As an alumni of the University of California, Irvine and Anteater (Zot Zot Zot!), it was a pleasure to be invited to give a lecture for Graduate Division’s Management Beyond the Classroom (MBC) certificate program in early September.

My talk “Maximizing Team Potential with a Culture of Inclusion” provided actionable steps for leading a diverse team to success in a virtual meeting format. I held this discussion catering toward the graduate students, post docs, and staff so that they could implement the lessons in their organizations now as well as throughout their career. We discussed the what it means to implement Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), how to recognize bias, harassment, and discrimination, and performed a couple exercises to increase empathy for targets of harassment in order to understand more deeply what it takes to foster a psychologically safe workplace, encouraging the best work in people.

While the presentation focused on acting to support a team from the standpoint of a manager, team lead, or supervisor in a workplace, I received many questions about how individual team members can navigate difficult workplace situations involving bias and harassment.

One participant shared they had worked in an environment where team members gossiped, which gave them discomfort and impeded their work performance with those members. I shared tactics for drawing support, resolving conflict, and ensuring that they reach the resolution that works best for them to restore psychological safety.

Overall, I received very positive feedback from the audience and facilitators. A few participants shared that it was the first time they learned what diversity, equity, and inclusion was, and the facilitators invited me to speak again in the next Quarter session of the MBC program.

If you or your organization are interested in me discussing how leaders in organizations can maximize their team’s potential, leverage diverse ideas and perspectives, and reach success, please contact me.

An example of this talk for a university student audience (prior to a few revisions to improve clarity and delivery) is available below: