What's The Difference?

What You Will Learn: Why the way in which leaders engage with emotions at work matters, and why a lack of emotional support can be damaging Why emotional support in the workplace is key to allowing team members to feel engaged and valued Why too few business leaders see feeling involved in emotions at work as part of their leadership role How research by Alisa Yu and Justin Berg at Stanford and Julian Zlatev at Harvard Business School shows that people need emotional support and acknowledgment How the research shows that emotional acknowledgment is vital, and what important results the researchers discovered that business leaders can learn from Why incurring the “risk” of acknowledging employees’ emotions out loud builds a strong sense of trust and can help leaders strengthen their leadership Why asking “how are you feeling?”, especially in the case of negative emotions, is crucial for building that trust About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development fro

What You Will Learn: How Frank Slootman, CEO of Snowflake, recently told Bloomberg that the company’s focus should be on “merit” rather than achieving diversity goals How the scientific data shows us that an organization that has a diverse workforce paired with greater cultural competence performs better than their peers Why the statement that the focus should be on “merit” over “diversity goals” is implicitly saying that white men are more capable than women and ethnic minorities Sara defines the term “meritocracy” and explains why the meritocracy fallacy doesn’t stand up to logical scrutiny How only 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are Black/African American, demonstrating that white CEOs are overrepresented in the Fortune 500 Why the meritocracy fallacy is based on false assumptions and ignores systemic and individual biases employees face Sara highlights key studies that demonstrate the very real problem of unconscious racial and gender biases in the hiring process How a study proved that white men with criminal r

What You Will Learn: Why managers can’t effectively set their employees up for success if they can’t recognize inequity in the workplace Sara shares a story of a rockstar physical therapist who had to do lots of extra, unnecessary work because his manager wasn’t setting him up for success Why one theme that always comes up in workplace focus groups with employees from non-dominant groups is that they have to work much harder for less recognition Why managers or supervisors who can’t see the presence or impact of inequity in the workplace can’t set their employees up to succeed Why self-awareness of your own cultural competence development is the first step in making positive change Why you should acknowledge employees’ additional burden and then ask how you can help ease that burden, and why you must be prepared to listen to the hard truths About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and dive

What You Will Learn: Why it is important to reflect on how DEI work has evolved in the workplace, from when intentional DEI work began to the present Why the intentionality to seek greater Diversity within the workforce is a more recent phenomenon, beginning with Affirmative Action How DEI work began with a focus on Diversity and equality primarily in recruitment, and how inclusion was added around 25 years ago How Equity is the most recent aspect of DEI work, and how it focuses on going beyond the concept of “equality” to achieve true parity Why it is important to identify the systems of bias and our individual biases within our organizations to progress toward parity Why developing our cultural competence is the starting point for DEI work, so that we can begin to recognize biases and inequities in our organizations for what they are About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity

What You Will Learn: Why many, many times over the years of her work, Sara has been asked for a “list”: an instruction list of what to do and what to say in given situations How this desire for a “list” can be likened to a “fast food drive-thru” approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues, attempting to shortcut the real equity work Why there is no magic list that offers a shortcut, and why ongoing development, recognizing issues and addressing them with new policies and processes is unavoidable Why this desire for a list does come from the positive intent of wanting to not offend or cause issues, but why it also trivializes real equity work and its complexities Why doing the hard, intentional development work and understanding the unconscious lenses through which we see difference is vital for lasting change Why a lack of time and fear or uncertainty about the unknown are the two driving forces behind the desire for a magic list About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity an

What You Will Learn: How we are genetically programmed to deal with danger situations through the “fight, flight or freeze” response How marginalization in the workplace and minimization of differences cause people to often respond through the same survival mechanism Sara shares her personal experience of minimization and marginalization in the workplace when she was a young woman on a team of otherwise older men How another way people respond is through the “fight” response by pushing back against minimization and loudly calling out the things that make them different How there is often an undiscussed fourth response, “fawn”, where people seek the approval of those who are minimizing them How all four of the responses (fight, flight, freeze and fawn) are natural reactions for someone who is marginalized in an environment of minimization Why feeling marginalized, overlooked, excluded and having your differences minimized makes it that much harder to contribute or to do your best work Why too often, the respo

