Shawn Andrews

The Rhythm of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Dr. Shawn Andrews is the pioneer of the Rhythm of DEI, a breakthrough approach to help businesses enhance their leadership effectiveness, culture, and talent management. Through her 4-pillar system, Dr. Andrews helps organizations eradicate biases and microaggressions, drive inclusivity, tap their talent, and cultivate great leaders.

Given her life-long experience as a drummer, music serves as a fun, relevant, and unifying theme throughout. A drum is not meant to be hit once and done, it’s meant to be played. DEI is the same. It should not be a one and done activity, but a continual engagement where people, purpose, and performance are all in rhythm.

Pillar 1 – The Silent Beat of Bias – What holds you back in your career? Bias is a deep-seated
resistance to the “different”. We all have biases based on our upbringing, background, religion, the media we consume, etc. The real issue with bias is that it affects how we interact with one another and leads to ill-informed and suboptimal decisions. This pillar helps you minimize bias in people and processes.
Pillar 2 – Driving DEI – Is your culture diverse and inclusive? As a global society, we are becoming more diverse every day. Today, many companies are striving to be more diverse & inclusive but are falling short. Why? Because most companies are not doing the right kinds of activities, not doing enough activities, or are only addressing one piece of the issue. Programs and policies are great, but inclusion is always demonstrated in behaviors. This pillar shows you how to attract and keep talent by boosting the benefits of diversity and equity.
Pillar 3 – Tap into Gender – Are you effectively managing your talent? All your talent? The reason we do not see more women leading our global businesses has nothing to do with skills, knowledge, or competencies. It has everything to do with our perceptions of women as leaders, workers, mothers, and wives. This pillar explores the top barriers for women and how to address them.
Pillar 4 – Embrace EQ – Is your leadership gender balanced? Emotional intelligence assessments have found men and women to have different EQ strengths. These differences and perceptions often advantage men and disadvantage women at work. This pillar outlines the ideal profile of great leaders.

The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and Gender (Book Topic)

Organizations that want to perform at the highest levels and be competitive in their industry must effectively leverage their leadership talent. Yet, in nearly all companies, a leadership gender gap persists. Pervasive and systemic barriers often keep women from advancing.
In addition, research has identified an individual's emotional intelligence (EQ) as a key aspect and driver of leadership effectiveness. EQ assessment have found men and women to be strong in different areas. These differences often advantage men and disadvantage women at work and can lead to very different outcomes.

Finally, men and women are raised in different cultures. It begins at birth and carries into the workplace as adults. As a result, we approach virtually every aspect of business differently.

Different approaches result in different perceptions, which have a significant impact on promotion.
Understanding the power of perception can dramatically improve your career advancement and help men and women work better together. Building on her best-selling book, The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Gender Divide, Dr. Andrews will address the latest research on these topics and share practical strategies you can apply to boost your career.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Examine barriers that contribute to the leadership gender gap
· Identify emotional intelligence attributes and their impact on leadership
· Leverage gender differences (hard-wired & socialized) which show up every day at work and home
· Apply knowledge and tactics to improve career advancement

How and Why Women Hold Themselves Back (And What to Do About It)

Why do women sometimes hold themselves back? The answer is not a simple one. There are various ways (and reasons) that women sometimes limit their own career. In this presentation, we will discuss the types of roles women take on, office politics, and a common behavior called "office housework."

We will explore the language women use that can drain power and how we communicate with our bosses, colleagues, and customers. We will talk about confidence, assertiveness, and fear

and how these can impact behavior for many women. Finally, we will explore how women bargain and negotiate differently than men.
Join the conversation with Dr. Shawn Andrews to learn how to push past these limiting behaviors and allow yourself to shine.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Explore roles that women take on and how they impact perception
· Identify language and verbal techniques which drain power
· Leverage confidence, assertiveness, and fear to your advantage
· Apply knowledge and tactics to improve career advancement

7 Superpowers of Women at Work

Want to thrive in your career? Be promoted? Be in a leadership role? Turns out, there are 7 key qualities distinct to each gender that serve them well. These qualities stem from how our brains are hard-wired and how we're socialized to behave as men and women in society.

These 7 superpowers can help women bring the right skills and mindset to the job - and help power your career. Fortunately, most of these skills are innate. Even if some are not your strong suit, the good news is that ALL can be developed and leveraged.

