« Lessons from a CPLP Quest | Home | Announcing The New Social Learning SIG »
Increasing diversity by becoming more inclusive
By Christine Martell | September 17, 2007
For the past two years, ASTD-Cascadia board has focused on creating a more inclusive professional association. Much of this work has been behind the scenes, building the foundation for a long term initiative. In the next phase, we will be involving more people and bringing the work forward to the center of how we operate.
Where did we start?
The board identified diversity as a core value in November 2005. A committee was formed to execute an environmental scan of the ASTD-Cascadia market for learning and development professionals. Lolita Burnette and Thomas Hardy brought forth initial recommendations for the organization.
- Diversify Membership:
- Redesign the website to be more inclusive.
- Build relationships in diverse communities and with diverse community partners.
- Explore new options for engaging people / networking in a way that builds relationships.
- Revisit – Is money an issue / barrier to diverse groups participating in ASTD?
- Include diversity education in the orientation and training of new individual and Board members:
- Make it safe.
- Consider self-assessments [Harvard Bias Tests, Intercultural Development Inventory: IDI; and 1:1 coaching when requested.
- Survey [internally and externally] periodically to monitor progress.
- Increase Board and Membership Skills:
- Factor diversity / inclusion into all presentations.
How have we done so far?
We have made significant progress. While the website hasn’t been completely redesigned, both the conference website and this blog have intentionally included more diverse people images. We’ve added information about accommodation availability to our program information.
Some of our biggest success is in the area of incorporating diversity into our programming.
- The conference held in March 2007 included speakers who represented many facets of diversity, and each one of them was required to connect their content to how it served diverse audiences. Two of the keynotes and several of the break-out sessions were focused on diversity topics.
- The podcast has continuously delivered a wide range of audio programming featuring diverse speakers on a wide range of topics. There have been six programs that focus more specifically on diversity and inclusion:
- The program committee delivered a cultural competency series. These programs attracted a diverse audience, and brought many non-members to the programs. You can read reviews of each program here on the blog.
The board has incorporated diversity skill building into their meetings. We explored the question of ‘What makes a culturally competent professional association?” in the April board meeting. You can see the process we went through, and how another more diverse organization explored the same question on my blog: Using photographs for strategic exploration.
Building partnerships
The diversity and inclusion work has it’s roots in two long term partnerships ASTD-Cascadia has enjoyed with Portland State University Training and Development program and the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI).
Chris Cartwright, the program manager of the PSU program has worked on the conference committee to bring us rich diversity in the speakers, and has provided credit, space, and funding to make some of our programs possible. He has consistently worked behind the scenes bringing his passion for diversity and inclusion to all he touches.
ICI’s Executive Director, Janet Bennett is a long time ASTD-Cascadia member, who has brought diversity awareness to our chapter members through her position as a faculty member in the PSU training and development program, appearing as a speaker at chapter events, and offering us the resources of ICI and the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC). It is through her support that we have been able to tap into the resources of her faculty members: Todd Conklin, Donna Stringer, Lee Gardenschwarz, Jorge Cherbosque, and Anita Rowe. Many of our members have moved their awareness and skills in diversity and inclusion to new levels by attending SIIC. I was fortunate to attend again this past summer to work with Donna Stringer and Anita Rowe to help us with the strategic plan for the chapter initiative.
Portland is fortunate to be home of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR-USA). This is the US branch of an international network of professional organizations concerned with the challenges and rewards of intercultural relations. There are a number of joint members of the two organizations, so we have been able to tap their resources. We look forward o continuing to develop relationships between their national members, as well as the local branch SIETAR- PDX.
Next steps
The next steps are to form a diversity and inclusion council to look at how to deepen the work. Specifically, we’ll be looking at the operational practices of the chapter, and how we may unintentionally be excluding certain populations by how we do things. The first meeting is Wednesday September 19 from 5:30 - 7:30 at Pyramid Brewery’s Alehouse. The second meeting will also be held at Pyramid on October 18 from 4:00 - 6:00 PM. You are welcome to join us in this work, whether you are currently a chapter member or just interested in the work we are doing. For more information, or to RSVP for the event contact me at outreach@astdcascadia.org.
- The Turkey and Stuffing–getting dirty with Real Work
- Meeting and Event Planning
- Why Diversity and Cultural Competency, AGAIN?
- 2007-2008 Cascadia Programmatic Strategy
- A Delicious 2008
Topics: - Diversity |
September 20th, 2007 at 7:58 am
[...] The New Social Learning SIGIncreasing diversity by becoming more inclusiveLessons from a CPLP QuestMobile LearningCome learn about current Cascadia Chapter and National [...]