Professional Development and ongoing training on equity, diversity and inclusion is critical for every organization including government entities, corporations, non-profits and educational institutions. While Biz can provide a one time training, the best EDI initiatives have a long-term commitment to learning. Biz strives to develop meaningful partnerships with her clients that often span several years allowing the community to continue to build on previous learning. Educational sessions come in many forms that focus on different outcomes.
Foundational Frameworks
- These sessions will serve as introductory trainings for any of the content areas that need to be addressed to navigate EDI in your organization. The trainings will include interactive discussion and exercises for participants to explore their own lens and build awareness. The session will include a general overview of current trends and research about handling EDI topics particularly race, whiteness/white supremacy, gender, sexual identity and gender identity in your organization. The conversation will include understanding our perspectives and how these may impact our colleagues and communities we serve. Together we will begin a productive dialogue on how to develop a common language moving forward.
Building Understanding
- We will select key content areas that the staff need to explore further. An institution may choose to focus sessions on bias, race, whiteness/white supremacy, power, privilege, anti-racism, gender, social identities, LGBTQ+, cultural lens, consent, etc to ensure that their community members have the essential knowledge required to ensure an equitable experience for all.
Relationships
- A critical aspect of creating a positive climate is to explore the relationships between members of the community. One of the biggest obstacles to successful transformation on equity is the work satisfaction, engagement and motivation of the staff and these are all impacted by their relationships with each other. In these sessions the staff explores the Big 5-trust, respect, healthy conflict, collaboration and accountability with an equity lens to understand how our identities might impact our expectations and create obstacles for a positive workplace.
Learning Application
- The focus in these sessions is skill building. Attendees will be asked to apply their learning in previous sessions by working through specific EDI scenarios together. These session helps grow confidence and identify growth areas while exploring these important topics. It gives the staff an opportunity to think critically about how they want to handle difficult situations and conversations.
Policy in Action
- Unpacking policy with be the focus for these sessions. Various policies and practices will be reviewed to examine how the content, messaging, delivery, and enforcement might lead to an inequitable experience. Attendees can work together to develop equity rubrics to ensure your organization engages in a thoughtful intentional process to ensure equity in the future.
Below is a list of the types of organizations that can benefit from these services.