Workforce diversity brings up difficult issues: prejudice, stereotypes, cultural and ethnic pride, generational differences, personality conflicts and communication barriers. This workshop goes beyond the usual diversity awareness program that chronicles all the abuses of the past. Instead, it introduces the topic from a broader perspective by demonstrating how our similarities can bond us together and our differences can add value to the organization. The effectiveness of any organization depends on its members appreciating the entire mosaic of which they are a part. It encourages its members to retain their distinctive individual identities and values, while contributing to a common purpose.
Participants will learn:
The three-step process to managing workplace diversity
How stereotypes are developed and perpetrated
The reality of personal biases and how to cope
How perceptual differences can lead to conflict
How to find ways to meet on common ground and manage individual differences
By presenting real life events we face on a day-to-day basis, participants will learn practical skills for maximizing the positive side of diversity and solving its unique problems. These diversity issues include:
Cultural stereotypes about sex-roles and religious beliefs
The impact of language barriers on productivity
Negative attitudes about racial and national origin stereotypes
The clash between age and generational differences
Addressing the effects of bias against disabled workers
Personality and work style differences
Who Should Attend: All employees
Methodology: This program utilizes video, group discussion, practice exercises, assessment tools and a question and answer segment. Using structured exercises and video case studies, each presentation is designed to be engaging and thought provoking. The characters and the situations generate intense interest and lively discussion. As the case study outcome plays out, participants have an opportunity to discuss alternative ways of handling each problem and learn from the model behaviors presented. Case studies can be custom-developed for the needs of the organization. Optional: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator can be administered to assess personality and work style differences and how these factors influence team members.
