding and collaboration to consider. For example, you may have a team meeting scheduled, and one

employee is working remotely. To include them, you dial them in on speakerphone. Then, you and your team conduct the meeting and – at the very end – turn to the speakerphone and ask, “Okay, do you have anything else to add?”

This sort of environment can quickly create an in- and out-group dynamic, with remote employees feeling overlooked or even punished for not being in the office. If left unchecked, dissatisfaction can turn into disengagement, which will result in loss of productivity or even loss of the employees themselves. Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate these communication issues and maintain a healthy, inclusive and cooperative culture among your teams no matter where members are based. More importantly, you – as a leader within your company – are the one who can execute these strategies. In fact, they all start with you.

Be present by eliminating distractions. Being present is more than just paying attention. When you are fully present, you emanate presence. Your presence is a combination of your focused attention and who you are at the core of your being. It works to create an emotional and intellectual connection with those around you. Why is this important? It’s key to building trust and motivation. Active listening is step one, but the nature of virtual communication requires some adjustment. For instance, when you are on a video call, it’s much easier to get distracted by an email alert or other pop-up. So, turn these off! In the office, you would normally use body language, such as leaning in and establishing eye contact, to indicate your engagement with whoever is speaking. However, on most video calls, all anyone can see is your head – making eye contact especially crucial. To make eye contact with someone on the other end of a video call, you want your eyes to be focused on a point

Questions to Ask Yourself When Leading Hybrid Teams Am I staying present in all of my interactions, in-person and remote? Am I checking in with my employees enough and using the most effective mediums to do so? What are the best ways to keep my people engaged with one another, with the work at hand and with me? What tools do I have to make everyone feel more connected?

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as close to your computer or phone’s camera as possible. Depending on the position of that camera, this may mean looking directly at the camera rather than at the screen. However, if you’re working on a laptop, positioning the video-conferencing window at the top and center of the monitor should suffice.

Left unchecked, this sort of behavior can destroy camaraderie between team members, ruining relationships and even careers. That’s why it’s crucial to help your team shift toward a hybrid mindset and way of collaborating.

Emphasize inclusion. Don’t leave it up to chance. In a hybrid environment where some people are in the office while others video conference in, on-screen employees are often forgotten and have a harder time participating in the conversation. One way to get around this is to have everyone dial in “remotely.” It might seem awkward to have employees video conferencing while sitting at adjacent desks, but conducting the meeting virtually puts everyone on a more level playing field. By having everyone video conference in, you can set the same expectations of every participant regarding how they should engage in the call. Unfortunately, this solution still doesn’t fix the issue of water cooler conversations. For instance, let’s say six colleagues meet virtually to prepare an important presentation; four are in the office, and two are at home. When the meeting is over, the four in-office employees go to lunch together and finish the presentation — effectively excluding the two remote employees.

Start by providing clear expectations. For example, all work-related conversations must be held via agreedupon communication channels. Then, model the behaviors you want your reports to display. Stop someone when they drop by your office to chat and ask whether this needs to be communicated to others on the team. If so, how do they intend to do that? Finally, enforce equitable communication with appropriate rewards and consequences. It’s hard work to change a culture, but it’s necessary work. The end result will be a more cohesive and truly inclusive workplace.

Create moments to connect. When you can’t just grab someone for a quick coffee, you have to find other ways to connect with them on a personal level. Virtual happy hours are a popular

way to build comradery, and –with a little more effort – you can host virtual talent show or trivia night to help your team, department or organization bond. In one-on-one conversations, try asking less predictable questions to elicit a more personal response. A simple question like “What are you doing for fun these days?” can get a discussion going. And, instead of simply asking how employees are doing, ask employees to use an animal or weather comparison to describe how they’re feeling. “I’m feeling like a heavy rain cloud,” or, “I feel like an anxious puppy,” is far more descriptive than, “I’m fine.”

