Leadership development at DEI

The purpose of leadership development in diversity and inclusion is to build leaders' awareness and improve their skills to act on that awareness. Several studies suggest that the way leaders act has up to 70% impact on whether teams and individuals feel included.

Our leadership development programmes can be tailored to your organization and will provide leaders with knowledge, perspectives and tools to promote inclusive practices in organizations. The courses are based on the UN competency framework for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Why should you as a manager initiate and actively participate in a development process?

There are many good reasons to build leaders' knowledge about diversity and inclusion: avoid discrimination and fraud, improve teamwork, increase innovation in the organization and create a more sustainable workplace and society. The hard part is knowing how. The feeling of saying the wrong thing and the fear of making the wrong move overshadow opportunities to act. At LEAD, we develop leadership development courses and programs that support leaders in knowing how to act.

The reasons for initiating a development process can be for example

Unconscious bias,

which can lead to biased hiring and promotion decisions, hindering diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Lack of representation,

that make it challenging to attract and retain employees. Therefore, it's important as a leader to break the self-perpetuating cycle of lack of diversity so that DEI goals are actually put into practice.

Resistance to change

and new policies or initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion. It is important to recognize that the absence of managerial support and recognition creates a barrier to overcoming this resistance.

LEAD's approach to leadership development within DEI

We work with leaders at different levels:

Individual leadership development

It's about seeing yourself as a role model. The leader is given the opportunity to work with their own barriers and explore and establish a personal purpose. The focus is on inspiring a leadership practice that creates a sense of belonging and where employees feel recognized and welcomed in their differences, regardless of background.

Developing team leadership

It's about how the leader facilitates inclusive meetings and how the leader creates a courageous space for dialog in the team. Diversity management is about understanding the dynamics between minorities or majorities and how to build the skills within the team to bring the benefits of many different perspectives. If the leader doesn't understand diversity management, discussions and disagreements can overshadow everyday tasks and operations.

Managing the organization

It's about working with the organization's informal and formal structures, e.g. how the organization creates more inclusive recruitment and promotion processes and attracts employees with different profiles.

How we can help you

We offer training courses, presentations and workshops designed to strengthen leadership skills in the implementation of your organization's strategic DEI initiatives. See examples of our services here:

Presentations

Inspiring research-based presentations on DEI for all levels of your organization

Education and training

DEI training for leaders in the organization. We develop courses for top managers and for other management levels in the organization.

Networking & workshops

Facilitation of networks and active workshops with a focus on sparring and competence development

Meet the consulting team

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

Partner and Area Director

Betina Hansen

Senior Consultant

Kirstie Føge Hansen

Senior Consultant

Marianne Viftrup Hedegaard

Senior Consultant

References

The purpose of the DEI leadership course at OK was to create awareness and inspiration for 100 managers through hands-on training on how to promote an inclusive culture and ensure a safe and attractive workplace for everyone.

To ensure that the content and format of the training hit the mark with the managers, we conducted three test workshops for the executive board, AMO organization and HR. With input from these, we tailored the final format and used the input from the management in particular to anchor the course strategically for the managers.

The training consisted of two workshops with six to seven weeks in between to ensure knowledge transfer and time for trial actions between the two workshops. Buddy agreements supported that managers were kept up on their promises of trial actions between workshops.

"I started the program with my arms crossed, but I think something has really happened from the first workshop to now. We can talk about things that I didn't think we could talk about in OK. It's great and a big step in the journey for us."

Quote from managers

LEAD teaches at a DEI leadership development program for management, managers, directors of studies, heads of department and other personnel managers at CBS.

The program aims to train inclusive leadership skills in the management team as part of CBS' implementation of their Gender Equality plan

In collaboration with CBS' D&I Office, different themes were selected. It was important for CBS that the managers developed a common language and had fruitful dialogues along the way. Therefore, the managers met in learning groups between the 4 modules to practice DEI competencies in practice.

Other topics: How to deal with discrimination in the workplace, diversity management, microaggressions and norms

Leadership development at DEI

Why should you as a manager initiate and actively participate in a development process?

LEAD's approach to leadership development within DEI

How we can help you

Presentations

Education and training

Networking & workshops

Meet the consulting team

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

Betina Hansen

Kirstie Føge Hansen

Marianne Viftrup Hedegaard

References

If you have any doubts, let me call you with personal guidance

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

Betina Hansen

Contact us

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