What Has Changed Since George Floyd: The New Landscape of DEI Work What You Will Learn: What has changed since George Floyd was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police a year ago, and the global protests his killing sparked Dawn shares her thoughts on DEI practice today and on our society’s evolving views of equity and diversity Why it is crucial to remember that Diversity is not new, and how the murder of George Floyd opened people’s eyes to the reality that has been with us all along How in some regards we’ve slid backwards in our collective cultural competence, and why some people now feel free to voice racist opinions openly How Diversity’s slow slide towards being a “political” topic has created an additional challenge for DEI practitioners Why more businesses are making public statements after race-based violent events take place, and why they are sometimes getting pushback from employees How DEI work has evolved since the 1980s and 1990s and moved beyond just training to more organizational and stra

What You Will Learn: How our unconscious minds work, and how thoughts begin in the unconscious mind before being passed to conscious awareness How the brain processes 11 million separate pieces of information in one second, and how 10,999,960 of those pieces of information are never passed to the conscious mind Why the unconscious mind is prone to making the assumption that our own personal experience is actually a universal experience How our lives are highly segregated, with people in the US averaging only one person in their circle of friends from a different racial group Sara shares a story of an encounter she had while playing tennis with her Black/Latino husband and her young daughter Sara shares a different story of how her son was stopped and interrogated by police multiple times a week in their neighborhood How the difference in experience shows up in the workplace, and how marginalized groups have a very different work experience from dominant groups How asking yourself “can I consider the possibil

What You Will Learn: How Polarization is the us/them stage of development, and why it often leads to defending the indefensible and hurtful actions of others Why Minimization sweeps differences under the rug, and why the language of minimization is a key component in defending the indefensible How the tragedy at the Unite the Right rally and counterprotest in Charlottesville is an example of defending the indefensible How the then-President of the United States used Minimization language by saying that there were “very fine people on both sides” How the Catholic church’s sexual abuse scandal led to Minimization statements defending the abusing priests How Minimization language continues to be used to defend the police murders of Black and Brown people Why we must recognize where the defense of indefensible actions comes from and address the root cause if we hope to move beyond Minimization Defending the Indefensible When terrible events like the murder of peaceful protester Heather Heyer in Charlottesville,

What You Will Learn: Why it is as important as ever to continue making the case for DEI in the workplace in today’s competitive environment How DEI work directly connects to business results, and how to use this information in your case for DEI work Why more racially diverse companies and teams tend to outperform companies that are more racially homogenous Why gender diversity in a company’s leadership team has a direct result in the value of the organization Why the increasing diversity of the labor pool highlights a growing need for a work environment that attracts that diverse talent Why it is important to tie your case to actual data from your own organization and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (or lack thereof) Why DEI work has an impact on talent retention and can help you dramatically lower your turnover and its associated costs Why cultural competence has a powerful and positive impact on an organization’s bottom line, and why developing your organization’s cultural competence offers a competiti

What You Will Learn: Why mental health in the workplace during Covid-19 is changing, and how this is impacting individuals and teams Why the mental health impact of the pandemic is having an outsized impact on women and BIPOC, amplified by systemic disparities How the CDC released a report in early April about the impact the pandemic is having on mental health, and what crucial information that report contains How the layers of traumas we are all experiencing in trying to adapt to the realities of the pandemic are making it more difficult to navigate through our normal work life How all of the various changes in our lives are feeding each other, and why marginalized people especially feel these changes How 42% of Black, 27% of Asian, and 22% of Latinx and 19% of multiracial people have experienced an increase in race-based hostility, compared with 1% of White people How 40% of women and nonbinary people and 42% of transgender people have experienced gender-based harassment compared to only 2% of men Why more

About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years. Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, “Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World,” that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why adapting and responding to others’ filters is one way to communicate and interact across the stages of development Why responding to stage-appropriate development is crucial, and why leading up in cultural competence is important for communicating effectively across stages Sara cites an e

