DR. TYRONE A. HOLMES
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Dr. Tyrone A. Holmes
    • Client List
    • Testimonials
  • Keynotes/Virtual Workshops
  • Virtual Institute
  • Speech Coaching
  • Calendar
    • 2022 Events
    • 2021 Events
    • 2020 Events
    • 2019 Events
    • 2018 Events
    • 2017 Events
    • 2016 Events
    • 2015 Events
    • 2014 Events
  • Publications
    • Newsletters
    • Books
    • Articles

Creating a Climate for Diversity: The 15 Tips

2/17/2014

0 Comments

 
Over the past several months, I have proffered 15 tips you can use to create inclusive organizational environments. To summarize and for easy reference, I have listed these tips below with a hyperlink to each blog post:
  1. Create opportunities for culturally different individuals to interact with each other on a continuous basis.
  2. Help employees develop the skills they need to effectively communicate, resolve conflict and solve problems in culturally diverse environments.
  3. Develop, implement and enforce anti-harassment and discrimination policies.
  4. Actively work to recruit a high quality, culturally diverse workforce.
  5. Ensure that organizational policies and practices support a diverse workforce.
  6. Formally assess the diversity climate and make changes as needed.
  7. Make sure the work environment supports the physically challenged.
  8. Facilitate a brown bag educational series.
  9. Provide a mentor for every new employee.
  10. Start an organizational diversity program.
  11. Provide performance coaching for every employee.
  12. Start resource groups for underrepresented group members.
  13. Hold your meetings and events at a local cultural center.
  14. Hold a series of town hall meetings.
  15. Facilitate a cultural audit and make changes as needed.
I will provide more tips for creating a climate for diversity in the future!

Next Post: February 24, 2014 – The 3 Barriers to Effective Multicultural Communication
0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip # 15 – Cultural Audit

2/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Facilitate a cultural audit and make changes as needed. A cultural audit evaluates your organization’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to diversity practices related to recruitment, selection, retention, training, performance management, customer service, compensation and the use of outside vendors. For example, an audit might pose questions such as:
  • Has your organization developed plans and goals for the creation of culturally inclusive environments?
  • Does top leadership provide vocal, visible and continuous support for diversity?
  • Is there a specific process in place for the recruitment of high quality, culturally diverse candidate pools?
  • Have you evaluated the predictive validity of your selection processes?
  • Does your organization provide formal career development opportunities for all employees?
  • Is there an employee code of conduct that clearly prohibits engaging in racist, sexist, biased, sexually harassing or sexually/physically abusive behavior?
Next Post: February 17, 2014 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: The 15 Tips
0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip # 14 – Town Hall Meetings

2/3/2014

0 Comments

 
Hold a series of town hall meetings. These meetings, which are open to all organizational members, provide a forum for discussing topics of common interest (e.g., diversity issues). The goal of these meetings is to build a stronger community through the open exchange of information and ideas. Town hall meetings offer several benefits including improved organizational communication, enhanced decision-making regarding diversity efforts, a greater sense of ownership and involvement on part of employees/community members, and reduced confusion and miscommunication regarding diversity goals and activities.

Next Post: February 10, 2014 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #15
0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip # 13 – Use Cultural Centers

1/27/2014

0 Comments

 
If your organization holds off-site meetings, conferences and seminars, consider hosting some of these events at a local cultural institution such as a museum of Native American or African American History. These facilities generally offer meeting services and the participants will have an opportunity to interact in a culturally diverse setting. Keep in mind there are many centers to choose from. Some examples include the Latino Arts Center, Chinese Cultural Center, Irish Cultural Center, German Cultural Center, Jewish Historical Society, Japan Society, Korea Society, and Hispanic Society of America. Simply type "cultural center" in your favorite Internet search engine and you will find your local options.

Next Post: February 3, 2014 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #14
0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip # 12 – Resource Groups

1/21/2014

0 Comments

 
Start resource groups for underrepresented group members. A resource group is an internal association dedicated to the professional development of a specific cultural group (e.g., LGBT, Asian-Americans and women). These groups provide an excellent networking source for the members and can significantly improve retention within an organization. To make sure your resource groups are successful, keep the following points in mind:
  • Identify a clear business purpose for the group. For example, the purpose can be to improve retention and reduce turnover, to enhance diversity recruitment efforts, to facilitate employee development and mentoring, to increase promotional opportunities, or to improve external relationships.
  • Identify an executive sponsor for the group. This should be an individual in high levels of management with significant organizational influence. Such an individual will be able to provide knowledge, experience, connections and other resources of value to the group.
  • Welcome all employees to participate in the resource group. While the group may be geared toward a particular underrepresented employee population, everyone should be made to feel welcome.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of your resource groups. Bottom-line, do they fulfill their identified purpose?

