Intercultural
Competency Development Resources The Resources You Need To Be Successful!
These links are provided for your use and convenience
in the pursuit of further understanding and learning in
all areas of diversity. Simply click the links below to
view our list of online resources.
Click
Below To Access Resource:
GO
– Ask the Diversity Wizard GO – Bibliography GO – What Is Diversity
Training? GO
– The High Impact Successful Diversity Initiative GO – The Utility of Diversity
Newsletters GO – The Video Resource GO – Diversity Links GO – Training ToolKits
WHAT
MAKES THESE RESOURCES IMPORTANT?
Imagine yourself in the following scenarios:
You
have just been hired to chair your organization’s
diversity initiative. You deserve it for championing
diversity. Now that you are
in the position, you realize how big the task is.
You feel capable, but need a little guidance to get
you organized and on track.
You
are an HR director who must determine how to effectively
tell Muslim employees that their use of the restroom
to prepare for daily pray is disruptive for the other
employees. You don't know where to start.
A
participant in your training session calls another
participant a racist for sharing personal beliefs about
affirmative action, and immediately a negative tone
fills the diversity workshop. You need to figure out
what to do quickly in order to both effectively facilitate
the group working through the incident,
and to make certain that your performance evaluations
remain high enough to continue your contract.
A
top notched manager is accused of sexual harassment. You
need to do everything you can to show support for both
the victim and the manager while legally protecting the
organization.
An
Asian American administrative assistant in a police
department overhears an officer telling a derogatory
ethnic joke. She reports him because she found the
joke distasteful. The officer is very angry about the
charge, stating that he was not telling the joke to
the assistant and it was none of her business as someone
who was just passing by. You must make certain that
the officer understands the severity of the matter
yet keep the officer feeling as supported as possible.
You
are consulting for a firm that wants both a successful
diversity training and to avoid employees considering
it as “unfair
social engineering.” The well-developed strategic
inclusion plan and case for diversity have not curtailed
employee fears and resentment.
The
above scenarios indicate that managing a diverse organization
can be challenging without the competence needed to
avoid landmines. Developing your cultural competence
is the key to success in the modern organization. You
also need an arsenal of tools to respond to the challenges
that require you to think “on
your feet.” This section offers a set of resources
designed to provide you with the tools to develop your
cultural competency and access to high impact professional
tools and information.
HOW
TO PROMOTE YOUR DIVERSITY BUSINESS
You
simply can't go without a website if you want to compete
in today's market. Roughly half of DTUI.com's customers
found it via web search. There is simply too much to know
about internet marketing to go into much detail here, so
we will give you a few tips:
Get
a website hosting company
Get
a web domain address
Get a website!
Develop
content that will keep your visitors' attention and
keep them at your site.
Remember
that your potential customers are looking for as much
FREE information as possible on the web. Interweave
what you are selling them in the information you offer.
Identify
keywords that will drive traffic to your site
Use
the proven site placement strategies to move your site
to the top of search engines
Submit
your site to the major search engines
Use Google and Yahoo Adwords to market your website
Keep
updating materials on your site to keep it visible
Update
your site frequently to give new and old visitors something
to look forward to.
DTUI.com
uses Netfirms for hosting its website. It is the
cheapest yet offers the most extensive services and
features we have found to date. CLICK ON THE BANNER
AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE TO LEARN MORE!
THE
DIVERSITY WIZARD CAN HELP YOU OUT OF THE TOUGH SPOTS!
Few days go by without someone contacting DTUI for assistance
in handling diversity-related matters in their school,
work, community, and family. DTUI offers the Diversity
Wizard to answer you questions via email. Don't be shy.
People ask questions about all sorts of things from tips
on hiring immigrants to should they get involved in a
relationship with someone of a different race. Simply
send your question in an email to the Diversity Wizard.
You will normally have an immediate response on week days
between 10am and 5pm Pacific Standard Time. To send an
email, please Click Here.
THE
HIGH IMPACT DIVERSITY INITIATIVE
More and more organizations are showing a serious effort
to promote inclusion. One way is to commit
to a strategic inclusion plan. DTUI receives
phone calls and email often from professionals who came
across our site while trying to figure out what to do
now that they are leading their organization’s
inclusion initiative. They often have considerable experience
with other strategic initiatives, but typically contract
with an external organization for training
and coaching. The diversity initiative all too often
is poorly understand, which results in fewer resources
and support compared to other more accepted initiatives.
What do you do when you believe that the considerable
resources needed to succeed are simply not there?
Many
consider the limited support for initiative as a set up
for failure and throw in the towel, or you can make the
most of the situation. Most professionals choose the latter.
One reason is that diversity pioneers inherently like
challenges. Another reason is that diversity pioneers
realize that they must do something to make their organization
a more just place for the traditionally excluded. Even
if the inclusion work is an uphill battle, these professionals
feel that something is better than what was available
in the recent past. Unfortunately, they too often find
themselves as a scapegoat and unappreciated for their
efforts.
It
turns out that many professionals can avoid the pitfalls
of limited resources and resistance. Starting a diversity
initiative is difficult even under the best of circumstances.
One way to increase the probability of success is to learn
from the mistakes of others. Below is a list of sources
of failure.
Failure
to establish specific goals and objectives for the initiative
Failure
to tie the diversity initiative to the development of
specific cultural competencies
Failure
to link identified cultural competencies to the organization’s
mission and vision
Failure
to demonstrate sufficient courage to deal the resistance
in the organization and among key managers
Failure
to specify both short- and long-term goals for the effort
Failure
to keep the real client in mind
Failure
to address real organizational diversity needs
Failure
to be honest about what needs to be done and why
Failure
to develop viable options when strategies do not work
Failure
to solve problems by focusing on "quick fixes."
