Alter Your Attitude

Attitudes are changing just like our society is changing. We don't often see blatant acts of discrimination. Most likely, it is subtle, not openly intentional, but it is there, and we must continue to work diligently to eradicate it.

Be passionate about diversity and do your part in transforming our communities to be inclusive and just-- through institutional change and empowering yourself and becoming leaders.

Fight bias, bigotry and racism in America. Act as a role model. Take action when appropriate and address behaviors when important. Never be afraid to take risks.

See differences as positives, and consider them to be smart, talented, or possessing traits, skills or attitudes you value. Taking risks are a huge part and always keep an open mind.

Always respect everyone that you encounter in your life and in the workplace.

Women in Law Firms

Should the Corporate world and Law firms take more of a responsibility of putting women in leading roles, direct contact with clients, and involvment on marketing efforts? Should the law firm consider committing resources so that the firm employees may attend networking functions that are geared towards women attorneys?

What responsibilities do you have as a woman to make sure you are heard, recognized and promoted?

*Join organizations that can give voice to your concerns and aspirations related to being a female attorney.

*Seek out a mentor either outside your place of employment or volunteer to be a mentor to someone else once you have established yourself in the workplace and/or community.

"Despite a lot of advantages over the years, there's still a lot to be done. Almost half of law school grads over the past 15 years have been women, they make up only 16 percent of equty partners (those who share in a firm's profits). The good news is that our winning law firms prove that a dramatic shift in thinking, as well as in policies that benefit women, is under way and gaining momentum." www.workingmother.com

Women have to be in charge of their own careers to get ahead in the corporate world. You need to have a voice and to make yourself be heard. You need to speak with authority, and be more assertive, and you will get the attention and pushback you desire. There is no one looking out for you, but yourself!

Diversity an Individual Responsibility?

Diversity is an individual responsibility. We diversify our lives by taking full advantage of the richness of opportunity this world has to offer. The workplace becomes more inclusive as we serve as examples for others to emulate and continue to be the forbearers of the next generation of professionals, still waiting to come to the fore. Together, we can maximize inclusion, and we will.

As employers, you may want to affirmatively include people with disabilities for similar reasons. People with disabilities come from all different backgrounds, all different races, and all different socio-economic perspectives. People with disabilities come from everywhere in our society. Many of the same arguments for including race and gender diversity would also extend to including disability diversity.

I feel that sometimes a lot of bias is really motivated by the unconscious discomfort that people have with obvious disabilities. People without disabilities see someone who has a disability and are uncomfortable.

In our society, we have so many devices, accomodations, and innovations that were developed initialy as a way of providing inclusion for people with disabilities. There is a litany of improvements, starting with voice recognition software.

Thinking about disability as a form of diversity helps to overcome any such prejudices.

http://www.eeoc.gov/types/ada.html

Leading The Way--The Working Mother

Women these days are trying to balance raising their children, and also hold onto their job, and prove themselves in corporations.

Companies should stand behind mothers and promote women into leadership roles. Continually seek ways to help women achieve professional success, while maintaining a manageable work-life balance.

Offering progressive parental leave and part-time policies, and having outstanding Women's Leadership Forum's will support women in all aspects of their careers.

Women shouldn't have to sacrifce family life for their job. It should be a priority of the companies to have intriguing policies that could benefit any industry. Women shouldn't feel caution in an interview when indicating that she may want to to have kids someday.

Increased communication will help associates with work/life balance. Company's can give employees access to online work/family discussion groups (one general groupa dn one women-only) to share tips on everything from pediatric dentists to breastfeeding.

The company can also supply the femail with a lap top to have the capability to work from home so many days out of the week. There is also job-sharing, where two employees will share the tasks of one job, and they both will work part-time.

Women face so many challenges in this male-dominated industry. Give women the tools that they will need--skills for marketing, devloping business and being in goveranance roles. Provide an environment where they can succeed, and make sure that the compensation systems are fair.

http://mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa08/popchar/pages/106wmcc.html To learn more on the women and the childcare rates.

Strategy and Goals

Having a diverse workforce is the right thing to do and makes good business sense. You should have unifying values to guide how you interact with each other and your customers and suppliers. However, we know that having a diverse workforce is not enough. You must create an environment where diverse backgrounds, experience and ways of thinking are encouraged so all individuals can excel.

