Programmes Summary and Objectives
The Cultural Diversity Intelligence programme is designed with the purpose of empowering individual capability to manage diversity more effectively. This programme offers strategies for leveraging diversity by cultivating opportunities through different kinds of people.
Group stereotypes can have an emotional power that negatively affects performance. The destructive power of stereotypes – particularly for members of minority groups in an organization – has been revealed in an elegant series of studies by Claude Steele, a psychologist as Stanford University. While Steele’s experiments dealt with academic performance, the implications for the workplace are direct: Negative stereotypes can cripple work performance. To be successful on the job, people need to feel that they belong there and are accepted and valued, and that they have the skills and inner resources needed to achieve, even prosper. When negative stereotypes undermine these assumptions, they hamper performance.
“Stereotype threat” is the term Steele coined to refer to a kind of emotional land mine, an expectation of low performance that, though unspoken, permeates an organization, creating an atmosphere that negatively affects someone’s work abilities. Such expectations have the potential to cause levels of anxiety that seriously impair cognitive ability.
In completion of this programme, the learner will be empowered with the knowledge and the skills to:
- Respect and relate well to people from varied backgrounds
- Understand diverse worldviews and are sensitive to group differences’
- See diversity as opportunity, creating an environment where diverse people can thrive.
- Challenge bias and intolerance
Duration: 2 days programme.
Learning Assessment:
A practical assignment will be given to the learners to complete by applying the knowledge and skills learned at their environments. A due date to submit the assignment via e-mail will be given to the learner before completion of the Cultural Diversity Intelligence programme. A follow-up and coaching session will be scheduled between the learner and the coach/facilitator to support and empower the learner to sustain the learning and achieve Return on Investment.