Welcome to the AACP Leadership Institute. My name is Lothi Mulder and I'm one of your leadership coaches. Your other coach is Catherine Stekenas and together we will guide you through this entire course and program. Please reach out to us if you have any questions about the course or if there is anything else we can help you with. You can reach us through the Leadership Institute website you see here. This course is discovering your own diversity. You will study and discover more about your own individual understanding of what diversity, inclusiveness, and biases mean within the context of our personal and professional lives. Whether spoken or unspoken, your own model of the world impacts your beliefs, feelings, and behaviors as they relate to human diversity and cultural differences. This is the overview of this Leadership Institute course. As you can see, there is no pre-course assessment for this course. At the end of the webinar, there will be a short test to assess your learning and a course evaluation. Once you have fulfilled these steps, the course will be considered completed and you can download the course transcript through your dashboard and claim your continuing education credits. The focus of this course is to increase your understanding of the value of human diversity in the workplace, both your own diversity as well as the rich diversity others bring. We also talk about the motivational significance of inclusion in the workplace. We will study the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity that contribute to the complexity of cultural and human diversity and explore differences in the workplace by recognizing the reality of the uniqueness of individuals. Lastly, you will develop your own personal and professional diversity goals and action plan. Our approach in this course is based on reflecting on your own ideas, opinions, and model of the world, developing an appreciation for differences, and learning about your own diversity strengths and developmental opportunities. We will talk about the topics that impact our knowledge and appreciation of diversity issues, or lack thereof, and provide moments for self-reflection and ways to improve your own diversity. In this first section, we will be discussing and exploring the many definitions and concepts of diversity. Diversity means different things to different people within the workplace and outside of the workplace. For this course, we will focus on our characteristics, experiences, and choices through a model that distinguishes our primary dimensions of diversity from our secondary dimensions of diversity. Before we dive deeper into this topic, let's take a moment and think about different types of diversity. Here are some types of diversity. Age, gender, religion, race, socioeconomic status, generational, cognitive, ethnicity, skin color, thinking style, personality, political, sexual orientation, family structure, educational level, and ability and disability. When looking at this list, are there any that you did not think of? Diversity is all around us, so this list is by no means extensive. What are some additional aspects of diversity that are not up here? At a person-to-person level, no two individuals are alike. However, it is the things that people share that create a sense of identity. I personally grew up in the Netherlands, so therefore I identified with people who grew up there also. But because I now live and work with people in the United States, I identify with people living and working here. On the other hand, what makes us unique is also important. I personally have never liked it when someone calls me European, because I might not actually have something in common with other European cultures. My Dutchness, so to speak, is what makes me unique, at least when I'm not in the Netherlands. Diversity is someone's cultural identity, but in the bigger sense of the meaning of culture. Culture refers to the beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that people share. Culture thus describes any social collective. Every diversity group we belong to has its own beliefs, its own values, its own behaviors, and humor. Thus every group has its own culture. In the culture of my friends, it might be appropriate to arrive 15 minutes late, but that might not be part of the culture of my workplace, where the culture is to show up 5 minutes early to every meeting. Cultural identity is there for everything that is inside the boundaries of a group. It is everything that connects a group. Social identity, on the other hand, is defined by the boundaries of a group. In other words, the demarcation between us and them, between the in-group and the out-group. As an example, my cultural identity of group A is based on us all having very direct personalities. This is what we all have in common. My social identity, based on group A, is that group B is not direct, but indirect. As an example, my cultural identity of group A is based on us all having very direct personalities. This is what we all have in common. My social identity, based on this group, is that group B, the other group, is not direct, but very indirect. As you can hear from the example, cultural identity is what we share with the other members of the group. Social identity is what makes us different from other groups. Additionally, cultural identity is about individual perceptions of a group. I might think that we are all very direct, but the mon might think that we're all very funny. This individual identity revolves around three perceptions. A person's perception of the group, like the example I just shared. A person's feelings about the cultural aspects of the group. Do I like the directness or could I do without it? And a person's view of how, where, and to what degree the group culture is reflected in themselves. Cultural identity is my personal view of the relationship between the culture of the group and myself. The concept of cultural identity structure is visualized here on this slide. You can see three cultural identities in this example, that of a female, of a student, and of a parent. You can see that these identities have some overlap. For instance, being a parent affects being a student, because you have different responsibilities and behaviors than if someone was a student but not a parent. You can also see that in the middle is me, meaning that all these three cultural identities are part of one person. In reality, of course, a