Zap the Gap: Secrets to Accelerating Generational Harmony

There are four generations, and soon to be five that work side by side in today’s organizations. Each has its own culture. What complicates generational diversity is what complicates all diversity- all of the other layers that make up a human being coexisting with generational differences. Each group has different memories, motivators, priorities, and preferences that consciously and unconsciously inform their behavior on the job and elsewhere.

Join Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP in a highly interactive session to not only explore the make-up of each generation, but to also identify the key factors that inspire each generation to deliver their best work. You will discover how unconscious bias impacts behavior within all generations, and how best to appreciate instead of criticize the differences. Lenora will share best practices from award winning companies she highlighted in her book, TRAILBLAZERS: How Top Business Leaders are Accelerating Results through Inclusion and Diversity, while she facilitates your ideas on what works and what does not.

You will walk away from this session with:
• Actionable tactics to defuse your own unconscious bias in order to engage each generational team member in a positive and productive way.
• Methods to communicate with others how best to work with you.
• A clear understanding of each generation’s values.
• Techniques to flex your style when working with generations different from your own.
• A worksheet of suggested actions to help you engage across generations.

This workshop includes small group activities, and case studies, as well as other adult learning techniques that make the session fun yet packed with applicable takeaways.

Turning Barriers into Bridges: Reversing the Impact of Unconscious Bias on Talent Management

In today’s world, culture is much more than ethnicity and gender. It is all the ways we are similar and different. As the dramatic shift to a highly diverse workplace continues, organizations know they must help employees understand, accept, and capitalize on differences as well as similarities. They know the cultural backgrounds and experiences of diverse teams and clients can enrich the organization, making it more innovative and competitive, yet the institution’s ability to manage these organizational changes can strengthen or impede results.

Enhancing your inclusion management practices enables you to make systems changes that help attract and retain the best talent. This highly interactive, non-judgmental and fun session provides an opportunity for participants to discover how and why unconscious bias impacts talent management and other business decisions; and then how to minimize its effects in order to increase positive bottom-line results.

As a result of attending this session, participants will be able to:
• Improve their awareness of the impact of their micro-behaviors on others
• Understand the neuroscience of bias and decision making
• Limit the influence of bias on their talent decisions
• Explore the Four Cornerstones of Cultural Competence that accelerate organizational results

S.T.O.P.℠ – Technique For Reducing Culture Collisions

There are barriers, booby traps, and blocked roadways on our journey toward achieving cultural competence. What do you say to the co-worker who always wants to touch your locks or braids? How do you tell your manager to stop giving you a high-five every time he agrees with something you say? How do you get your Baby Boomer colleague to stop reminding you that you are too young to know…?

The biggest barrier to giving feedback in these situations is the fear most people have when it comes to speaking up in a respectful way to encourage others to stop insensitive or inappropriate behavior. One of the major reasons people do not speak up more often when they experience inappropriate behavior is because they do not know how to speak up when they have to interact with the offender on a regular basis. If the offender is your manager speaking up may seem too dangerous. If the offender is a colleague in your department, well it is easier just to be silent. Or is it? That silence perpetuates inappropriate behavior.

Lenora’s four-step process called S.T.O.P. ℠ for giving feedback is easy to understand and is produces successfully results. Join her for this highly interactive session to learn a technique that can be used at work, home, and even with children.

Maximize the Power of Inclusion by Disrupting the Impact of Unconscious Bias

Bias has been misunderstood for years. Due to recent research in the area of the neuroscience of bias and its impact on decision making, we now know that everyone has bias, and our daily decisions are impacted by them without our awareness. The good news is once we become aware of the impact of our biases, we can choose to disrupt those biases that produce negative outcomes.

Internationally recognized author and hall of fame speaker, Lenora Billings-Harris examines and helps you reframe your approach to diversity, inclusion, and employee engagement. Using an evidence-based approach, Lenora provides practical yet cutting edge insights that can be immediately applied.

You will explore what bias is, why it is necessary in our lives, and how unconscious bias impacts productivity, team performance and bottom-line business results. Lenora reveals the interdependence of these concepts and the missing components needed to create an environment that supports diversity of thought. This content-rich session will help you identify the key skills that accelerate positive results in our fast-paced multicultural world.

Key Takeaways:
• You will define and learn the correlation of diversity, inclusion and bias
• You will discover how unconscious bias impacts key decisions
• You will understand how bias works in the human brain’s architecture
• You will be able to apply B-BASIC SM – a bias disruption technique

From Adversaries to Allies: 7 Keys to High Performance Cross-Gender Communication

In order to accomplish large scale results in a climate that is sometimes unconsciously adversarial, key skills are needed to conduct the courageous conversations that get things moving and keep them on target.

This fun yet practical presentation will accelerate your communication skills across genders and your ability to harness support in unlikely places. You will explore ways to reframe your cross-gender communication for highly effective results. This research-based session will help you uncover unintentional barriers to effective cross-gender productivity and engage in techniques that recognize communication differences without judging them. You will discover your own hidden communication strengths. This session produces the best results when both men and women learn the key skills presented.

As a result of applying the principles and skills discussed, you will be able to:

• Discover the unconscious biases – blindspots- that hinder cross gender productivity
• Identify the 3 major male and female communication tendencies
• Explore the 5 micro-aggressions that hinder effective cross-gender communication
• Manage gender conflict more effectively
• Access worksheets with tips, assessments and worksheets for future application

The focus of this session is on communication solutions not gender bashing, thus both men and women can enhance their effectiveness.

Beyond Diversity Rhetoric: Cultural Intelligence for Our Global Village

Are you ready to go beyond multicultural awareness? Is your organization ready to create a respectful, engaging environment that utilizes is diversity to gain a competitive advantage? If so, this program is for you.

By participating in this session, you will be able to:

• Explore Transformational Diversity Management based on the best practices of award winning companies.
• Explore ways to evaluate your organization’s current processes to identify gaps and celebrate successes.
• Discover techniques that engage Middle Management and empower employees around D&I outcomes.

This presentation offers participants an opportunity to explore the Transformational Diversity Management Principles™ based on the work of Lenora Billings- Harris, CSP in her book TRAILBLAZERS: How Top Business Leaders are Accelerating Results through Inclusion and Diversity, and her latest research with the Bryan School of Business, University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

Join Lenora for this informative session exploring inclusiveness and multiculturalism from a business bottom-line point of view. You will leave with actionable tactics and strategies that drive diversity success.

5 Secrets Revealed: How Top Business Leaders use Diversity and Inclusion to Accelerate Bottom-Line Results

Uncover critical strategies and successes related to world class diversity and inclusion management used by award-winning organizations such as Dell, Sodexo, IBM, the Coca-Cola Company and others. Lenora Billings-Harris, co-author of TRAILBLAZERS: How Top Business Leaders are Accelerating Results through Inclusion and Diversity will lead you through the key components of measurable success related to:

• CEO Commitment
• Chief Diversity Officer Competencies
• Making Diversity Education Effective
• Engaging Middle Managers
• Metrics & Scorecards that Contribute to Business Success
• You will leave this session with clear, specific strategies and tactics that can help make your organization’s diversity and inclusion plan world class.
• To encourage the most involvement you will work in small groups, as well as contribute to the large group via the use of innovative sharing techniques. This session is learner-directed, allowing the highest possible opportunity for self-discovery.