Focus on what’s achievable for you. Virtual happy hours and animal metaphor questions are all great if they fit with your leadership style. But, opening up lines of communication with your reports doesn’t need to be a big production; it can be as simple as holding open office hours and inviting folks to drop in to ask a question or just catch up. The key is finding ways to communicate that are congruent with who you are as a person and as a leader. At the end of the day, you have to find methods that are natural and sustainable for you. That is how you will be the most effective in making the hybrid workplace work for your organization. Scott Simmons is the CEO of Ariel. He brings more than 20 years of experience leading sales teams and managing complex client relationships to his role. Email Scott.

Executive Summary Hybrid workforces are here to stay, so what does it take to successfully lead a dispersed team? First and foremost, communication. By being present, intentional, creative and authentic in both in-person and virtual interactions, leaders can keep their reports engaged and build a culture of enthusiastic collaboration.

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CASEBOOK

ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH AS A TOOL FOR CREATING TRANSFORMATIVE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES BY CHARMAINE UTZ AND JENNIFER TUCKER-TATLOW

The Academy for Professional Excellence, a project of San Diego State University School of Social Work, is driven by its mission to provide exceptional learning and workforce development for the transformation of individuals, organizations and communities. The Academy provides over 80,000 learning experiences annually to the health and human services community in Southern California and beyond. Over the last quarter century, it has become increasingly evident that, in order to achieve sustainable change in employee behaviors and practices, an organization’s culture must support employee growth and well-being. As the Academy has undergone periods of rapid growth and change, leadership has been intentional in developing and implementing a framework to define and depict the strategies and processes present throughout the course of an employees’ journey – including recruiting, onboarding, developing, retaining and separating. The I3 framework is designed to tell the story of how the organization inquires, inspires and impacts employees. Agency leaders want to ensure that the promise made to create experiences that are transformative in heart, mind and practice applies to both staff and stakeholders. Therefore, leadership invests a great deal of time and energy into the creation of an innovative work environment that promotes staff wellbeing and that embraces the strengths

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of its diverse staff. This, in turn, enhances the employee experience and the quality of services being delivered. The Academy uses the I3 framework to ensure staff are connected to its mission, purpose and core values and understand how these guide interactions with partners and co-workers. The strategies encompassed in the I3 framework are designed to cultivate genuine connections among staff, beginning with a welcoming and inclusive interview process. THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE The employee experience begins with strategies intentionally designed for recruiting candidates who resonate with the organization’s mission, purpose and values. New employees are quickly grounded in the organization’s core ideology through a comprehensive and personalized onboarding process. By regularly communicating, modeling and reinforcing the organization’s mission and core values, it is possible to attract and retain staff who uphold them on a daily basis. A learning culture, in which developing employees is prioritized, is fundamental to the organization’s operation. By inquiring with humility, opportunities to be involved in strategic planning and creative problem solving are made available to staff, enhancing service delivery and encouraging personal and professional growth. Employees are engaged in a variety

of feedback mechanisms that drive the organization’s work, and steps are taken to acknowledge ways in which staff members’ efforts contribute to the Academy’s mission, vision and values. This has proven essential to retaining employees. The process of separating from the organization is equally valuable to the employee journey. When holding employees accountable to the agency’s core values, some may choose to leave the organization. At that juncture, we work with those employees to explore growth and development opportunities outside of the agency. Exit interviews are conducted to hear about the employee’s experiences, and feedback is used to inform improvement to the organizational culture and processes. MEANINGFUL IMPACT Implementation of strategies is regularly monitored and assessed for effectiveness. An internal analysis is routinely conducted and continues to reveal positive results – such as evidence of genuine connections among staff through shared commitment to one another and their work, increased levels of innovation, and higher retention rates. In addition to emergent themes, the impact of the I3 framework can be seen in sentiments shared by employees: “Our team can see the parallels between the work we do to support