person has many more identities and some might not overlap or some might overlap with multiple other identities. When thinking about your own, what would your cultural identity structure look like? We are all born into a number of social identities. These social identities are related to categories such as gender, first language, ethnicity, age, skin color, sexual orientation, economic class, and religion. These identities are the source of some of our unequal roles in society. Our socialization begins before we are even born. Namely, some of our identities are described prior to birth, such as biologic gender, skin color, cultural group, class, religion, and sexual orientation. We have no choice in these socializations because they're all out of our own personal control. In this first phase, our identity is not questioned. We simply are. Our first act of socialization happens right after we are born, namely when we start to interact with the people surrounding us. These people help shape our self-perceptions, the roles we're expected to play, our dreams and expectations of the future, and the norms and values we live by. This phase happens both internally and interpersonally. An interpersonal example is a statement such as, children should be seen not heard, or giving dolls to girls and trucks to boys to play with. The next phase is institutional and cultural socialization. This occurs when we attend school, go to the doctor, play sports, and work with a social worker. The more institutions we are in contact with, the more sources for socialization we have. Through these interactions, we learn how to behave, what rules to follow, what to believe, what assumptions to make, and what roles to play. If we are members of a group that benefits from certain roles, we might not notice the rules. But if we are members from a group that is penalized by a role, we might have a plethora of feelings. An example of a role is when a girl wants to join the wrestling or football team, but she can't because of her gender. The reason why people continue to follow the rules, even if they make them uncomfortable or disadvantages them, is because there are enforcements in place. People who maintain the norm become part of the group, are considered team players, and could even receive attention and recognition. People who try to contradict the norm can be accused of being troublemakers or of causing problems. For example, if there is an unethical culture in an organization and one person fights against it, they could be ostracized and be called names. In the results phase, all people, whether from a majority or minority group, feel a sense of devastation. This is because we learn about our internalized oppression, meaning that we all hold ourselves back to a certain degree. In this phase, we experience high levels of stress, low self-esteem, mistrust, frustration, dehumanization, and feelings of disempowerment and hopelessness. People from majority groups can feel guilt, stress, fear of payback, self-protective, loss of identity with majority group, and distorted about the reality of the world. Now comes the time to decide what to do. In order to explain the next two phases better, let's turn to the next slide. On this slide, you can see the process of what we just talked about. The process of socialization begins in the pink circle on the left side, then moves through the first socialization to institutional and cultural socialization. Followed are reinforcements, which brings us to where we left off, namely in results, where people are experiencing lots of emotions and disillusions. The next phase is a decision-making point. We can either not make any changes or choose a direction for change. When we decide to not make any changes, we will go through the process of socialization again until we come to our next decision-making point, when we re-enter the results phase again. People in both majority and minority groups can choose not to take action. People might feel that since things have been like this for centuries, that they cannot change anything and continue on. They also might choose to do nothing because it is easier. People might be so afraid to change anything out of fear for their lives or their loved ones. Some people have resigned themselves to survive this cycle because they have tried enforcing change and nothing ever changed. It is important to note that we all are participants, even if we do nothing. People often stay in this cycle until their discomfort becomes bigger than their comfort and they decide in the direction for change. The other choice is to choose change. This can be people who are affected negatively by the cycle, but also people who are positively impacted. This is when people in groups empower themselves and others by learning about each other, unlearning preconceived notions and stereotypes, and by challenging the status quo. In this next section, we will discuss proactive approaches in building effective diversity programs. In the July-August 2016 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Dobyn and Kalev discussed the answer to this question, why do diversity programs fail? In fact, most diversity programs fail because they were designed to prevent lawsuits and not to actually increase organizational diversity. What they learned over the course of decades of social science research is that you won't get managers to accept diversity and human differences through creating diversity rules and by blaming and shaming them with re-education. This approach generates anger and resistance and it strengthens pre-existing biases. In other words, you cannot outlaw bias in the workplace. So how can we make it work? The three diversity principles on this slide introduce us to the actions that can educate and transition our thoughts and behaviors regarding biases, prejudices, fears, and resistance to inclusion in the workplace. When we increase our social interests and engage and expose ourselves to people who are different than ourselves, we are more open to changing our own beliefs and behaviors. These are our first steps to increasing our diversity and cultural accountability in the workplace. It is more effective to increase communication and collaboration with minorities, to promote social accountability, and to allocate more authority to managers about who they want to hire while fostering the desire to look fair-minded. Voluntary diversity training is another way