Strengthen your leadership, supervision, mentorship, coaching, and role modeling to support a diverse team. While many of these resources apply to all employees, they also apply specifically to DEI&B.
*Small Business Pro Tip: Establish a formal optional mentor program internally for all employees and give employees time during the workday to connect. Ensure leadership teams participate. Provide training for first time mentors.
Resources
- Read this NYT article on what Google learned about promoting Psychological Safety in teams (article, 10-60 minutes).
- Read Radical Candor (book, > 1 hour) and become familiar with providing appropriate feedback
- Key: the concept of caring personally while challenging directly (video, 10-60 minutes)
- Promote habit-forming, rapid feedback strategies such as stay-start-stop and good-bad-ugly rather than waiting for annual performance reviews
- Feedback keys: frequent, focused, future-oriented
- Utilize the SBI framework for providing clear and actionable feedback prior to assuming or declaring intent from another person (article, < 10 minutes).
- Read The Coaching Habit (set of videos of the key concepts, > 1 hour).
- Read The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey (book, > 1 hour) and become familiarized with the 13 key behaviors that build trust (article, < 10 minutes).
- Read Multipliers (book, > 1 hour) to determine any unintentional tendencies of leaders that diminish others (especially those unlike themselves) [Sample infographic, Good 8-minute summary article].
- Become familiarized with the 7 Levels of Intimacy to gain clarity on how to move each conversation toward more trust and relationship (article, 10-60 minutes).
- Employ 1-minute manager goal-setting, praising, and reprimanding techniques (4 minute summary).
- Employ the GROW model of coaching among leaders and supervisors (article, < 10 minutes).
- Utilize Korn Ferry’s For Your Improvement (FYI) resources alongside their Leadership Architect global competency framework and sort cards for skills development.
- Utilize PAIRIN, a Colorado-based company using friendly science to help individuals and companies develop social and emotional skills through measurement, mapping, and professional development curriculum.
- Utilize motivational interviewing techniques to foster motivation for change, and define commitments, actions, and steps for growth and development
- Ensure language stays strengths-based
- Employ motivational interviewing worksheets and exercises for yourself and others
- DARN: Desire, Ability, Reason, Need
- Rules to live by
- Values fulfilment
- Other reflection
- OARS: Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflections, Summaries
- SOLAR body language: Sit square, Open posture, Lean forward, Attentive eyes, Relax
- Use motivation and confidence rulers:
- “On a scale of 1 to 10, how motivated are you to change [or do X]?”
- “On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you, that you can make the change [or do X]?”
- For a low score: “what would it take to bring you to a [score +1 or 2]?” This is an invitation to greater trust, intimacy, and cooperation.
- Implement the following practices:
- Train and evaluate supervisors on effective supervisory practices, including inclusive practices.
- Develop team accountability and ownership, including addressing problems and celebrating successes.
- Set boundaries and expectations, provide timely feedback to improve performance, establish clear priorities and delegation of tasks, etc.
- Provide a mentor that is separate from the Supervisor, and establish these relationships so they support diversity
- Review My Brother’s Keeper and Mentor’s guide to Mentoring Young Men of Color.
- Develop team rapport, respect and social awareness; develop effective communication and transparency within teams, and address conflict.
- An outside 3rd party can be a helpful “unbiased” resource; engage Activate Work for coaching solutions for leaders and supervisors.