Join leadership and gender expert, Dr. Shawn Andrews, as she explains the 7 superpowers specific to women: transformational leadership, divergent problem solving, communication skills, empathy, interpersonal relationships, intuition, and grit/resilience.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Identify the 7 superpowers of women at work
· Explore what they are and how they contribute to success
· Leverage the benefits of each and capitalize on your natural strengths and abilities
· Apply these superpowers to enhance both your work and life

7 Superpowers of Men at Work

Want to thrive in your career? Be promoted? Be in a leadership role? Turns out, there are 7 key qualities distinct to each gender that serve them well. These qualities stem from how our brains are hard-wired and how we're socialized to behave as men and women in society.

These 7 superpowers can help men bring the right skills and mindset to the job. Fortunately, most of these skills are innate. Even if some are not your strong suit, the good news is that ALL can be developed and leveraged.

Join leadership and gender expert, Dr. Shawn Andrews, as she explains the 7 superpowers specific to men: transactional leadership, risk-taking, confidence, assertiveness, stress tolerance, convergent problem solving, and decisiveness.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Identify the 7 superpowers of men at work
· Explore what they are and how they contribute to success
· Leverage the benefits of each and capitalize on your natural strengths and abilities
· Apply these superpowers to enhance both your work and life

7 Levels of Male Allyship

Male allyship is critical in attaining any kind of parity in today’s organizations. Men are a key piece of the DEI puzzle and must support both women and people of color to help close gender and racial gaps in leadership positions. However, men’s commitment spans across a wide spectrum – ranging from complete resistance to all in.

There are 7 levels of support which will be outlined in this presentation. The good news is there are several things that men can do to be true allies and move up to higher levels of support.

We’ll address how to identify what level men are in, responsibility and accountability at each level, and how women can identify allies based on each level. We’ll explore recent articles, data, and case studies on men in today’s world from sources such as Harvard.

Join leadership, diversity, and gender expert, Dr. Shawn Andrews, as she explains the 7 levels of support and how to use these skills to help address barriers, be a better ally, and foster more gender and racial inclusion.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Appreciate why men are a key piece of the DEI puzzle
· Identify the 7 levels of male support across a spectrum
· Learn about recent studies on men in today’s world
· Apply strategies to build allyship and create more gender inclusion

Overcoming Hidden Biases that Hinder Our Success

By now, most of us know that unconscious biases affect the workplace. These hidden, reflexive preferences shape our world views and can profoundly affect how welcoming and open a workplace is to different people and ideas. These predispositions shape the decisions we make

by affecting the way we interpret information and how we interact with others—significantly impacting a whole host of organizational processes from recruitment to retention.

At the same time, we are experiencing significant shifts in global demographic trends which impact age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and LGBTQ employees. There is no doubt that our workplace is becoming more diverse, which increases the potential for more biases towards our colleagues and clients.

Customized bias scenarios (based on your audience) and real-world cases and examples will be discussed. Several individual and organizational strategies to minimize bias will be provided.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Identify different types, causes and impact of bias at work
· Explore the impact of global demographic trends on diversity and bias
· Utilize case studies, scenarios, and stories to communicate potential biases
· Apply individual and organizational strategies to minimize bias

Driving DEI: Inclusive Workplace Strategies

As a global society, we are becoming more diverse every day. Today, many companies are striving to be more diverse and inclusive but are falling short. Why? Because most companies are not doing the right kinds of activities, not doing enough activities, or are only addressing one piece of the issue.

DEI initiatives can be compared to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Diversity awareness starts at the bottom and sets the foundation, then as organization’s progress they move to active diversity management and evolve to become inclusive at the top of the pyramid. If an organization sets out to be inclusive and equitable from the start, then diversity will naturally follow.

This presentation is focused on helping organizations leverage inclusion to get the benefits of diversity. Neuroscience aspects to creating inclusion and building safe teams will be discussed, as well as helping people understand the power of micro aggressions.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Appreciate the difference between diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
· Explore the impact of microaggressions
· Learn how inclusion and psychological safety impacts teams
· Apply proven strategies to develop an inclusive culture

Overcoming Bias and Ageism: Creating a Boomer-Millennial Dream Team

Unconscious biases shape the decisions we make by affecting the way we interpret information and how we interact with others—thus significantly impacting who gets hired. In addition, we have more age diversity in the workforce than ever before and now have five generations working side-by-side—which can be a challenge to navigate.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn about bias (especially ageism) and how it impacts how we work together. We will also discuss the strengths of each generation, and how you can create a Boomer-Millennial dream team.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Explore how global diversity trends are shaping the workforce
· Identify types and causes of bias, and the impact of ageism at work
· Leverage the strengths of each generation
· Create a Boomer-Millennial dream team

EQ and You: Building Success Through Emotional Intelligence

Did you know that a leader’s ability to manage emotions and interact successfully with colleagues at all levels of an organization is directly linked to that leader’s ability to achieve the highest performance potential?

