[caption id="attachment_733" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Police wearing riot gear walk toward a man with his hands raised in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)[/caption] In his poem Dream Deferred, Langston Hughes asked: "What happens to a dream deferred ?" Sixty three years later, we have found an answer in Ferguson, Missouri. Some people say the anger of... Read More
The province of Saskatchewan has a booming economy but projections are that the current workforce will shrink as workers get older. So they are looking for workers. However, merely filling the ranks is not good enough. They must create an inclusive culture. Despite being recognized as one of Canada's top "diversity employers", creating an inclusive culture is... Read More
In today's increasingly diverse world it's important to make meetings and events accessible to everyone; it's not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do. I recently made a keynote presentation to 200 at a staff development conference at Toronto's George Brown College. I was impressed with the effort the College... Read More
Few people would disagree that Blacks and other non-whites are treated differently than whites by the criminal justice system. All the statistical data show that Blacks get harsher penalties, longer sentences and are over-represented in prisons . Many people blame police for this disparity and they are partly right; but the average cop on the beat is... Read More
[caption id="attachment_665" align="aligncenter" width="660"] The Grand Canyon and the Colorado River[/caption] There’s an ongoing war of words between the anti-oppression, diversity and inclusion and intercultural competence camps. It can be nasty sometimes. All sides have the same goal of eliminating discrimination, racism and creating inclusive workplaces, but their approaches are very different. After attending an... Read More
A successful diversity and inclusive program has many moving parts, so it's important to make sure all the parts are operating at full capacity. And like a high-performance sports car, the D&I program must run on all cylinders. Diversity programs are often initiated in the human resources department for many reasons. For example, the organization... Read More
Canada is celebrated around the world for its tolerance and acceptance of people who are different. In fact, Canadians wear its multiculturalism as a badge of honour. although there are times when the multi-varied fabric gets frayed at the edges. From its early history Canada has been all about "inclusion." It hasn't always been easy:... Read More
Members of a Diversity and Inclusion Council completed the following sentence: "Leaders in an organization are being inclusive when...." They are walking the (diversity) talk and modeling inclusive behaviour. They are taking part in both formal and informal processes that support the development of an inclusive organization. They understand community expectations and hold their staff accountable for... Read More
Just because a team is diverse -- having people with different perspectives, race and cultural backgrounds -- is no guarantee the team will be effective. A recent analysis of the composition of top management teams by the Centre for Effective Organizations (part of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California) has... Read More
[caption id="attachment_596" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Diversity Inertia = Competing Priorities + Comfort Zones[/caption] Newton's first law -- the law of inertia -- states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. The same law can be applied to diversity and inclusion programs in organizations. Diversity inertia occurs when... Read More