PART ONE – Learning From Real Life
Objective
Participants will draw inspiration and innovative insights from real-life success stories of well-known companies that have implemented DEI initiatives and by sharing their own personal DEI stories.
1. Real-World Success Stories
Instructions: The facilitator will share success stories from well-known companies that have successfully embedded DEI into their culture and have seen benefits. *Present this so you only share the story without naming the companies and have participants guess who the companies are. *Joe/Kathy still need to decide if they want to use the Coca-Cola video in the link below.*
Success stories: https://www.headstart.io/insights/diverse-talent-4-influential-brand-stories-of-success/
- Verizon – Invested in female leaders
- Coca-Cola – Increased diversity via a campus recruiting strategy
- IBM – Created a diversity task force within employee teams and committed to a diverse client base
- L’Oreal – Invested in “multicultural managers capable of understanding the market’s diverse set of norms, behavior, and nuances” (Headstart)
Instructions: After reviewing the success stories, engage the participants by asking the following questions. (Either discuss or the facilitator will list responses on a whiteboard)
- What aspects of the success stories resonated with you the most and why?
- How might these success stories inspire us to approach DEI initiatives with our own organization?
- In the success stories, how did leadership teams place a pivotal role in driving DEI initiatives?
- How did the organizations engage their employees in DEI efforts?
2. Group Discussion
Instructions: The facilitator will explain to the group that DEI can become part of their DNA, like the company success stories above, but they must begin by looking within first. *Add a time-bound vision at some point- maybe here.. Imagine 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years from now “your teams are diverse, your pay and opportunity are equitable, and all employees feel included”(The Waymakers, Frank, p.45)
In small groups, each participant will share their own story related to DEI (they answered these questions on Google Forms before this session), and then each group will select one story to share with the entire group. ***Alternatively, everyone can share their stories so everyone is acknowledged and heard.
After all stories are shared,the facilitator will lead a discussion with the whole group using the following questions (can simply discuss or list responses on whiteboard)
- What were some common themes or emotions in the stories?
- How do these personal stories relate to DEI in the workplace?
- What can we learn from these stories to promote DEI within our organization?