Series Description

Over the last couple of years, we’ve all be made aware (or powerfully reminded) of the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within our organizations and our communities.  The imperative is clear: inclusion and racial equity optimizes organizational performance and societal outcomes — not only for people of color, but for everyone.  But wanting to be more inclusive and actually being more inclusive are usually two very distinct conditions.  The latter takes work: policy and system changes, education and discernment, intentionality and constant effort.

The Performance Excellence Network — in partnership with the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence — is pleased to host a special online workshop series: “Best Practices in DEI.”  The series will be six stand-alone half-day modules and can either be attended “ala carte” or as a complete series.  The content is uniquely aligned with the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework, exploring many facets of diversity, equity, and inclusion through the lens of this evidence-based, proven Framework (however, your organization does not have to be officially using Baldrige to benefit from the value of this series!). The first module is Wednesday, January 10: "Introduction to DEI: Identifying & Mitigating Unconscious Bias.”  (Other module dates and topics listed below.)

The series will feature six half-day online workshops — all highly interactive discussions that will explore results-based methods and proven effective practices that will help organizations better appreciate diversity; improve inclusion within its workforce, supplier network, and marketplace; and promote greater equity within their organizational systems.  Participants will walk away from each session with a tool(s), a template(s), and/or a process(es) – all carefully designed or curated by experienced DEI experts.

New this year: each session will be followed by a "30-Day Challenge," in which participants pick 1-2 insights they commit to implement in the next 30 days, applying the learning to create a tangible impact!

Each workshop will be facilitated from a combination of leading experts in DEI:

• Lisa Tabor, President & Owner, CultureBrokers LLC
• Sandra Ogunremi, DHA, Spiritual Care Services, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Monument Health, Rapid City SD
• Nicole Andrews, CEO, & Catherine Davis, Director of Curriculum & Development, HomeGrown LLC
• Trina Olson, co-founder & CEO, Team Dynamics
• Plus other DEI experts to be added throughout the series!

New this year: for those who can't attend in real time, we're offering an on-demand (post-session) viewing option.  Obviously, you miss the benefit of the live, interactive discussion.  But we know how busy everyone is, so are excited to offering this opportunity!

Session 1 is January 10 from 9:00-1:00 CT and will focus on us as individuals and leaders — understanding and managing the unconscious biases we all have — adjusting our prejudices and becoming better allies and leaders.

Session Description

Have you ever wondered why you think the way that you do? Have you ever wondered why you make some of the decisions that you make or say some of the things you say? As we become more aware of the importance of diversity, inclusion, and racial equity on the effectiveness of our organizations and communities, identifying, understanding, and processing some of your unconscious bias — as leaders and professionals — also becomes critically important.

This highly interactive workshop will help us discover our natural tendencies so that we can create, lead, and sustain environments that facilitate more inclusion and equity.  It will be facilitated by Dr. Sandra Ogunremi, Manager of Spiritual Care Services, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Monument Health, Rapid City.  Dr. Ogunremi will share processes and tools to help us as leaders and professionals better mitigate our unconscious bias.

Workshop learning objectives include:

• Introduce the concept of organizational excellence through the lens of the Baldrige Framework: how DEI & the core value of "Valuing People" drives performance within any type of organization or community
• Introduce the basic concepts of a robust organizational DEI effort: definitions, expected Return on Investment (ROI)
• Advance understanding of biases and how we process information, as individuals
• Explore the impact biases have on leadership decision making and organizational outcomes
• Build the knowledge necessary to move from awareness into action by becoming aware of our biases and mitigating them

If attending “ala carte,” this workshop is $200 for PEN/WCPE members ($400 for non-members).  Teams of 3-4 members $175/each; teams of 5+ are $150/each. Investment for the full series is $1000 (for members only); if you are attending several workshops as part of the series, rates will be prorated for the number of modules you attend (inquire to PEN).  In addition, if you are not yet a member, contact PEN to explore the value of membership, including "bundling" membership into the investment in this series!

The on-demand option is $100 per session (recording included for those attending live).

Series Schedule

For those interested in participating in the remaining modules in the full series (and benefiting from a series discount) – the rest of the series topics are here:

• Session 1 (Jan 10): Intro to DEI: Identifying & Mitigating Unconscious Bias
• Session 2 (Mar 13): Leading a DEI Effort
• Session 3 (May 8): Creating a More Inclusive, Equitable Work Environment (focused on areas such as recruiting/hiring, managing change, work accomplishment including job structure/design, more inclusive benefits & policies)
• Session 4 (July 10): Creating More Inclusive, Equitable Workforce processes (focused on areas such as embedding DEI into processes that drive workforce engagement, creating a more inclusive organizational culture, integrating DEI into performance management/accountability processes, integrating DEI into training & career development)
• Session 5 (Sept 18): Building DEI Into Customer-Facing Systems & Operations (focused on areas such as customer listening methods, segmentation, relationship management and fair treatment, access/support, satisfaction determination, design/management of key products and work processes, selecting/managing supply network)
• Session 6 (Nov 13): Integrating DEI Into Strategic Plans & Measuring DEI Efforts (focused on areas such as assessing intercultural competence, creating an inclusive planning process, balancing the needs of all stakeholders in strategic plans, creating action plans and allocating resources equitably, selecting metrics to evaluate/improve DEI efforts, integrating DEI into organizational scorecards and measurement systems)

All sessions will be 9AM-1PM CT and online.

Most of us — as leaders, professionals, and just people — understand the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion and realize that we need to make changes to improve our organizations and communities.  But change happens at an individual level, so come prepared to understand, identify, and address the unconscious biases we all have.