Diversity and Inclusion Activities in the Workplace
Having diversity and inclusion activities in your workplace is not an easy task to do. But you should try at the earliest to start building a diverse team as it will help the organization in the future. It should be noted that the drive for Diversity & Inclusion should not be restricted to the upper level. Rather, all the levels of employees must be engaged in this. Having D&I activities in your workplace can have a huge impact on how your employees look at your business initiatives.
An important result of an inclusive workforce is that employees can perform to their best level. Perfection is not the goal. Companies need to foster inclusion at all levels by creating valuable employee experiences for already existing employees and for the potential employee base.
Diversity and Inclusion Activities in the Workplace
As a manager, you should start taking up discussions on diversity and inclusivity. But it can be difficult to start conversations on this topic. That is the reason it is much easier to rather conduct activities to demonstrate your point. That will allow your employees to process the information in a new way as compared to a tedious classroom lecture.
Walk apart, walk together.
Two volunteers are necessary for this activity. Both would stand in front of everyone facing each other. Once the volunteers are in place, the rest of the group will call out things that would denote how they are different from each other. This might include a place where they are from, their hair color, etc. When the two people have any difference, they take a step back. When they have similarities, they will step back together. During most rounds, the two people would mostly move away before coming back together.
The respect discussion.
Employees will walk up to another employee and introduce themselves (preferably with whom they do not communicate regularly). After introductions, employees should talk about what respect means to them. They should give examples of how it should be shown in diversity in the workplace. This leads to arguments, instead, every employee should have a voice of say.
Five moments.
Either pair off employees or put them in small groups. In the activity, each member would define five moments that most defined their lives. They can provide as much or as little detail as they like. When done, they can discuss the similarities between their defining moments in their lives. This will help employees engagement to bridge commonalities who think they might have very little in common.
Working together towards a goal.
If you want people to work together, give them a common goal. You can make people part of various team-building activities. Ensure that the groups that you assign to your various projects are already diverse in nature. This would not only allow you to take time for creating outside projects, but it would also allow your employees to work in real-life situations.
Each of these activities would make your employees to further learn about their work colleagues and know the basic concept behind diversity and inclusion in an organization. These activities will have positive outcomes for most of your employees.
Contact us if you are interested in a diversity and inclusion program that is tailored to the needs of your organization or team.