health and human service leaders who are building healthy organizations and the work our agency does to provide excellent services and maintain good working relationships characterized by trust.” The Academy has conducted similar assessments with its customers and found that the employee experience is connected to quality service provision. This was true across various workforce development modalities, including training facilitation, coaching and culturally responsive practices. Feedback from customers often identifies factors that can be traced back to strategies in the I3 framework and the Academy’s core values, as reflected in words shared by a health and human service executive leader: “I have undoubtedly been inspired to take my leadership efforts and the evolution of my organization to the next level! Each of their staff behaves with integrity. They engage; they follow up; they inquire; they lift one’s thinking. As a result, I’m able to inspire innovation, courageous leadership and collaboration.” ALIGNING MISSION, VISION AND VALUES The core of this framework upholds a recognition that organizational health is a tool for aligning around a shared mission, vision and values, which can lead to increased creativity and

innovation. Companies perform better when employee well-being is prioritized and seen as the vehicle for optimal service delivery. The following are ways organizations can make intentional shifts in practice to create transformative learning experiences and workforce development opportunities.

COMPANIES PERFORM BETTER WHEN EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING IS PRIORITIZED.

Connect employees to the mission, vision and values at recruitment and have multiple measures in place to allow for course correction and feedback to enhance the organization’s approach. Explore that connection throughout all points of the employee experience, from onboarding to separation. For example, retention strategies may include employing evidence-based supervision practices, cross-program committees or creative feedback opportunities. Measurement may include employee engagement survey results, staff turnover, use of sick and vacation time, and attendance at events. Establish inquiry methods that include feedback from service delivery recipients and provide transparent follow up regarding changes made based on their

feedback. It can enhance the relationship between your organization and your client base, as well as inspire innovation. Make your core values the building blocks of your organizational culture. Think about shifting away from hiring based on culture “fit” to culture “add” to match personal values to company values. Ensure leaders understand the importance of treating employees as individuals, and give them flexibility to support the agency’s mission. Use of open and transparent communication, followed by responses to expressed needs and ideas can deepen the employee’s connection to their work. Go into this process with the acceptance that you are on a journey. Facilitate ongoing inquiry to inform essential course corrections. Organizational health is not a destination; it’s a multifaceted practice used to change the hearts and minds of your employees and customers. It’s about rethinking how we connect and engage with each other to inspire meaningful experiences – thus enhancing deliverables. Charmaine Utz is the workforce development coordinator at the Academy for Professional Excellence, where she develops and coordinates training curriculum in partnership with child welfare stakeholders. Jennifer TuckerTatlow is the chief executive officer of the Academy for Professional Excellence. Email the authors.

EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK CONNECTS BACK TO THE ORGANIZATION’S PROMISE PROMISE “We create experiences that transform the heart, mind and practice.” EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK “My work changes hearts, minds and practice by allowing me to share my life experiences with the hope that training participants will experience a heart connection and move forward in their work with the efforts of making a healthy impact on families.”

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At our last SweetRush All Hands Meeting, the topic was

Love @ Work.

There’s a reason we deliver the most effective, most engaging learning that connects with learners, and it starts with love and caring. We’re trusted by so many of your peers, and if you have a challenge, we’d love to show you how we can help.

Check out our recent eBook on virtual training and learn more about how can we help you. Inside, we highlight five projects: • Rapid Development with NETEC • The Design Thinking Revolution with the NYSPCC and CoDesign™ • Diversity & Inclusion with UCSF • Creative Storytelling & Scenario-Based Learning with SHRM • Virtual Learning Journey with Pfizer

SCAN TO DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK OR GO TO http://bit.ly/SRVirtualTraining

