An Interactive Mini Course

Part 2: The Meeting

Contents Part Two

This blended learning experience takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Theory - 5 minutes Learn a bit more about diversity in the workplace.
Experience - 5-10 minutes Continue your experience as Tamara and attend a workplace meeting where you encounter instances of bias.
Reflect - 5 minutes Do a learning exercise to reflect on what you experienced, and how this might impact your workplace.
Repeat or Continue - Revisit the experience - do you see things differently?

Theory

How is Inclusion different to Diversity?

Diversity and inclusion are often spoken about as a single thing. It's important to note there is a difference though.

Diversity can be thought of as the 'what'. It's the mix of people that make up a workplace and their individual identities. Diversity can refer to among other things, different ages, genders, cultural backgrounds, geographies, physical abilities and disabilities, religions, and sexual orientation.

Inclusion is often referred to as the 'how' - the ways in which we bring together diverse people to work together harmoniously and productively. Inclusive workplaces treat all their employees fairly and respectfully, with equal opportunity to contribute, perform and be rewarded.

The two concepts go hand in hand. Your organisation might implement diversity policies, but may still maintain a culture where not everyone is welcome. Both concepts need to be implemented for a productive and effective workplace.

Credits to image goes herehttps://cultureplusconsulting.com/2018/06/17/understanding-the-four-factors-of-inclusion/

Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person’s feelings and experiences. It is emotionally “walking in another person’s shoes” feeling what they feel and seeing yourself and the world from their perspective. Empathy is not the same as sympathy. Watch Brene Brown’s 2-minute video explaining the difference.

You don’t have to agree with another person’s perspective or feelings to be empathetic toward them. Being empathetic means you recognize, understand and connect with the emotion they are experiencing.

In actual reality as opposed to virtual reality, you can’t always be put into someone else’s shoes and many times you can’t even imagine what it might be like from their perspective- you can only think about what you would do or feel in their situation, which isn’t the same as understanding what they actually are experiencing and feeling in the moment. What you can do, however, is ask sincere, appreciative questions about that person’s experience and perspective.

Remember to listen and try not to judge. Also, thank them for sharing. You don’t have to agree with their point of view. It is about trying to understand where they are coming from and what they are feeling. For additional resources on perspective taking with empathy read the article, Perspective-Taking: The Solution To Managing Workplace Relationships.

VR Experience

The Interactive Journey: Part 2

To begin the experience, click the image to the left and the experience will load.

Return to this page after you have complete the experience, and complete the exercises below.

Start Flatscreen

Exercise Part 2

Now let's do an exercise. Do the exercises below and watch the video.

This experience focuses on particular types of unconscious bias, in particular, confirmation bias. You can revisit information on unconscious bias here.

When you were Tamara, you experienced and witnessed various subtle forms of exclusion. For instance you overheard a colleague talking about a “diversity hire” in another department, your supervisor singled you out to ask you to join the diversity council, and you heard a woman colleague get frustrated when a male colleague got acknowledged for something she had just said. Many people experience these sorts of subtle slights everyday because of one or more aspects of their identity. These behaviors are sometimes called microaggressions.

One way to counteract the negative effects of microaggressions is to engage in conscious inclusion or microaffirmations.

What does it take to practice micro-affirmations? You’re probably already using them. Recognize the large impact these small gestures can have on those around you. Here are some examples:

• Ask others for their opinions

• Recognize the achievements of others

• Use friendly facial expressions and gestures

• Take a genuine, professional interest in someone’s personal life

• Pay attention

• Make eye contact (yes, this means putting down your phone)

• Give credit to another’s ideas

• Nod and smile

Action: Think about intentionally engaging in microaffirmations.

Repeat

Want to do it again?

Now that you have had time to learn more and think about this experience, would you like to do this scenario again? Would you react differently?