Research has identified an individual’s EQ as a key aspect and driver of leadership effectiveness. But it does not just stop at leaders. EQ has been shown to be a key differentiator between good and great performance for both individuals and teams, and unlike IQ, EQ can be improved.

A systematic and committed approach is necessary to build emotionally competent organizations. A strategic cycle of assessment, learning, practice, and feedback over time will enable employees to build competencies that can help develop high-performing teams and leaders.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Examine the importance of EQ in the workplace
· Appreciate differences in EQ and gender
· Leverage neuroscience and psychological safety to impact teams
· Explore the impact of EQ on leadership
· Apply practical strategies to improve EQ competencies

How to Leverage Emotional Intelligence During Change

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to perceive and express emotions, understand, and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in self and others.

EQ has been shown to be a key differentiator between good and great performance for both individuals and teams, and unlike IQ, EQ can be improved. These skills are critical in helping us cope during organizational change or any crisis, including global pandemics such as COVID-19. How we make decisions, show empathy, relate to other people, and express our own needs will determine how well we deal with changes.

We will discuss what EQ is, how it impacts us both personally and professionally, and how we can leverage it during times of stress.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Leverage the EQ competencies most important in coping with change
· Explore the impact of EQ on leadership and teams
· Differentiate between teams with high EQ and teams with low EQ
· Apply practical strategies to improve these critical EQ competencies

Hiring for EQ: How to Select Employees with High Emotional Intelligence

Have you ever made a hiring mistake? We all have. Candidates may look great on paper, but once on the job we realize that they lack critical skills that enable them to work effectively with others.

In this presentation, Dr. Shawn Andrews will discuss the importance of key emotional intelligence skills and the bottom-line impact of having talented people with high EQ at all levels of an organization.

She will discuss the neuroscience behind EQ and teams and provide a behavioral framework for hiring. In addition, your team will receive behavioral interviewing tips and tools they can use to select for high emotional intelligence, including the opportunity to access more than one hundred interview questions based on EQ competencies.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to:
· Identify the most important EQ skills for the job
· Assess the level of EQ during the interview process using a behavioral framework
· Apply tips and tools to select employees with high EQ
· Improve the most important EQ skills based on specific jobs

Insights Discovery Colors – Foundational Workshop

The origins of personality trait theory date back to ancient Greece and Hippocrates. Hippocrates observed four distinct groups of characteristics, which he labeled the ‘four humours’. He determined that once he could identify what type of ‘humour’ a person had, he could predict their likely behavior.

Many researchers have subsequently expanded on this knowledge, and Insights has built on the extensive work of Swiss Psychologist Dr. Carl Jung to develop the Insights Discovery Learning System.

This system uses four distinct color energies (Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green, and Cool Blue) which you can apply in your daily life to help you understand why you behave in the way you do, and why other people might behave differently. This foundational training workshop is designed to help you improve your effectiveness as an individual, in teams, in organizations, and in leadership.

I have had the opportunity of participating in other major personality trait-based learning programs (Myers-Briggs, Social Styles, and DiSC) and have found Insights Discovery Colors to be the most practical, applicable, and easy to use on a daily basis.

During this interactive workshop, you will learn how to:
· Recognize differences and identify the unique culture of your team
· Explore team goals, challenges, communication styles, and values
· Focus on individual team member strengths (not on weaknesses)
· Apply practical uses of colors, such as non-verbal communication, interactions, work environment, listening, and emailing
· Appreciate your team’s color diversity

Insights Discovery Colors - Team Effectiveness

This workshop focuses on employees in specific teams or departments and will addresses issues and challenges most critical to team success.

This workshop is ideal if you want to:
· Identify your team’s strengths and challenges
· Create space for open and honest dialogue within the team
· Overcome an obstacle that is holding the team back
· Develop action plans for continuous improvement

The Insights Team Effectiveness wheel and materials for this workshop are different from the Insights Discovery workshop. The team-oriented wheel focuses on 8 areas - results orientation, shared purpose, agility, collaboration, trust, cohesion, working methods, and measurement.
These areas are explored through a variety of exercises and discussion with the group, in a fun and interactive format.