WRITE CALL READ

info@sweetrush.com 415.647.1956 www.sweetrush.com

JULIE WINKLE GIULIONI

PERFORMANCE MATTERS

LEARNING SILVER LINING: HOW THE PANDEMIC MIGHT TEACH US TO BALANCE TEMPERAMENTAL NEEDS The swift and exponential growth of digital learning adoption over the past year has spotlighted a frequently overlooked dimension of diversity: Temperament. Tendencies for extroversion and introversion have been largely overlooked by organizations in an effort to offer expeditious solutions to meet the needs of a broad population. Yet, one silver lining of the workplace shifts that COVID-19 ushered in is a new appreciation for temperamental differences and strategies for ensuring more inclusive learning experiences for all. We understand that the traditional, faceto-face learning that has permeated the workplace for decades frequently favors extroverts. However, those live workshops that work well for learners energized by interacting with others can have the opposite effect on the 25 to 40% of the population that characterizes itself as introverted. For introverts, traditional training settings can feel exhausting. They place considerable demands on those who learn better – at least initially – in the privacy of their own minds. They also require the kinds of spontaneous interactions and discussions that enable those who thrive on external processing to learn more easily and enjoyably. Unfortunately, these conditions can compromise learning experiences for introverts, requiring them to invest additional time and energy to internalize information and translate it into learning. Given what we know now about how introverts process information, I could kick myself for having trained so many

facilitators on how to “draw out the less vocal learners.” With the best of intentions, I developed a whole range of subtle strategies for engaging quiet participants in the conversation. And yet, my efforts to be inclusive were further excluding a significant portion of attendees and totally disrupting their learning.

FOR INTROVERTS, TRADITIONAL TRAINING SETTINGS CAN FEEL EXHAUSTING. Over the past several years, the L&D industry has gradually shifted its approaches and methods. Then, last year, we experienced a dramatic acceleration of change and disruption in response to the pandemic and its implications for the workplace. Nearly overnight, virtual instructor-led experiences became the norm, and asynchronous instruction exploded with more digital solutions than ever. Remember the jokes early on during the pandemic? “Check on your extroverted friends; they’re not doing well.” Your introverted friends, on the other hand, were likely doing better, and they may have even been learning better. Many of the creative training methods employed over the past year have consequently favored more introverted learners. For many, it might only seem fair for the pendulum to linger on the quiet learners’ side for a bit. However, the real opportunity for L&D professionals is to discover methods to even the playing

field for extroverts and introverts alike. For example: • Many organizations are considering offering their solutions via various modalities following the pandemic. For instance, perhaps it makes sense to continue to offer the digital version of a workshop to dispersed or busy learners alongside the face-to-face option. The investments in both have already been made. Why not let learners choose which serves them best? • Self-directed, self-paced learning is increasingly being married with study and discussion groups. This allows both introverted and extroverted learners to internalize content in a way that suits their learning styles while building community and a culture of development. • Coaching, both human- and artificial intelligence-enabled, is growing by leaps and bounds for learning and follow-up. It’s an ideal next step for extroverts who benefit from verbal processing, and it’s considerably less taxing than group-based learning for introverts. The past months of struggle have brought a tremendous opportunity. Rather than going back to old ways that inadvertently favored some learners over others, learning leaders can use this time for a fundamental reset as we choose to be intentional about inclusion. Julie Winkle Giulioni has 25 years of experience working with organizations worldwide to improve performance through learning. Email Julie.

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SRINI PIL LAY, M.D.

SCIENCE OF LEARNING

HOW L&D CAN AVOID NAÏVE INTERVENTIONS TO CREATE AN EQUITABLE WORKFORCE We live in a world that naively attempts to understand its surroundings by dividing things into categories. Sometimes categories can help, like when you’re shopping at the supermarket. But, oftentimes, they hurt. This can be particularly harmful when learning and development (L&D) preemptively or reflexively reacts to current events and crises. With the human brain containing billions of neurons and bridging trillions of connections, L&D could have a field day finding and defining categories. There are an overwhelming number of important and diverse categories of thinking, behavior and mindsets. Recent studies of the brain have demonstrated that the more categories you activate simultaneously, the more intelligent your solutions are likely to be. The trouble is we’re always leaving some category out, so L&D is better off working with unifying principles than generating quick, band-aid solutions that will likely receive backlash. Below are some ideas to consider when designing learning in the pursuit of an equitable workplace.

