Event Details

Community by Design

While we use the word “diversity” in a lot of interesting ways, it simply means difference – and the world is full of difference; there are likely countless ways in which we can be different from each other as human beings. We think in different ways, we work and solve problems in different ways, we look different, we come from different families, different cultures, different languages, religions and communities. As more and more diversity finds its way into our workplaces, schools and communities it brings with it powerful opportunities to learn from each other. It also brings greater potential for conflict. Not only do our differences lead us to different perspectives, but our real and perceived differences also can make it easier for us to misunderstand, misinterpret and miscommunicate.

40+ years of research suggests that as an organization or community gets more diverse, things are either going to get better or they are going to get worse.

Which outcome would you prefer?

This interactive workshop will unpack the concepts of diversity and inclusion, as well an examination of the most common and fundamental barriers to actually providing an inclusive experience, for example the roles played by unwritten rules, and unconscious or implicit bias.

Inclusion, properly understood, is inherently activist. It is not a product of values or intentions, but of choices, actions and practices. This workshop will end focused specifically on those takeaways (individual and collective).

Participants will:

• Leave with a new clarity regarding diversity and inclusion.
• Examine a model of inclusion and how to make it happen.
• Understand basic organizational and human social tendencies that make inclusion difficult.
• Understand the role played by unwritten rules and unconscious bias.

joe gerstandt is changing the organizational diversity & inclusion paradigm and brings greater clarity, action and impact to this work.

joe has worked with Fortune 100 corporations, small non-profits, and everything in between. He speaks at numerous conferences and summits, and blogs at joegerstandt.com. He is a featured contributor for the Workforce Diversity Network Expert Forum and his insights have been published in Diversity Best Practices, Diversity Executive, HR Executive, The Diversity Factor, The American Diversity Report, the Corporate Recruiting Leadership Journal, Associations Now, other print and on-line journals and he co-authored the book Social Gravity: Harnessing the Natural Laws of Relationships.

joe grew up on a family farm in NW Iowa, served four years in the United States Marine Corps, including participation in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, attended Iowa State University and then spent 6 years working in management and business development for technology and communication companies. He then made a career change and went to work for a grassroots non-profit organization, and this is where he found himself drawn to issues related to diversity and inclusion and then became actively involved in that work.

Today, joe believes that we can ill afford to continue applying a 20th century approach to an increasingly critical set of 21st century issues. A strong advocate for resetting the diversity and inclusion conversation, joe sees diversity and inclusion as poorly understood and often misunderstood. His keynote messages and interactive workshops bring greater clarity, action, and impact to existing and new organizational diversity & inclusion efforts.

joe lives in Omaha, Nebraska (the middle of everywhere) with his patient, kind, patient, loving and patient wife, two daughters, a son, a dog, and a guinea pig.

To register:

https://form.jotform.com/SWCC-CE/Community-By-Design