Course Highlights
This virtual workplace equity course will:
- Define key terms, such as racism, workplace equality, and workplace equity, to establish a common language for dialogue.
- Explore best practices for initiating and navigating conversations about race and equity in professional settings.
- Discuss systemic privilege, bias, and microaggressions and their impact on workplace culture and engagement.
- Provide frameworks for giving and receiving feedback in sensitive situations.
- Offer tools to move from passive awareness to active allyship and accomplice-level advocacy.
Course Overview
Talking about race, equity, and workplace equality is essential for building inclusive and high-performing organizations, yet these discussions can feel uncomfortable and fraught with potential missteps. This two-segment course guides participants through foundational knowledge and practical strategies for addressing these challenging yet necessary topics.
The first segment establishes a shared understanding of racism, systemic advantage, and equity in the workplace. Participants will learn to differentiate between equality and equity, unpack privilege, and explore historical and contemporary examples of racial inequities in the United States. Through facts, figures, and real-world examples, participants will gain the context needed to engage in meaningful conversations about race and equity. This segment will also introduce productive dialogue techniques to help participants foster trust and openness during difficult discussions.
The second segment focuses on actionable strategies for addressing bias, microaggressions, and common missteps in workplace conversations about race. Participants will learn how phrases like “I don’t see color” can unintentionally harm efforts to foster inclusion and will explore frameworks for giving and receiving feedback effectively in uncomfortable situations. The program also emphasizes empathy, allyship, and active steps to challenge biases and promote equity within teams and organizations. By the end of the course, participants will leave with a deeper understanding of these topics and practical tools to lead and engage in discussions that drive positive change.
Segment One Objectives
At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Define racism, workplace equality, and workplace equity.
- Describe best practices for engaging in productive conversations about race and workplace equity.
- Discuss the value of increasing versus protecting a worldview or perspective.
- Explain privilege and systemic advantage.
- Describe the difference between individual intentions and collective group patterns.
- Give historic and contemporary examples of racial inequity in the United States and their impact on the workplace.
- Explain facts, figures, and statistics related to A Short and Incomplete History: Racial Inequity in America.
Segment One Modules
- A Timely Conversation: Why This and Why Now
- Productive Dialogues: Discussing Workplace Equity
- Perspectives on Privilege: Systemic Advantage and Disadvantage
- A Short and Incomplete History: Racial Inequity in America
- By the Numbers: The Statistics of Racism
Segment Two Objectives
At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Describe how bias and microaggressions affect workplace engagement.
- Explain how such phrases as “I don’t see color” negatively impact race relations at work.
- Explore how empathy can make a difference when building trust and addressing workplace equity.
- Offer frameworks for giving and receiving feedback in uncomfortable situations.
- Suggest a range of possible next steps.
Segment Two Modules
- Homework Review: Reactions, Revelations, Resistance
- In the News: It Happens Every Day
- Oh No He/She Didn’t: The Unknowing (and Knowing) Insensitive Things People Say and Do
- White Defensiveness: But I’m a Good Person
- Feedback Processing the Productive Way: Nine Productive Responses
- An Antiracist Framework: Challenging Underlying Beliefs
- Next Steps: From Abdication to Allyship to Accomplice
Target Audience
This virtual training program is designed for groups that want to:
- Foster a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture.
- Provide employees and leaders with tools to navigate difficult conversations about race and equity.
- Encourage active engagement in addressing systemic inequities and biases.
Suggested Formats
- Two-Segment Virtual Classroom Course
Questions This Page Answers About Workplace Equity Training
- Where can I find a course to teach my team about race, equity, and inclusion?
- Who offers training to help leaders navigate discussions about privilege, bias, and microaggressions?
- How can my team learn strategies to address inequities and foster allyship in the workplace?