While short-term fixes like day–long innovation sessions or ideation labs can spur the generation of ideas, they very rarely lead to a culture that actually embraces innovation. Like any other culture change, sustainable change requires an integrated system approach. Here are some tips for crreating an innovative culture.

The Word Association Exercise is a 30-minute ideation activity to help participants leverage diversity of thought and the infusion of multiple ideas into the idea generation process. The idea is to use the associations of random words to form connections and solutions to challenges or to generate new ideas.

In this article we share some best practice examples that are very innovative, creative approaches to diversity and inclusion. Our intend is that these examples serve as inspiration to you, providing ideas that you can adopt or adapt in your own organizations.

The Diversity Council Back-pocket exercise is a 20-minute exercise to facilitate idea generation and decision making process.

This framework will help you describe how your Diversity Council will add value to the organization and your employees. Your value framework is going to inform your strategic planning process and will help ensure that all the programs, events and activities support your D&I strategic objectives and overall business goals.

While the mission and purpose of the diversity council should be highly customized to the needs of the organization, there are some general practices and standards that can be adopted or adapted.

The structure, role and responsibility of councils vary among organizations but regardless of how your D&I council is structured, there are some key tips that will help ensure the success and effectiveness of your council.

Quick tips and how-tos to help you navigate diversity challenges and opportunities.

Middle manager engagement in diversity efforts continues to be a chief concern of DEI leadership. With pressure to perform, strained resources and competing priorities it is no wonder managers are not lining up to take on more responsibility. A first step in onboarding middle managers is gaining their vested interest, and critical to your success is positioning diversity and inclusion as a solution not a problem.

As a middle manager, you have direct connections to more junior-level employees, are instrumental in the shaping of careers, provide crucial connections to senior leadership and therefore are central to an organization’s ability to effectively institute change. Below you will find a few tips for being a positive driver of change.

The What Would You Do exercise is a 45-minute experiential activity designed to help participants recognize and address non-inclusive behavior, deal with conflict, and work together to problem-solve. Through discussion participants will more deeply understand the impact of exclusion, how to be an ally, and how to leverage their influence and privilege as managers to drive culture change.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has been recognized for its outstanding and innovative approach to diversity and often serves as a role model for other banks in the Federal Reserve System.  In this case study with Lora McCray, AVP of Diversity & Inclusion, we explore some of the highlights that set them apart as a trailblazer.

Training Tools:

The Level Playing Field exercise is a 15-minute experiential activity designed to illustrate the concept of privilege and the advantages privilege provides to some.

Tips for building trust with your employees and coworkers

Tips for pursuing self-awareness and deepening awareness of how your words and actions impact those around you.

Organizations are often run according to “the superchicken model,” where the value is placed on star employees who outperform others. And yet, this isn’t what drives the most high-achieving teams. Business leader Margaret Heffernan observes that it is social cohesion — built over every coffee break, every time one team member asks another for help — that leads over time to great results. It’s a radical rethink of what drives us to do our best work, and what it means to be a leader. Because as Heffernan points out: “Companies don’t have ideas. Only people do.”

At the core of VisionSpring’s Inclusive Leadership competency model is the concept of Leading Self – of managing and directing one’s own attitudes and behaviors in ways that are inclusive and free from disparity.

This article offers some concrete tips that are designed to help HR business partners navigate the diversity and inclusion space.

There is nothing more terrifying than the “Difficult Diversity Conversation.” There is an art to this conversation. Here are some tips for leading a positive and productive conversation.

The Difficult Conversations Checklist is a tool to help you organize your thoughts in preparation for a difficult conversation. It is specifically designed for diversity related conversations but can be used to help
you manage any conversation.

The Who Am I exercise is a 30-minute experiential activity designed to help participants recognize the existence of personal assumptions and unconscious biases and the impact on behavior and decisions.

In this interview, Susan Stith, Vice President, Diversity, Inclusion and Corporate Giving at Express Scripts discusses why the I Am Diversity Campaign was launched at Express Scripts, the key success factors and the organizational impact of the campaign.

VisionSpring’s Inclusive Leadership Competency Model addresses the concept of inclusive leadership from three main competencies: Leads Self, Leads Others; and Drives Results. This article focuses on the second competency, Leads Others.

Tips for removing bias from your decision-making process so you can fairly assess employees.

Four-star general Stanley McChrystal shares what he learned about leadership over his decades in the military. How can you build a sense of shared purpose among people of many ages and skill sets? By listening and learning — and addressing the possibility of failure.

Tips for Valuing All Employees

As Employee Resource Groups become a more prevalent component of common work environments, more and more employers are interested in engaging non-exempt workers in ERGs. While altering benefits offered to non-exempt workers require a dramatic systemic shift, there are some steps you can take in the short term for engaging your nonexempt workers in ERGs.

Is there a business case for diversity and inclusion in healthcare? When we take into account the world in which we live and the communities in which we serve the case for diversity seems somewhat obvious. Moving from conceptualization to actualization is where it becomes a bit more complicated. As a first step it is important to understand some of the links between diversity and the ability to deliver quality culturally competent care.

The Cultural Competence Action Plan is a tool designed to help healthcare providers identify competency strengths and opportunities for development. The tool identifies key competencies associated with the delivery of culturally competent care and provides a thought process for building competency in each area.