The Training Oasis Inc. - Diversity Training

The Changing Face of Diversity - Diversity Training, Toronto, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai

A Highly Interactive Diversity Training Workshop

 

  • We are a Toronto (Canada) based consulting firm specialzing in training and development and instructional design.
  • ALL inquiries are handled from Toronto.

 

 

Diversity vs Equity; Can You Spot the Difference?

...while the terms are often used interchangeably, diversity and equality mean different things. Diversity is recognizing our differences while embracing them...Equality...refers to fairness and equal treatment, where everyone has the same opportunities....if everyone doesn't have similar opportunities for professional development, career pathing, and access to resources, you're not fostering equality....you are ticking the diversity box on paper, but not making a true effort to nurture and empower each individual to their best potential.

Elise James-Decruise, Fortune Magazine

The term "diversity" conjures up images of colourful, multi-cultural, pot luck dinner. Everyone shares their own food and music and shares in the celebration. In corporations, "diversity" is often misued as a smoke screen to cover up the REAL barriers that stand in the way of workplace equity. As a result, despite decades of diversity training, the glass ceiling is still very reall and executive teams in North America are still overwhelmingly White and male. Clearly, the barriers to true equity have not been removed.

 

How we Can Help

The Changing Face of Diversity helps organizations identify and design strategies to remove barriers to equity at the interpersonal, team, and corporate levels.

During this highly interactive and upbeat accelerated learning programme, we will take a hard look at personal and organizational practices and hidden biases to develop proactive strategies for promoting true equity in organizations.

During breaks, we will take a trip around the world and sample food, music and travel DVDs to various countries. This will underscore the fact that true diversity is a celebration of differences and similarities.

Since 1996, The Training Oasis, a Toronto training and development firm specializing in accelerated learning and experiential learning, has help rapidly growing organizations in 9 countries improve their effectiveness.

 

Who We've Helped

Our clients for diversity training have included IKEA, Novo Nordisk Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Training in best practices and for diversity and equity form an integral part of our The Changing Face of Diversity programming.

Our President and founder, Anne Thornley-Brown, co-authored the book West Indians in Toronto, Implications for Helping Professionals. Before launching The Training Oasis, Inc., she facilitated diversity training for numerous schools, universities, collegies, social agencies, and hospitals.

We offer experiential learning, accelerated learning, and training and development to rapidly changing companies all over the world including Canada, USA, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

 

Excellent facilitator. She greatly respected and accommodated our differences in learning styles. I left the session with many ideas and practices to think about and implement.

IKEA

The Changing Face of Diversity really hit the mark. You were enthusiastic, organized, clear, and motivating. Your transparencies and hand-outs were helpful and useful. Your examples were realistic and adaptable to our own situations. We enjoyed participating in discussions and your "talk show". We'll never be the same. we certainly appreciate the time you took to prepare and present a very enlightening and crucial topic. Our members gave us excellent feedback.

Lorraine Weygman, Former Director of Programming, Human Resources Professionals of West Toronto

The pacing of the course was very good - perfect. There was no opportunity to lose interest. You are an excellent speaker. I really enjoyed listening to you!

Deepa Chander, Manager, Financial Services, Novo Nordisk Canada

The emphasis on practicing the skills learnt, though at times painful, was very useful. Ultimately, I was left with a feeling of having done a good beginning....Anne has an excellent grasp of the subject. The expert in her really commanded my respect.

M B Sakorkar, LTITL (India)

[We] have been using this method to interview candidates for ... one year now and have found it to be most effective.

Elaine Kelly, Customer Service Manager, Bell Mobility, (Toronto)

A good balance with video/presentation slides and lots of practical exercises.

Gillian Chong, Treasury Business Planning, Standard Chartered Bank (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

 

 

 

The Changing Face of Diversity

Overview

Optimal Group Size: 12+

Individual and team coaching clinics are available for smaller groups.

 

Course Length: 1 Day

 

After examining best practices for ensuring equity in hiring, promotions, and daily interactions, this workshop will address "real" diversity challenges identified by the participants. For best results it is extremely important for senior executives to go through the training before or with the rest of the team.

Benefits

This workshop will raise the awareness of participants to:

 

  • Pinpoint organizational policies & practices that are barriers to equity.
  • Re-think the personal and organizational filters through which individuals from diverse background are perceived on a daily basis.
  • Gain greater insight into your personal biases.
  • Identify "red flags" for harassment and discrimination.
  • Learn to recognize the warning signs for discrimination and harassment.

 

About Your Facilitator

Anne Thornley-Brown, your facilitator for this session, has an MBA from York University and an MSW from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in a multi-cultural community in Montreal. Anne brings a unique background and a global perspective to this sensitive topic.

 

Anne's personal and business travels have taken her to a total of 24 countries in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Anne has conducted workshops and team building sessions in 14 countries. She draws on these experiences to address this topic with sensitivity and humour without backing away from the important issues.

 

While attending McGill University, she worked as a summer flight attendant for Air Canada on flights to Europe, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and throughout the USA, and Canada.

 

Anne co-authored the book West Indians in Toronto Implications for Helping Professionals.

 

She also received developmental funding from the Harold Greenberg fund for her original screenplay Back a Yard. Anne wrote A Resource Guide on Sexual Coercion for Educators to accompany Theatre Direct Canada's Dora Mavor Moore Award winning play Thin Ice. Anne's experience as a professional actress have given her insight into the media messages and images that reinforce stereotypes and shape how women and members of visible minority groups are perceived.

 

You can read about some of Anne's experiences in Asia in the
Music for Cross Cultural Accelerated Learning
a special issue in our Spice of the Month Accelerated Learning Ezine archives.

Video

Agenda

  • Diversity Session Starter
  • Perceptions & Preferences
  • Diversity in Interviewing & Hiring
  • Impact of Diversity on Promotional Decisions
  • Sexual Harassment: Policies & Best Practices
  • Sexual Nepotism and its Fallout
  • Avoiding a Posion Work Environment
  • Diversity in Day to Day Interactions
  • Your Diversity Challenges
  • Forum Roleplay
  • Action Planning

 

 

 

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Instructional Design

We custom design or re-design courses to create highly interactive experiential learning programmes.

For companies on a budget, we can prepare a complete training blueprint and templates for participant workbooks, slides, and facilitator's manuals. We'll review your final product and provide feedback.