Respectful Management of Difference at Work Have you ever had something happen to you at work that made you so upset you burst into tears? The likelihood of you answering yes to that question is directly related to whether you check the male or female box on a census form. Without getting too caught up in the whole Women Are from Venus and Men are from Mars debate, past the age of 12, before which crying is still a gender neutral activity, women tend to cry more than men. While [...]

I realize it has not even been a year since we here in the US elected the first African-American president and that change is slow. But the recent incident at the Hunt Valley Swim Club in suburban Philadelphia  makes me wonder if we are making progress at all. Earlier this year, I questioned the future of diversity training, but now I see that we still have a long way to go in resolving race relations. This incident at the Hunt Valley Swim Club is the latest to spark a race-related debate. Earlier [...]

Organizational Development and Learning Consultant, Chetan Borkhetaria is our newest and latest guest blogger to focus on diversity and the value that it brings to an organization. What’s the Value of Diversity?        Of course, we can all agree that having people from different races and genders is supposed to be a good thing. Isn’t that what companies on the diversity bandwagon are after?  But why is there such a focus on only race and gender? Is it the easiest, or just the most salient? And if difference is a [...]

Diversity is such a buzzword in today’s corporate world.  Between raving about their diversity strategy, diversity initiatives or diversity recruiting, “diversity” seems to be the trend among the best companies in the world.  The unfortunate trend that has become overly apparent to me is that diversity has really just become a numbers game.  Organizations are spending their resources trying to diversify their candidate pool, hire more diverse candidates, and do more in the underserved communities.  This work is GREAT and I would not want to spend this time discrediting the [...]

We’ve heard from team member Ruth Ramos in the past through posts like The Beginning of Healing and R-E-S-P-E-C-T. But now,  I’d like to introduce you to her and her work to kick off our new interview series. RW: Tell us more about what you do. RR: Compass Consulting Services is an organizational development firm which specializes in customized training in the areas of diversity and inclusion management, conflict management, communication, leadership and team building. I am also trained to facilitate groups and coach managers. Finally, I have several years of experience in diversity [...]

A couple of months ago I met a charming woman at an intimate gathering of professionals. When I mentioned I worked in diversity training, she immediately told me about a piece her daughter had written for the NPR show This I Believe. Below is the insightful essay. Seeing Beyond Our Differences by Sheri White My mother is a geneticist, and from her I learned that despite our differences in size, shape and color, we humans are 99.9 percent the same. It is in our nature to see differences: skin, hair and eye [...]

One of the Rules of Engagement that we promote during our respectful workplace program is ‘to value the many different sources of knowledge that exist’. While we present this as a guideline to consider during the program, I’ve also found it equally useful in my own life. Recently I was chatting with a close friend who is African-American. She and I have known each other for years and therefore can be candid with one another, especially when it comes to issues of race. During the conversation she told me a [...]

Erica Pinsky, our latest guest blogger, is an expert at helping organizations create respectful and profitable workplaces. Erica has extensive work experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors.  Her Canadian clients include: Washington Marine Group, City of Vancouver, Bell Mobility, Canfor and the BC Teachers Federation. Fostering Respectful Dialogue When US Attorney General Eric Holder described Americans as “a nation of cowards” with respect to discussing racial issues. His comments received a lot of attention. I am not an American. I am a Canadian and I have been working in [...]

The following article originally appeared in the March 15, 2009 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and shows the depth of experience with diversity and prejudice of Northeast Ohio students. Stop the Hate By Sharon Broussard The high-spirited Shaw High School Band and the Cleveland Heights High School choir dazzled the crowd at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood with their music and poise. But make no mistake, when the topic of the essay contest is “Stop the Hate: Youth Speak Out,” it’s going to get a little [...]

February is the month we celebrate the achievements of Black Americans. But is this still relevant? That’s the question posed by newspaper columnist Phillip Morris in Black History Month is Outliving its Usefulness. He claims that we no longer need a month to celebrate African-American’s contribution to history. In his follow up column, Black History Month Revisited — Neither Color-Biased nor Color-Blind, Morris clarifies and defends his stance stating that he wants African-American history studied during every month, not just during one month a year.  What do you think?