to evoke a positive result. When people feel the choice is theirs to reduce bias, studies show that they did so more often than when they felt they had to get rid of their biases. Cognitive dissonance refers to the tendency that people have to correct dissonance by changing either their behavior or their beliefs. In other words, if you prompt people to behave or think in a certain way, their beliefs will shift towards that view. For example, if I ask you to write an essay about all the reasons to increase diversity in the workplace, you will start to see the merit of diversity. In summary, diversity programs can get results through voluntary trainings, self-managed teams, cross-training, recruitment of women and minorities, mentoring, and diversity task forces and managers. These programs engage and expose people to the benefits of diversity through projects, teams, initiatives, and the organization. In this next section, we will discuss the components that are part of the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity. This is one of the models that has been developed to illustrate the various dimensions that can contribute to the complexity of cultural diversity. This version is from the John Hopkins Diversity Leadership Council. The diversity wheel model on this slide visualizes both the primary dimension, the internal circle, and the secondary dimension of diversity, the outer circle. All the different identities that you see in this wheel affect us, both at work, at home, and in society at large. Every dimension adds to a person's diversity, making them more integrate and complex with each additional dimension. However, it is the interaction between all these dimensions that influences a person's values, expectations, opportunities, and self-image. We will dive into the primary dimension next. The primary dimensions of diversity are in the center of the wheel and include age, gender identity or expression, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, mental and physical ability, and race and ethnicity. There is a difference between gender and gender identity and expression. Gender refers to the gender a person has at birth. Gender identity refers to the perception someone has of their own gender, regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth. Gender expression refers to the behaviors, appearance, mannerisms, and interests associated with a particular gender in a specific cultural context. The core dimensions of diversity highlighted here form an important impact on our early socialization. They also have a powerful and sustained impact on our experiences, values, assumptions, and expectations throughout life. These primary dimensions are usually seen and felt by ourselves and visible to others, and we typically have no control over them. They can be seen as being closest to our own core. The secondary dimensions of diversity include education, political belief, family, organizational role, language and communication skills, income, religion, appearance, and work experience. These dimensions are less visible, but they contain a greater element of choice. These secondary dimensions have an impact on our social and professional involvement, including friendships and where we work. This reflection exercise has two questions for you to answer. First, how have the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity impacted your life? And what can you do to limit the impact? In this section, we will discuss the factors that influence diversity in the workplace. Research shows that employees that feel recognized and valued, despite their differences, increase their commitment to the organization. Positive outcomes are the results of people feeling valued, respected, and heard. Inclusion in the workplace increases employee health, well-being, and productivity. When there is an inclusive environment, there is access to multiple resources and talents, which enriches the organization and increases external competitiveness and internal innovation. When everyone is able to fully contribute, people feel included and committed. In other words, diversity is a smart business decision in addition to it being socially responsible. Maslow's hierarchy of needs model has the most basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid. The sense of belonging is one of the strongest employee motivations and is identified as one of the deficit needs in Maslow's theory. In order to attain the needs at the top of the pyramid, one has to have a strong sense of belonging. In order to attain the needs at the top of the pyramid, In order to attain the needs at the top of the pyramid, one must make sure that the bottom and the basic needs are fulfilled first. This highlights the importance of fulfilling an employee's sense of belonging, which is in the middle of the pyramid, so that they are able to make a path for themselves to reach their full potential of self-actualization. Once an employee has reached self-actualization, they can freely contribute their unique talent to their organization and further enrich the workplace with their diverse skill set, experiences, and distinct identity. Most organizations know that the cultural backgrounds and experiences of diverse employees and customers can enrich the organization, making it more innovative and globally competitive. Stephen Robbins and Timothy Judge cited a research study in their book Essentials of Organizational Behavior, in which diverse juries were more likely to deliberate longer, share more information, and make fewer factual errors when discussing evidence. The model on this slide identifies four key areas that influence how we respond to workplace diversity. The four key areas are knowledge, understanding, acceptance, and behavior. In this next section, we will define these key areas and explain their impact on workplace diversity. Knowledge is a key area in learning about diversity. This is the foundation for the other three areas, because information about others is essential in order to understand their thoughts, feelings, and motives. But it is only through understanding our own feelings, thoughts, and motives that we can begin to understand someone else's. Additionally, the more accurate the information is we have about other people, the more likely it is that we will develop thoughts, feelings, opinions, and behaviors that are appropriate. In other words, the more information you have, the less likely