Goals:

*Create and sustain an inclusive environment through awareness, understanding and education.
"Open communication, shared interest and shared knowledge are the cornerstone of our competitive advantage" is part of unifying values. This obligates you to learn more about the experiences of each other to expand our understanding of the complexity of creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.
http://www.rrcc.edu/diversity/goals.html

*Recruit, retain and develop talented people.
Be committed to hiring and promoting employees who reflect a variety of backgrounds, cultures, skills and points of view.

*Drive for accountability
Any goal needs to be measurable in order to ensure that you are held accountable to that goal. Your employees should have performance measures in place to ensure awareness and support of the diversity and inclusion strategy throughout your company.

How Generations Were Shaped!

Every Company should be committed to inclusion where all employees, focused on respect, trust, integrity and pride, are aligned to ensure business objectives are realized and community expectations-- where we live, work and serve-- are exceeded.

A few examples of what shaped the four generations are:

Matures (Pre-1945)
*WWII

Baby Boom (1946-1963)
*Women working outside the home
*US is dominant nation/economy in the world-world is safe

Generation "X" (1964-1976)
* Latchkey kids with both parents working
*Watergate, Rise of Asia/"Fall" of US might, Cold War

Generation "Y" (1977-1999)
*90's boom, involved parents, Technology is part of our life, 9/11, global terrorism
*"spoiled" by cheap technology and indulgent parents

Baby Boomers make up 45% of the workforce to date, Gen "X" make up 30%, Gen "Y" make up 20% and the Matures make up 5%!

To learn more about the "four" generations check out: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5619/four_generations_in_the_workforce.html

Inclusive Environment!

Diversity, inclusion and respect are "best practices' for every workplace. Every company should take pride in appreciating the uniqueness that each individual brings to the workplace and work to ensure that this diversity has a positive impact in the company. Their purpose to build- with integrity, a work environment and orgaznization culture that values respect and trust and a community that relfects the societyin which we live and creates a climate for the success of each and every employee.
To take advantage of or to rob someone or a group of people, of their labor, culture, energy or possessions is called explotation. Discrimination is an action or behavior which favors some people/groups and disadvantages others.
A judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known; a preconceived idea or unreasonable bias is called "prejudice".
"Participate in programs that focus on human relations issues that are important to you and your community. Making a commitment to be active is the most important step in joining the fight against bias, bigotry and racism." NCCJgreatedayton.org

To become more involved and learn about workplace consulting on diversity inclusion, please visit http://www.nccjctwma.org/

Diversity Inclusion/Four Generations in the Workforce

For the first time in history, four distinct age generations are together in the workplace. What are their differences and how does each generation understand the others and their approach to work? General conflicts can cause a loss in productivity, and lower the overall morale, and outlook on teamwork in any business.

The Generations:
Matures - born prior to 1945
Baby Boomers - born between 1946 and 1964
Generation X - born between 1965 and 1980
New Millennials - born after 1980

What are the ways businesses can dramatically reduce workplace conflict and provide managers and supervisors with strategies for dealing with recruiting, retaining, and motivating, using the generational differences in a positive way?

Conduct workshops on communication, and help each generation learn to enjoy their co-workers. Define what trends affect generation change, and help each generation acknowledge their expectations, but to incorporate them into a team.

For Corporations to retain employees regardless of generation should be easy, but it seems to be more difficult than one would think. All four generations have distinct differences and different opinions about how to work and run the day-to-day office. But in the end don't we all want to know that our employers value our work on a daily basis, and that we are making some type of contribution?

Learn the dramatic differences between each generation, and why this has become a problem:

http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/05ws/generations.htm

Diversity Inclusion in the Workplace!

We all want to feel that we belong somehwere in the workplace--that we have a voice and someone is listening to what we have to say. Not only are they listening to us, but also, giving us the opportunities to advance within the company. For the next 10 weeks, I will be writing a blog on Diversity Inclusion in the Workplace. How companies need to implement mentoring, leadership and executive programs. As well, as recognizing the companies who have been given awards for their outstanding commitments they have given to the value of diversity and the role it will play in their corporation.

All employees should be valued, heard and should be assets to any corporation. Corporations should embrace diversity by honoring, respecting, acknowledging, and recognizing all, races, religions, ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures. And one company was recognized last year and awarded for taking those differences and building a better and stronger community for their corporation and the world in general.

"Dell became a member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable, an organization that provides thought leadership in supplier diversity and consists of 15 corporations that have spent more than $1 billion with minority- and woman-owned suppliers. In 2008, the Dell team drove $2.5 billion of procurement spending with small, minority- and woman-owned suppliers. Learn more about the Billion Dollar Roundtable at www.bdrusa.org."