Getting Prepared
How to show up for the workshops
Be present: To get the best experience from this workshop series it is important for you to
be fully in the moment and conscious of the mental dialogue you’re having with yourself
during the sessions. Know that you’re here to listen, learn and engage.
Be open-minded: Welcome new ideas and perspectives that you typically do not align with.
Know that there are great learning opportunities in new experiences and that you and your
colleagues may offer insight to one another during these sessions that you may not have
otherwise.
Do your homework: When we assign homework, it is meant to encourage you to continue
to do the work outside of the session and apply your learning. This workshop series is meant
to offer long-term outcomes by emphasizing the need for ongoing learning beyond the
sessions and training. Complete each of the homework tasks so that you can best contribute
to the overall group and your own learning.
Be prepared to participate & Keep Cameras On: Participation enhances one’s learning
and makes the session even more valuable. Ask questions, make comments, challenge
perspectives. Given that our sessions are virtual, participation also includes keeping cameras on
when possible. Seeing the faces of those who you are sharing space to learn with creates a sense of safety.
Get vulnerable: Open-mindedness encourages you to welcome new perspectives and
Ideas, getting vulnerable is allowing yourself to feel and be honest about the emotions that
arise. Vulnerability promotes deeper thinking and strengthens the relationship amongst
teams.
Some emotions that may arise
Confusion: You may feel as if things don’t make sense, or that these new perspectives
you’re being exposed to don’t align with things that you’ve learned or have been exposed to
in the past. Be open minded about not knowing and be willing to reconcile these emotions
with new knowledge.
Shock: When learning new things about Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and the impact that
racism and discrimination has had on individuals and communities, many times the feeling of
shock comes first. This is okay, be shocked but be more intentional about your learning.
Anger: Discussing race, racism, discrimination, and its impact on people is not an easy pill
to swallow and sometimes we become angry when trying to process this information.
Channel this emotion into learning, what can you do to help create safer and healthier
spaces for your diverse colleagues?
Guilt: Sometimes we don’t realize how we are personally contributing to system of racism
and discrimination, but once we grasp our potential complacency and contribution, we may
feel a sense of guilt and sadness.
Overall discomfort: Having a sense of discomfort is a natural feeling when learning
something new and challenging. Allow yourself to sit in this discomfort, try to understand
where those feelings are stemming from. This is part of the learning journey.
What to expect from the facilitator
These workshops are for you. This means that we need you to be fully present and to
engage in the learning process. The reason we are facilitating workshops instead of general
presentations is because we would like to encourage active learning, by doing. Participating
and fully immersing oneself in the learning will lead to better individual and collective
outcomes. By engaging in the activities offered with your team members, you are able to
better understand their perspectives and ways of thinking on certain issues and topics, this
will help determine future best practises to bring organizational change and strengthen the
culture.
Here is a list of some benefits of interactive participation:
- Deepens understanding
- Provides clarification on prior learning
- Helps to retain information
- Increases engagement
We encourage you to be curious and ask questions. No question is unworthy of being
explored, you never know if someone else in the room was seeking the same clarification or
had similar questions.
