Diversity in the Workplace Program:
The Building Blocks of Diversity—Building and Maintaining a Diverse Workforce

by Eleanor Hubbard

Nationwide, workplace diversity initiatives are becoming more commonplace as organizations accept the challenges and opportunities that society’s changing demographics provides. This presentation uses interactive exercises, mini-lectures, and group discussions to help management and staff learn to value and manage diversity. This is not a minority problem! Each participant will be invited in a supportive, encouraging environment to express their best ideas about building and maintaining a diverse workforce. If everyone in the workplace feels included in these conversations, more productive outcomes will emerge for the total organization.

Benefits:

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Understand how demographics are changing the face of the workplace and define diversity in all its dimensions
• Understand why workplace diversity initiatives are important and common
• Identify employee differences and how those differences can contribute to a vital, energetic, and productive workplace
• Value employee differences and learn ways to manage those differences so that they do not become conflictual
• Identify strategies for building and maintaining a diverse workforce
• Improve communication between diverse employees as well as encouraging structural changes that create effective communications among diverse employees

Sample Agenda:

• Using mini-lectures, define diversity in all its dimensions and relate how demographics are changing the face of the workplace
• Using mini-lectures, emphasize the importance of diversity initiatives
• Using exercises, identify common differences among employees and how those differences can cause conflict
• Using discussion, encourage valuing and creatively using differences in employees
• Using mini-lectures, identify strategies for building and maintaining a diverse workforce and ways to manage differences
• Using small groups, improve communication between diverse employees

Time Frame:

One-half to one day.

This program represents one of several diversity in the workplace options we offer. Please ask us about our other diversity in the workplace offerings that may fit your organization's requirements.

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