Intentional Conversations

We were honored to welcome Dr. Michelle Campbell to the Intentional Conversations Vodcast.

If you missed it, we invite you to listen to the encore replay and check out the key takeaways:

1. Culture work can sometimes be a way of further entrenching a dominant culture and excluding a non-dominant culture.

2. Intercultural Competence = Awareness of self, Awareness of others, Emotional Management, Bridging across difference

3. White fragility is an emotional response.

4. Diversity and Inclusion are inputs and equity and belonging are the outputs.

5. If you are not getting the results you are wanting from your DEI work, you need to change the inputs.

7. The idea of culture fit is harmful especially when companies hire for diversity but onboard for similarity.

6. Intercultural Development Continuum

Denial – I don’t see cultural difference

Polarization – Us vs. them perspective (white supremacy lives here)

Minimization – Majority of people live here; manifests at both the organizational and individual level, focus on similarity and minimizing of conflict

Acceptance – Recognizing judgments that are minimizing others’ experiences and pushing down conflict

Adaptation – Do I want to be right or do I want to be effective?

If we focus on similarity, we miss those differences that could make a difference!

CONNECT WITH MICHELLE:

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH NIKA WHITE CONSULTING:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

LinkedIn

This encore presentation of the Intentional Conversations Vodcast with guest co-host, Dr. Melissa Horne, was originally recorded in March 2022.

Here are the Key Takeaways from this Intentional Conversation:

1. Microaggressions can erode a company’s morale, but what does that look like and how do we approach it? It is important to have group sessions as they are certainly powerful.
2. It’s important to work on the “forgetting curve”, to improve our retention within these important conversations by spacing them out.
3. There is a rich history in the US and Canada of activism in ways we have been able to affect the system. There are all the things that make the news, but it’s the small acts of resistance that can make a huge difference in someone’s life. It is important to empower individuals in the workplace to advocate for change.
4. It is important to pull from the science as we aim to change people’s behaviors around DEI. Learning and development is just one part of a holistic approach to DEI advocacy.
5. Companies need to invest in their DEI work just as much as they invest in any other area of business.
6. You need both subject matter expertise and direct lived experiences to support DEI work in this space.
7. Often people want to say and do the right thing, but they don’t speak out of lack of confidence. If companies invest in training their staff to have these conversations, we lead for a better workplace.
8. Inclusive behaviors are a skill that can be taught, learned, and needs to be practiced. Its important to just start and that discomfort goes away with practice as we build our confidence.

CONNECT WITH DR. MELISSA HORNE

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH NIKA WHITE CONSULTING:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

LinkedIn

Janelle Benjamin joined Dr. Nika White and her team for the latest Intentional Conversations podcast, where they discussed issues of exclusivity, how leaderes can effectively support DEI practitioners, and religious accommodations in the workplace.

Here are the Key Takeaways from this #IntentionalConversation:

1. Black women are indiscriminately terminated in a phenomenon of “pet to threat.” Often valued when showing up, but as soon as black women start voicing and speaking up on issues they believe in, it is perceived as a threat.

2. If you are an inclusive leader there is always something that needs to be relearned and listened to. If you claim to be an ally and you’re doing the work to center the voices of those marginalized, you must listen.

3. Floating holidays are a great way to promote religious diversity, allowing others with varying religious beliefs to take time away to spend the holidays that are important to them.

4. Believe in yourself. If you have a skill or talent, leverage your abilities to find ways to connect with people around what you’re doing and market it.

5. The days of unpaid labor are over, if you ask individuals to show up in a different way at work and lead an event or initiative, ask for compensation.

CONNECT WITH JANELLE BENJAMIN

LinkedIn

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

CONNECT WITH NIKA WHITE CONSULTING:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

LinkedIn

In this episode of Intentional Conversations with Nika White Consulting, we are joined by Dr. Shelton Goode to discuss DEI efforts that yield measurable and sustainable results and DEI in a post-Covid world.

Here are the Key Takeaways from this #IntentionalConversation:

1. We are in a new world where employees are voting with their feet. They are asking for what they need upfront.
2. What’s hindering management is a denial of reality of what we’ve gone through and what we are going through post pandemic. We can’t have gone through this without the impacts affecting “business as usual.”
3. Create a space where conversations can take place, It is important for the phychological safety of all. Companies owe it to the organization to create these spaces for people to have these kinds of conversations. The problem is we don’t have people equipped to have them.
4. The work we do has always been about trying to help the organization and everyone in it to be better. It was never designed for an example to only benefit women and people of color at the expense of white men.
5. If your workplace is toxic, you are not going to be in the best place to acquire the best talent.
6. Leaders need to listen before they learn and learn before they aim to fix.
7. We need to continue to identify inequities that are impacting everyone from reaching their potential.
8. Meet people where they are so they can understand you and what you are trying to accomplish. There is no us and them, we all want the same thing, healthy communities and companies and a country that lives up to its expectations.

CONNECT WITH DR. SHELTON GOODE:

Amazon

Twitter

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH NIKA WHITE CONSULTING:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

LinkedIn

Welcome to Intentional Conversations with Nika White Consulting.

An encore presentation of our weekly vodcast where we intersect DEI, business and leadership!

In this episode, Dr. Nika White, our founder, is joined by Jason Gant, and they discuss the correlation of mental health and DEI, as well as the importance of mindfulness and well-being.

Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the podcast to never miss an episode of Intentional Conversations!

CONNECT WITH JASON GANT on LINKEDIN

CONNECT WITH NIKA WHITE CONSULTING:

LINKEDIN

INSTAGRAM

FACEBOOK

YOUTUBE

TWITTER