Mary-Frances Winters

Creating ‘Brave’ Spaces During Polarizing Times

Organizations do not exist within a vacuum. The growing body of research around psychological safety, engagement, and inclusion suggests that the extent to which employees feel ‘safe’ and comfortable bringing their ‘full’ selves to work directly impacts their capacity to innovate. During polarizing times, in particular, employees tend to bring the stress and identity-based trauma associated with the socio-political climate to the workplace. That said, organizations and leaders must have the skills and competencies to begin to address and create ‘brave’ spaces for dialogue around these issues.

This interactive, and thought-provoking session will provide leaders with a blueprint for increasing one’s capacity to engage in and create ‘brave’ spaces for Bold, Inclusive Conversations®. Specific areas of focus will include

• The role of fostering self- and ‘other’ understanding
• Assessing individual and team readiness
• Preparing for the conversation
• Guidance for engaging in the conversation
• Strategies for sharpening inclusive habits

This session will explore specific steps that leaders and/or individual contributors can take daily to continue to foster inclusion in the workplace and their communities. It will examine the role of self-understanding and barriers, like unconscious bias, that can impede our strides towards inclusion. The session will specifically address the 8 steps that we can take as individuals on our inclusion journey:

1. Know Self First – Who am I? What do I stand for?
2. Value Self – What are my unique gifts? Who is my best self?
3. Acknowledge Your Biases – In what ways do I exclude? What are my biases and blind spots?
4. Open Yourself To Change – What are my opportunities to grow?
5. Learn About Others – How are other individuals/groups different from me?How are they the same?
6. Value Differences – How do differences enhance who I am and can become?What can I learn from differences?
7. Include Others – How can I expand my circle to optimize inclusion & diversity?
8. Embrace Personal Growth – Constantly ask yourself, where am I know? Am I growing to be more inclusive? What changes do I need to make?

Inclusion is a business imperative for many organizations, but how can we continue to do our part to make it ‘real?’ The answer to this question lies in our daily interactions in meetings, the culture we create on our teams, the extent to which we actively engage in fostering inclusion not only in the workplace, but also in our communities.
What does it mean to lead inclusively? In what ways is inclusive leadership different from just “good” leadership? This session will explore the key ingredients for inclusive leadership. Participants will leave with:

• Definition of inclusive leadership
• Descriptions of inclusive leadership behaviors
• Strategies to support leaders in actualizing inclusive leadership practices on a day-to-day basis