EMPLOYEES WANT TO FEEL AND BE EMPOWERED, LOVED AND RESPECTED. WHAT IS MORE FUNDAMENTAL TO YOUR WORKFORCE PRIORITIES? Inequality is real and must be addressed. But, simply offering

“awareness-enhancing learning” is not helpful. Your brain is not a logicdriven machine. Emotions run deep, and at some point, you run the risk of the pendulum swinging back to where it was. Rather, ask yourself what constitutes a humanized workforce? Common to most people is a desire to love and be loved; that’s what makes us human. When I work with companies, I help them design programs around personalized self-development, purpose, passion and psychological safety. These four P’s will help activate empathy toward others. You don’t want to force fairness. Sharing and kindness in the workplace is inspired by love and humanity. OFFER EMPOWERMENT AND RESPECT People who experience inequality don’t want pity. Rather, they want to feel and be empowered, loved and respected. Extensive research demonstrates that reliving experiences with and reciting narratives of victimhood and ostracization can negatively affect mental and psychological wellbeing. Focusing on inclusion means that you do not victimize employees who experience inequality. Rather, design learning so that all employees can explore their vulnerabilities, differences and strengths and be empowered to share them in a psychologically safe environment. A culture of victimhood is likely to polarize workforces. Rather, think

deeply about how you can cultivate a culture of possibility. AVOID ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL IMPLICIT BIAS TRAINING In 2019, Fitzgerald and colleagues demonstrated that not all implicit bias training works. Training that focuses on contradicting stereotypes rather than perpetuating them by focusing on difference achieves more effective outcomes. Additionally, in 2021, Stone and colleagues demonstrated that certain populations and groups may respond differently to implicit bias training. Psychoanalysts have spent years helping people realize unconscious obstacles and biases. Rather than offering off-the-shelf implicit bias training, consider the agility and unity that is necessary in your organization to enable constant course correction and the creation of safe spaces to fail, learn and forgive. If L&D truly wants to have an ethos of equity, it must embrace complexity and courage and avoid oversimplified discussions if workforces are to feel authentically and entirely welcomed. Dr. Srini Pillay is the CEO of  NeuroBusiness  Group. He is a Harvard trained psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and on the Consortium for Learning Innovation at McKinsey & Company. He is also the author of, “Tinker Dabble Doodle Try: Unlock the Power of the Unfocused Mind.” Email Srini.

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MICHELLE EGGLESTON SCHWARTZ

NORMALIZING MENTAL HEALTH CONVERSATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE

Despite growing awareness and support, mental health is still a taboo topic. There is a stigma surrounding mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, trauma and burnout, leading many to avoid discussing such topics in the workplace. However, mental health problems have an impact on business directly through increased absenteeism, accidents and employee turnover, as well as decreased productivity and performance. The pandemic has placed added stress on employees, magnifying the mental health challenges many employees were already experiencing. From lacking in childcare and financial security to coping with isolation and burnout, employees are struggling. With the boundaries between work and home blurring, and work-life balance becoming nonexistent – leaders play an important role in supporting employees during this challenging time. Leaders cannot ignore the impact the pandemic is having on their employees, and its implications are likely to persist for some time. Creating an inclusive workplace culture that promotes open and honest conversations regarding employee wellness are needed to destigmatize mental health. But, to truly make an impact in the workplace, leaders need to start speaking up. CREATING MORE HONEST CONVERSATIONS A leader’s job is to support their employees during both good and challenging times. Normalizing mental health conversations requires leaders to show vulnerability and lead by example, which is not always

easy. By being honest about your own mental health struggles, leaders can help employees feel more comfortable talking about their own challenges. Regular one-on-one meetings are a great place to start. Leaders must move beyond simply asking, “How are you?” Questions should be more specific to allow employees to discuss the support and resources they need during this time. Leaders must actively listen with the intent to understand. It’s perfectly fine if employees do not want to share. The important thing is for employees to realize that they can express how they’re feeling without fear of discrimination or judgement.