About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years. Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, “Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World,” that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why people often struggle with talking about minimization and addressing Diversity and Inclusion issues with leaders they report to in their organizations What the “situational leadership” model is, and how it specifically addresses “skill and will” in any given situation Why high will, low s

About Sara Taylor Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years. Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, “Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World,” that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that. What you’ll learn about in this episode: What is dominant culture (and what isn’t), and how being a part of the dominant culture can sometimes cause you to be blind to other perspectives Why everyone else is forced to adjust to the dominant culture, and how multicultural people sometimes struggle to identify with all parts of themsel

What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why the first step in developing cultural competence is to “see self”, the secret to more effectively understand yourself and understand others Sara offers a simple exercise that can help you better define and understand your culture, and she explains how uses this question in training to create an eye-opening experience Why it is important to differentiate your cultural descriptors by whether they are frames or filters, and how frames and filters differ Sara defines her personal frames, such as being White, cisgender, and female, and her filters, such as being extroverted, competitive, and a woman small business owner Why identifying your filters is critical in seeing yourself and understanding how you relate to the world and the people around you Why paying attention to your interactions throughout your day can help you see how your filters often make your decisions for you Why it is so important to understand your own culture and see yourself, and how this can help

What you’ll learn about in this episode: What patterns and challenges people often struggle with when developing their cultural competence, and why the sense of “having to give up” is a common obstacle Sara gives a hypothetical example to illustrate the importance of how you deliver a message to get your intent across effectively Why shifting our filters isn’t about giving anything up but instead can be a powerful way to “add on” in our messaging Why Black women are often given the message that to be “professional” or “promotable”, they must have the “right” hair Why we don’t have to abandon our preferences but instead shift how we see and understand those preferences Why people often retreat to their “favorite tools” if they’re in a lower stage of effectiveness, and how moving out of our automatic responses gives us more effective tools Why pushback from the perspective of the dominant culture often comes from fear of losing out, whereas from a nondominant culture it comes from frustration Why we must first

Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years. Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, “Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World,” that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How the New York Post recently featured an article titled “(company) slammed for diversity training that urged workers to be ‘less white'” Why “White” is a frame but “whiteness” is a filter, and why the first can’t be changed but the second can How our dominant culture is White, cisgender, straight, able-bodied

What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why organizations do more and more DEI work but seem to make no real progress, because they focus on Minimizing the differences instead of maximizing them! focused on Minimization How to determine if your organization is operating from Minimization, and what impact this can have on your workplace and your team Why being in Minimization will predictably bring lukewarm compliance and wasted resources without getting results. How to do DEI work with intense and effective commitment Why Minimization means being unable to differentiate the “differences that make a difference” when you need to be able to differentiate Why the Minimization stage can be a difficult barrier to hiring, retaining and promoting diverse talent How the inability to differentiate can also be costly in your market and within your relationship to existing and potential customers or clients Why cultural competence is shown to be a key separator between the lowest performing and highest performing teams

Verona Mitchell (she, her, hers) is a certified intercultural development & diversity executive coach and global leader aligning DEI performance with personal, business goals and strategies. Her strengths are DEI management, leadership and intercultural development for both personal, groups and teams. Verona aids business in discovering the beauty and value of intercultural experiences and diversity as a part of their return on their human investment (ROHI). That’s Verona’s term, ROHI. In 2003, 2005 and 2017, she delivered groundbreaking research on cultural frameworks to communication at the Worldwide Conferences on Culture and Education at John Cabot University and George Washington University, both in Rome, Italy. She holds both a B.A. and M.A. in Organizational Leadership and has credit towards a Phd. in Public Policy Administration with specialization in International Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs). Verona is a certified intercultural development & diversity executive and a global leadershi

Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years. Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, “Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World,” that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why we typically pay attention to and notice another person’s visible actions and behaviors, rather than the thoughts that drive those actions How our unconscious filters are what drive our thoughts that lead to our actions, and why recognizing and paying attention to filters is the key to breaking the feedbac