it is that stereotyping plays a role in your opinion of others. The question, what can I do to improve my knowledge of people different than myself, can help set a goal to increase your knowledge of others. You can travel abroad or watch movies about people from different cultures or read a book about people who are different from you. You can ask someone from a different culture to lunch next time you are at work or reflect on the accuracy of any of the information you used previously to judge others. Engaging with others, communicating, and asking questions to clarify your knowledge and perceptions can help improve your understanding of people different than you. Asking yourself the question, what can I do to improve my knowledge of people different than myself, can help increase your knowledge of others. The second area is that of understanding. Understanding others builds upon the knowledge base we already have. Understanding others builds upon the knowledge base we already have. It is the intellectual recognition that people are different based on our cultural and social backgrounds and experiences. Understanding has two components, awareness and empathy. Awareness provides us with the understanding that our own perception of reality is just one version. Have you ever had the same experience with someone, but then when they talk about it, they mention different things? That is because reality is a subjective experience and awareness shows us that. Awareness allows us to understand how it feels to interact with people who are different than ourselves. It clarifies who we are in comparison to other people's perceptions of us. It creates empathy. This allows us to compare cultures and experiences, which enriches our own lives. Empathy is about connecting with others on an emotional level. People who are empathetic and aware can comprehend the emotions others are experiencing. Those who have empathy can more easily put themselves in other people's shoes and see things from a different point of view. This question challenges you to think about how you can improve your self-awareness and empathy towards others. Acceptance in diversity often relates to the respect and value we have for ourselves and those with different characteristics and behaviors than ours. Acceptance has two components, receptiveness and respect. When we increase our receptiveness of others, we become more open when interacting with them. It allows others the same freedom of behavior that we expect for ourselves. When we are receptive, we accept that everyone is allowed to reflect their background and culture through their behavior and communication. Respect is fully appreciating other people for who they are and what they bring to interactions. When we feel and show respect for others, our views of them are not contorted by negative characterizations. Respect creates trust. When we are receptive, we accept that everyone is allowed to reflect their background and culture through their behavior and communication. The reflective question for acceptance is how can I improve my acceptance, receptiveness, and respect of people different than myself. Try reflecting on your own behaviors and see if they have ever prevented you from connecting with someone from a different background. What can you do to increase your contact with different people? The last of the key areas is behavior, which refers to the ability to interact with different people. It also refers to being able to perform tasks with ease and comfort while interacting with people who are different from you. The two components of behavior are self-awareness and interpersonal skills. Self-awareness informs our own personal values, beliefs, and motives. If we are conscious about these aspects, as well as our own strengths and developmental areas, it increases our sensitivity towards others. It allows us to adapt our own behavior appropriately while maintaining our own identity. Our interpersonal skills demonstrate to others our openness and ability to effectively react to others' ideas, cultures, opinions, customs, and values. The more skillful someone is, the more flexible that person will be in reacting to the ideas and opinions of others. Good interpersonal skills foster respective relationships and increase productivity. The reason that behavior is the last of the key areas in this model is because knowledge, understanding, and acceptance influence our thinking, which impacts our behavior. This question can help you to set a goal to increase your self-awareness and improve your interpersonal skills when interacting with others. In an effort to improve your diversity self-awareness and interpersonal behavioral skills, you could ask someone who you trust for feedback on your ability to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. You can also look for opportunities to interact with people who are different than you and make a conscious effort to be aware of your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Where can you develop your diversity and cultural knowledge, understanding, and awareness? Think about these four key areas and their related categories. Select where you think you should channel your energy and consider setting your own personal goal. Positive outcomes are the results of people feeling valued, respected, and heard. Research shows that employees that feel recognized and valued, despite their differences, increase their motivation and commitment to the organization. A sense of belonging is one of the strongest employee motivators, and it increases employee health, well-being, and productivity. Inclusion is a basic need, and we all need and want to feel included. Reflect on these questions. How can you more effectively and consistently leverage diversity strengths at work? How will you create and sustain an inclusive environment in which all people feel respected and valued? What do you want people to experience when working with you? What is one thing people should know and respect about you to work together more effectively? And this is the final question to help you wrap up your learning in this course. What will you do differently, based on your understanding of diversity and your own diversity strengths and developmental areas? Thank you for watching this webinar. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you.

diversity

inclusiveness

biases

cultural identity

diversity training

organizational innovation