Failure
to work with the organization as it is rather than how
you ideally like it to be
Failure
to measure or evaluate the outcome of strategies implemented
Failure
to plan for and build toward ownership of the initiative
by major stakeholders
Failure
to escape entrapment in the "mystique" of
diversity, which leads to a distorted interpretation
of the project
Failure
to take advantage of the available best practice information
and materials.
Notice
the sheer number of pitfalls. And there are more. Don’t
let yourself and the organization down by getting
netted by the above pitfalls. Simply being aware that
certain negative behavior patterns have the potential
to negatively influence success is helpful, but seldom
sufficient. The problems these challenges pose require
you to develop the competencies needed to manage them.
One
handy resource for quickly learning how to design,
develop, and implement a strategic diversity initiative
is the High Impact Diversity & Inclusion
Initiative: Design, Development & Implementation.
This self-pace course provides diversity initiative
strategies for in-house diversity professionals, human
resource managers, diversity steering committee members,
consultants, trainers, and others interested in the subject
matter.
Click here to
learn more about the course that will make your life
easier, increase your credibility and get you the
resources you need to move your initiative forward!
THE
UTILITY OF DIVERSITY e-NEWSLETTERS & MAGAZINES
Each of us can use resources that keep us up to date with
the cultural competency profession and offer state-of-the-art
tips on doing our work better. An e-Newsletter is a good
resource for receiving this information at your fingertips.
The better ones cost, but the information you get makes
it more than worth the cost. We only share the best among
f the twenty or so newsletters we have come across.
Diversityinc.com
offers an e-newsletter that is filled with diversity news,
facts, and even diversity management resources. If you
want to keep up with news about corporate diversity in
the United States, as well as more information behind
sensational diversity-related headline news, then this
is the resource. Click here to learn more about the Diversityinc.com
e-newsletter.
Innoversity
is an organization located in Canada that is committed
to increasing diversity in media and cultural institutions.
Its e-Newsletter supports their goals and inform readers
of related events. Click here to learn more about the
Innoversity e-newsletter.
Strategic
Diversity & Inclusion Management magazine is a knowledge
sharing resource written by and for diversity professionals.
It is filled with strategy, tips and secrets, and resources
for the serious professional. Click
here to learn more about this resource.
The
Citizenship, Democracy, & Ethnocultural Diversity
Newsletter is an SSHRC-funded project that is distributed
as a quarterly electronic newsletter which updates recent
developments in the field. The newsletter “contains
information about upcoming conferences, recent publications,
journals, internet resources, and related research programs”
according to its editor. Click
here to learn more about this e-newsletter.
THE
VIDEO AS RESOURCE
A
good video can help you get your points across more effectively
than lectures or role play, especially for visual learners.
The more powerful videos for cultural competency training
offer the audience a range of voices concerning diversity
and inclusion. One of the few that captures the spirit
of DTUI's philosophy has been produced and directed by
Dr. Shakti Butler, founder of World Trust.
THE
WAY HOME: Race, Gender, and Class in America
Over
the course of eight months, sixty-four women representing
a cross-section of cultures, (Indigenous, African-American,
Arab, Asian, European-American, Jewish, Latina, and Multiracial)
came together to share their experience of racism in America.
With
uncommon courage, the women speak their hearts and minds
about resistance, love, assimilation, standards of beauty,
power, school experiences, and more. Their candid conversations
offer rare access into multi- dimensional worlds invisible
to outsiders. The abundance of photographs, dance, and
music provides a sensual richness to this provocative
piece. You can learn more by Clicking
Here. DIVERSITY LITERATURE BIBLIOGRAPHY
References for books, articles, and tools needed to build
your cultural competency have been developed for your
convenience. Please Click
Here to view them. Diversitypedia.org is a new
website lauched in January 2008. It is the number one
diversity knowledge base and anyone can contribute
to making it better. Use it to understand any and all
aspects of cultural diversity.
TIPS
TO START YOUR DIVERSITY INITIATIVE
This information provides several lists of thought-provoking,
surprisingly practical, and highly effective strategies
for designing, developing, and implementing a diversity
initiative. The information originated as cultural competency
e-Newsletter lesson (Click
Here to get your subscription). [e-Newsletter sign
up link here] They are presented as a collection here
in an order we believe will walk you through the procedures.
Click here to continue.
DIVERSITY
RESOURCE LINKS These
links are provided for your use and convenience in the
pursuit of further understanding and learning in all
areas of diversity. Simply click the links below or scroll
through our current list of online resources.
WHAT
IS DIVERSITY TRAINING?
Diversity training is one aspect of human relations training.
The expert's goal is to develop cultural competency needed
to work and live productively with others in a diverse
world. The assumption is that cultural competency is the
key to helping members of different groups feel valued
within an organization, which increases their commitment
and productivity. Cultural competency refers to... Click
Here To Access Resource
TRAINING
TOOLKITS
A good toolkit will have a lot of exercises and tips you
can use, many of which will be easy to manage and use.
The following is a list of some of DTUI favorites that
we have come across… Click
Here.
These
above information and links are provided for your use
and convenience in the pursuit of further understanding
and learning in all areas of diversity. Simply click the
links below or scroll through our current list of online
resources. DTUI does claim responsibility for your decision
to buy or use any of the materials suggested above. Be
cautious in buying and using any and all tools and materials.
Supporting
Organizations
Human
Resource & Equity Office!
Key
Resources!
Billy
Vaughn's Managing Diversity ebook
is a must read!
