5 Courses to Help You Prioritize DEI and Strengthen Your Team

5 Courses to Help You Prioritize DEI and Strengthen Your Team
Resources

June 21, 2023

Resource: Blog Industry: Multiple Industries
Tags: Learning & Development, Online Training, Professional Development

A strong diversity, equity, and inclusion training program is a superpower for your organization. From making teams stronger to boosting the bottom line, investing in DEI will have lasting, positive impacts for your company, for your valuable team members, and for their careers - contributing to a culture where your people can learn, grow, and thrive.

Oftentimes, organizations make the mistake of only prioritizing DEI practices and training in the wake of a negative incident. But, by choosing to proactively (rather than reactively) foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your workplace, everybody wins! Those negative incidents are much less likely to occur in the first place, and, in the case of an incident, your leaders and team members will be equipped to respond in a way that minimizes the impact and exemplifies the culture you are striving for. Intentionally and consistently including DEI in your L&D program will help ensure that people of all stripes feel welcomed, valued, and supported as members of your team, and your company will be enriched by the varied perspectives and funds of knowledge held by your employees. A commitment to DEI training will also allow your team to more easily navigate an increasingly diverse and connected global workplace with both sensitivity and understanding. That’s great news for everyone.

Top 5 Courses to Create a Culture of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Your Workplace

When it comes to DEI and your company, there is a lot at stake. That’s why it’s so important for employers to create and model a fair and inclusive work environment for everyone. But what that looks like may be less clear. In fact, according to a study by McKinsey & Company, nine out of ten executives that were surveyed reported challenges in executing their DEI strategies. Ultimately, education and training are at the heart of solving these issues. Regardless of your industry, here are five Vector courses that cover a diverse range of topics related to DEI that will help educate - and strengthen - your team:

1. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Skills for Managers

When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, intentional training is an absolute necessity - particularly when it comes to leadership and management positions. This course is strategically designed to provide the maximum benefit for managers who are working with a diverse team of people. This targeted approach to DEI helps to demonstrate how managers play a part in making the workplace both fair and welcoming to those who have historically faced discrimination for any aspect of their identity.

In this course, learners will have the opportunity to review common barriers to an inclusive work environment along with actionable steps they can take to help foster inclusion in the workplace - all customized for those who are in management positions.

2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Skills for Employees

Different roles require different skills when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion - that’s why this specific course is targeted for employees who are not in management positions. This course covers similar material to the previous one, but it will provide the maximum benefit for its specific audience. This targeted approach will help to demonstrate how everyone plays a part in making the workplace both fair and welcoming to those who have historically faced discrimination for any aspect of their identity.

Like in the skills for managers course, this course will also give learners the opportunity to review common barriers to an inclusive work environment along with actionable steps they can take to help foster inclusion in the workplace - all customized for those who are not in management positions.

3. Communication for Inclusion (Employees and Managers)

This course focuses on the importance of considering impact, not intent, when engaging with identity terminology and self-identification. For instance, microaggressions, which are subtle, indirect, or unintentional acts of discrimination against members of a marginalized group, are defined and explored in detail. By focusing on clearly defining such terms, learners are able to have a much greater understanding of how their actions may be received by others.

This training course also describes the impact unchecked microaggressions can have on people as well as strategies for recipients, senders, and bystanders who want to mitigate the harm that microaggressions cause. The course concludes with a discussion of micro-affirmations and the way they can be used to counteract the negative impact of microaggressions.

4. Disabilities in the Workplace

A disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities. Employers often struggle with how to respond and cope with workers with disabilities, but learning the basics about etiquette, as well as rights and responsibilities as outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, can make the situation better, and more equitable, for everyone.

This course describes the ADA, the benefits of hiring workers with disabilities, types of disabilities, reasonable accommodations, interviewing and etiquette, as well as how to prevent and deal with discrimination.

5. Skills for Hiring (Managers and Recruiters)

This course addresses practical steps that recruiters and hiring managers can take to ensure that their organization attracts and retains diverse candidates. This course identifies three guidelines and ten strategies companies should use for diversity-competent hiring searches and examines what those strategies look like in real scenarios. It also defines microaggressions and helps learners recognize them in the context of recruiting and hiring while providing practical ways to counter the harm they cause.

Foster a More Inclusive and Respectful Workplace for Employees to Thrive

The best and most effective way to approach prioritizing DEI at your company is by investing in high-quality, research-based education and training for your employees. Vector Solutions can help you foster a more inclusive and respectful workplace where your employees can thrive. We help organizations implement innovative DEI training that builds empathy through narrative storytelling and vital perspective-taking experiences. Our program aims to encourage connection in a way that empowers learners to actively interrupt problematic habits and consider the benefits of becoming better allies.

Ultimately, you are investing in the health and wellbeing of your team and your organization by choosing to tackle these issues head on. DEI has the power to transform your workplace for the better and for everyone on your team - but only if you tap into all that it has to offer in an educated, thoughtful, and productive way. Request a demo to prioritize DEI and to help strengthen your team today!

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