LEADERS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SUPPORTING EMPLOYEES DURING THIS CHALLENGING TIME. Organizations can provide additional opportunities for employees to discuss and support their mental health, including employee resource groups, surveys, teambuilding activities, or internal communication channels and forums. Providing these outlets for employees to connect with their peers can create a sense of belonging that can have a positive impact on employee morale, engagement and performance. Cultivating a culture of belonging requires psychological safety: the

ability to make a contribution without fear of being ridiculed or rejected. We need employees to be more aware of the subtle – and often unintentional – ways they can create exclusion in their daily interactions. HOW TRAINING CAN HELP Training can help to develop effective soft skills, such as empathy, vulnerability, compassion and active listening. Having established soft skills, commonly known as people skills, enables employees and leaders to better connect with others. In fact, this is an area that needs improvement in many organizations. Training Industry research has revealed a gap in soft skills across all industries and functions. Effective soft skills are necessary in all roles, especially leadership. The pandemic has accelerated the need to close this gap to properly support employees. Beyond soft skills development, organizations should also consider training that uncovers and mitigates unconscious biases and microaggressions that can create a psychologically unsafe environment, inhibiting employees from feeling comfortable discussing mental health challenges. By investing in training, organizations are helping employees have difficult and important conversations in safe and inclusive workplace environments. Michelle Eggleston Schwartz, CPTM, is the editorial director at Training Industry, Inc. Email Michelle.

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CLOSING DEALS

MAKING EMPLOYMENT ACCESS MORE EQUITABLE WITH ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING: VOXY ENGEN ANNOUNCES SERIES A INVESTMENT BY TARYN OESCH DELONG, CPTM

In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated immigrants made up 17.4% of the total labor force. In addition, the Brookings Institute estimated in 2014 that almost 10% of working-age U.S. adults were “limited English proficient.” These workers earned 25% to 40% less than workers with English proficiency, despite the fact that most held a high school diploma and 15% held a college degree. Limited English proficiency is a barrier to employment, especially secure, wellpaying employment. Unfortunately, only 4% of U.S. adults with limited English proficiency have access to English language education, according to Dr. Katharine Nielson. Voxy EnGen, a public benefit corporation that Nielson created and incubated at Voxy Inc. while she served as its chief education officer, is working to change these statistics. Its platform aims to provide skills-based virtual English language education to workers with limited English proficiency. Earlier this year, it announced its Series A funding, valued at $6.75 million, from Rethink Education, The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, the University System of Maryland Momentum Fund, Juvo Ventures, and The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. REAL-WORLD, PERSONALIZED CONTENT Nielson believes that one of the reasons Voxy EnGen’s platform is so effective is because it teaches workers the language they need to perform and advance in their career. She says that, within months, learners develop “meaningful

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language skills” they can apply at work. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize content based on the learner’s proficiency and needs, making it more relevant and useful. Nielson believes this personalized learning is a significant advantage over traditional language education, which takes a onesize-fits-all approach. CREATING CAREER PATHWAYS Nielson says her two big goals for 2021 are to grow Voxy EnGen’s footprint across the U.S. and to “help create more career pathways in different sectors to get people into meaningful jobs.” To that end, she hopes to increase the number of learners using the platform from 7,000 to 40,000. Those meaningful career pathways are key to making employment more equitable. Learning a new language is a daunting prospect for the employee (and the employer). Nielson hopes to make English education more accessible and applicable by “start[ing] with real English.” Her content helps workers learn how to read safety training manuals, employee benefits information, help desk support messages and other materials they need on the job. Then, the platform “adapts to their needs in real time” to help them advance and grow their skills. AN “EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC RECOVERY” Voxy EnGen is launching its platform at a pivotal time for the immigrant labor force. According to a report by the U.S. Joint Economic Committee, about 20%

of workers born outside the U.S. lost their job between February and April last year. Many of the industries that were hit the hardest by the economic fallout of the pandemic, such as the hospitality and restaurant industries, have disproportionately high numbers of immigrant workers. In addition, Nielson says, immigrants “tend to be the first ones to lose jobs when something like this happens.”

