Innovations over the past year has begun to deliver its seminars using over the internet, through what we call Virtual Learning Experiences (VLEs). They are much more interactive than webinars, using devices such as polling, case studies, and interactive exercises to create an experience almost parallel to that of the classroom. We deliver them usually over the course of about an hour to and hour and 15 minutes. You can visit a couple of examples of them at the following page http://www.innovint.com/services/small-acts-of-inclusion.php . The idea is that it is a lower cost way where people can experience sessions from the comfort of their desktop. This will never replace live classroom training, but is a nice tool to use in addition to the other efforts your organization is making in a given area.

Diversity, inclusion, and employee engagement–what do all three of these initiatives have in common? People. More specifically, the extent to which the inherent differences people bring to the workplace are embraced in such a way that employees experience inclusion and full engagement in their work. Studies by the Gallup Management Journal indicate that only 29% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs.

Diversity is a an inclusive environment wherein differences—human, cultural, and systems—are leveraged as a competitive business advantage in order to:
• provide exceptional customer service
• ensure the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of employees
• achieve exceptional workplace and business performance
• deliver the highest quality products and services

Inclusion is an environment where there is “equity of opportunity” for personal and organizational success, as well as pride in the organization.

Employee Engagement is a level of “employee commitment” to the organization that ultimately results in greater discretionary effort in his or her work—beyond the expected or compensated level of performance.

The Roles of Leadership/Management and Employees

All three of the initiatives cited above have two dimensions: The Role of Leadership/ Management and The Role of Employees.

1) The Role of Leadership/Management
• Create an environment of integrity and trust.
• Provide employees with career and growth opportunities.
• Establish an environment where employees take pride in the organization
and communicate that pride to others.
• Provide opportunities for personal and professional development.
• Establish quality interpersonal relationships, communication, and
problem resolution.
• Create an environment for work-life quality, balance, and integration.
2) The Role of Employees
• Request, ensure, and design engaging work that is personally
satisfying.
• Ensure that your work is aligned with the organization’s or business
unit’s goals and objectives.
• Assume a natural leadership role among peers as greater delegation
occurs (Leadership is the ability to influence others).
• Design a career development plan inclusive of the experiences and
learning you will require.
• Establish quality interpersonal relationships, communication, and
collaboration among your peers.
• Define and create a plan for work-life quality and balance.

The role of leadership/management is to proactively provide an inclusive environment and management practices that support the development, learning, and well-being of employees. An inclusive environment is an organizational context where all employees experience being wanted, appreciated, and valued.

1. Wanted for their diverse membership as part of the organization.

2. Appreciated for the unique contribution they make in creating the culture of the organization.

3. Valued for the unique perspective they bring in terms of creativity, innovation, and high-performance.
It’s also an environment where an employee feels commitment and passion for their work, beyond the expected or compensated level of performance.

Dealing with Differences is a challenge whether it is at home or in the workplace.  Here are a few key tips that can help with the process.


1. Realize that how we view the world is through our unique reality— our reality is not necessarily right or superior to others.
2. Be willing to acknowledge that we all have biases and prejudices—tell the truth.
3. Consider the possibility that most insensitivities are unintentional—assume most people are well-intentioned.
4. Be open to feedback when you experience conflict that involves diversity—have the courage to admit that you might have been too quick to judgement or that you might have offended someone.
5. Create experiences and friendships across diversity differences—experiencing others in relationship is the most powerful way to create diversity!
6. Be willing to confront your fears of experiencing differences—have the courage to change and grow, it is key to our survival.
7. Be willing to explore issues of human equality—we all seek to be superior to others in some way.
8. Remember, diversity is a process of continuously learning through experiencing the differences in others–create a relationship with someone with whom you have the greatest prejudice!

Here are some quick tips that we suggest for active listening:

1. Maintain an open mind – Make a conscious decision to be open and receptive to challenging dialogue.
2. Focus on the person – Attempt to avoid all distractions and give the person your undivided attention.
3. Control your emotions – Focus inwardly when you experience a reaction to what is being communicated to understand the emotional message of the person.
4. Show interest – Smile or nod when you agree; avoid shaking your head in disagreement even when you are not convinced of their ideas or opinions.
5. Formulate overall impressions – At regular intervals, summarize in your mind what is being communicated.
6. Evaluate the content – Evaluate the content of the communication, not the person or his or her style of delivery.
7. Read between the lines – Listen for hidden messages between the lines using your intuition. (Subliminal communication)
8. Practice makes mastery – Remember, mastery comes with practice; particularly of non-verbal cues or messages.

If you incorporate these simple steps each day, you will see significant improvement in the quality of your relationships with others, both at the workplace and in other parts of your life.

Danny

Ever heard the phrase, “good help is so hard to find these days”? Any HR manager or executive is familiar with the daunting task of trying to find the perfect fit for their company. Today’s workforce is more demanding than ever and every employee must contribute to the overall success of any organization. In response to this, Dr. Guillory released a white paper this week entitled The Age of Human Potential—Talent Management. This paper is the first part in a two part series on the subject. Dr. Guillory describes talent management as, “an initiative designed to source, attract, recruit, develop, advance, and retain highly competent employees.” In his white paper he proves the cost per benefit ratio of each stage of employee recruitment and retention.
The stages are:

• Sourcing – establishing a system and criteria for identifying highly motivated, multicultural individuals for potential employment.

• Attracting – presenting a compelling case to potential recruits that are interested in your organization.

• Recruiting – the collective effort of an organization to show a potential employee that his or her future is best realized by their employment.

• Developing – providing the opportunity and support necessary to an employee for their continual expanding potential.

• Advancing – providing the opportunity for employees to attain higher positions of responsibility, as a result of mentoring, coaching, and visible opportunities, in proportion to performance.

• Retaining – the result of the proactive, professional development of an employee.

Business objectives have continued to evolve over the centuries as technology presents us with more efficient work tools and more challenging tasks. Dr. Guillory shows this progression over time and suggests that every organization develop a talent management support system that continuously monitors the efforts of employee well being.