Next Post: January 27, 2014 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #13
0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip # 11 – Performance Coaching

1/16/2014

0 Comments

 
Provide performance coaching for every employee. Performance coaching consists of feedback provided by a leader to a staff member on an ongoing basis. Effective coaching improves work quality and productivity, develops skills, increases confidence and enhances an employees’ overall work experience. Successful performance coaching typically includes three steps:
  1. Establish Goals - Ensure that each employee has specific performance goals, is clear about those goals, and understands how his/her role fits in relation to the unit’s and/or team’s goals.
  2. Manage Performance - Ensure that each employee has clear performance expectations, and receives both positive and constructive feedback on a regular basis.
  3. Generate Opportunities for Success - Help employees deal with work problems, remove barriers to success, and obtain the resources needed to be successful.
Be mindful that effective coaching is not easy so you should provide managers and supervisors with opportunities to develop their coaching skills.

Next Post: January 20, 2014 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #12
0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #9 – Mentoring Works

10/7/2013

0 Comments

 
Provide a mentor for every new employee. Mentoring is a series of conversations between a mentor and a protege that is designed to enhance the protege’s overall development. When done effectively, mentoring offers several benefits for new employees including an increased likelihood of personal and professional success, greater awareness of organizational politics and culture, improved job satisfaction, and an increased commitment to the organization. Here are a few tips to ensure your mentoring program is successful:
  1. Make sure there is top management support and commitment in terms of financial and time resources.
  2. Make sure there are well respected organizational leaders who are willing and able to serve as mentors on both a formal and informal basis.
  3. Create a specific strategy for selecting and pairing mentors and proteges. 
  4. Provide formal training that will help mentors and proteges develop the skills they need to make the process successful.

Next Post: October 10, 2013 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #10

0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #8 – Brown Bag It!

10/3/2013

0 Comments

 
Facilitate a brown bag educational series. This lunchtime activity is a good way to facilitate social interaction across cultural differences, and to provide employees with a helpful learning experience. The participants bring their lunch and take part in an educational seminar of interest to the group. You can enhance the success of the series by identifying topics of interest in advance, and then identifying effective speakers to facilitate each topic. Here are some examples:
  • Community, equity and diversity
  • Marriage equality and the LGBT community
  • Reducing stereotypes in the workplace
  • The impact of hidden bias on organizational communication
  • Understanding our differences
  • Fighting ISMS: Moving from words to action
  • The history of a particular cultural group in your area (e.g., Native Americans, Latinos)
  • Gender equity in the workplace
  • Why inclusion is good for business
  • Improving workplace accessibility
  • Managing communication style differences in the workplace
The key is to identify topics that will interest your employees and have a positive impact within the organization.

Next Post: October 7, 2013 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #9


0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #7 – Focus on the Physically Challenged

9/30/2013

0 Comments

 
Make sure the work environment supports the physically challenged. You can find out if your organization meets accessibility standards by visiting the website for the Americans with Disabilities Act (www.ada.gov) and reviewing the design standards (revised in 2010) and other guidelines provided on the site. There are Technical Assistance Materials such as ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business and Revised ADA Requirements. There is also an Information Line that provides assistance with the ADA and how to comply with its guidelines, as well as a video library that includes content such as Ten Employment Myths and Ten Small Business Mistakes.

Next Post: October 3, 2013 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #8

0 Comments

Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #6 – Assess the Diversity Climate

9/26/2013

0 Comments

 
Formally assess the diversity climate and make changes as needed. The best way to evaluate the diversity climate is to ask employees how they feel about the organization and the environment. Many organizations do this in the form of employee attitude surveys. The most important element of this process is to analyze the results on a demographic basis. In other words, determine how employees from different groups (e.g., age, race, gender, tenure) feel about the organization. For instance, are there significant differences between employees who have been in the organization for 10 years and those who joined in the past 2 years? Do women experience any aspects of the environment differently than men? Do members of underrepresented groups have significantly different opinions than those in the majority? Answers to questions such as these will help you understand the extent to which you have established a culturally inclusive environment.

 Next Post: September 30, 2013 – Creating a Climate for Diversity: Tip #7

0 Comments
<<Previous

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Author

    Dr. Tyrone A. Holmes is an author, speaker, coach and consultant. He helps his clients develop the skills needed to communicate, resolve conflict, solve problems and improve performance in diverse organizational settings.

    Archives

    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    Coaching
    Communication
    Conflict
    Conflict Resolution
    Cultural Inclusion
    Culture
    Customer Service
    Discrimination
    Diversity
    Diversity Benefits
    Diversity Climate
    Diversity Metrics
    Diversity Metrics
    Diversity Recruitment
    Empowering Diversity
    Empowering Diversity
    Globalization
    Leadership
    Mentoring
    Multicultural
    Performance Improvement
    Sexual Harassment
    Stereotyping
    Teambuilding

    RSS Feed

COPYRIGHT © 1996-2023 T.A.H. PERFORMANCE CONSULTANTS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Dr. Tyrone A. Holmes
    • Client List
    • Testimonials
  • Keynotes/Virtual Workshops
  • Virtual Institute
  • Speech Coaching
  • Calendar
    • 2022 Events
    • 2021 Events
    • 2020 Events
    • 2019 Events
    • 2018 Events
    • 2017 Events
    • 2016 Events
    • 2015 Events
    • 2014 Events
  • Publications
    • Newsletters
    • Books
    • Articles