MEANINGFUL CAREER PATHWAYS ARE KEY TO MAKING EMPLOYMENT MORE EQUITABLE. “We should take this opportunity to try to help these underserved populations get the job skills they need for careers with economic mobility.” Improving their English language skills, she says, gives them more opportunity for advancement and enables them to shift into new career paths. As the conversation around diversity and inclusion evolves, and we continue to see the ripple effects of the pandemic affect people in different ways, it’s more important than ever to make sure that employment access and economic mobility are equitable. Fortunately, learning and development professionals are in a great position to help do just that. Taryn Oesch DeLong is the managing editor of digital content at Training Industry, Inc. Email Taryn.

COMPANY NEWS

ACQUISITIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS Learning Technologies Group PLC (LTG), the provider of services and software for digital learning and talent management, has acquired People Development Team (PDT) Global, a leading provider of online diversity and inclusion solutions. The integration of PDT Global expands LTG’s global reach and online training and diversity consulting capabilities. Xerox Holdings Corporation, has expanded its growing software portfolio with the acquisition of CareAR, an augmented reality support platform company that provides real-time access to expertise for customers, employees and field workers. With CareAR software, remote agents and experts can virtually view scenarios and visually guide solutions using a suite of augmented reality tools.

CrunchTime! Information Systems, Inc., the leading back-of-house operations platform provider for the restaurant industry, announced its acquisition of DiscoverLink, Inc., a pioneer in restaurantfocused eLearning solutions. The combined organization will provide an end-to-end performance management platform that will enable companies to optimize all aspects of their food and beverage operations.

mPulse Mobile, the leader in conversational artificial intelligence solutions for the healthcare industry, announced its acquisition of The Big Know, a digital learning company transforming how healthcare educates consumers. The partnership combines mPulse’s proven ability to reach and engage vital audiences with The Big Know’s learning expertise and rich media health education experiences.

MindEdge Learning, an education technology firm, announced its acquisition of Acuity Institute, a global leader in operational excellence training, coaching and consulting solutions. With the acquisition of Acuity Institute, MindEdge Learning will expand its footprint in all aspects of online learning and add to its existing portfolio of customized training.

HSI, a leader in environmental health and safety and workforce development software, training and compliance solutions, announced it has acquired leading eLearning provider ej4. With its latest capital investment by Waud Capital Partners, HSI continues to invest in strategic acquisitions that further its mission of making workplaces and communities safer.

INDUSTRY NEWS NEW EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE PLATFORM HELPS PEOPLE THRIVE AT WORK

Microsoft Corp. announced Microsoft Viva, the first employee experience platform to bring tools for employee engagement, learning, wellbeing and knowledge discovery, directly into the flow of people’s work. Viva is designed to help employees learn, grow and thrive, integrated with the productivity and collaboration capabilities in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams. EXPANDING DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION OFFERINGS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Leading NOW, the global advisor to organizations on changing workplace mindsets and cultures to be inclusive

for all, has entered into a strategic partnership with Inclusion Partners, a London-based collaborative DEI consultancy, to license Leading NOW’s world-class content and research-based programs in the United Kingdom. The partnership expands access to Leading NOW’s proprietary programs. AI-POWERED DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION INTELLIGENCE

Ideal’s new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) product uses artificial intelligence to turn existing talent data in legacy systems into a competitive advantage. Ideal’s DEI intelligence product uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enrich and infer demographic data from existing systems of records to reveal actionable insights throughout the talent lifecycle.

TUITION REIMBURSEMENT SIMPLIFIED FOR EMPLOYERS

BenefitEd – a joint venture between Ameritas and Nelnet— is offering tuition reimbursement program administration to companies of all sizes as part of their comprehensive suite of educational benefits programs to help employers recruit and retain employees. BenefitEd will make tuition reimbursement easier by acting as a third-party administrator, freeing up more time for staff to spend elsewhere.

INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING COMPANY NEWS? PLEASE SEND TO EDITOR@TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM

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CONGRATULATIONS TOP 20 COMPANIES VIEW THE LISTS The Top 20 Companies are a service provided by Training Industry, Inc. Due to the diversity of services offered, no attempt is made to rank Top 20 lists.