Inclusion and Belonging

This pre-work module asks participants to reflect individually before a group conversation on inclusive management. Participants watch a short video on identity, learn the concepts of privilege, target identity, and agent identity, and complete a Social Identity Wheel to identify which parts of their identity are most and least salient to them. They then complete an Inclusive Leadership Self-Assessment, scoring themselves on internal and external actions across traits such as Commitment, Self-Awareness of Bias, Curiosity, and Humility, to establish a personal starting point for later discussion.

This appendix module explores inclusion and belonging through three distinct lenses: personal bias, group dynamics, and privilege. Participants take Harvard's Implicit Association Test to surface unconscious associations, use Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (mapped as a 2x2 matrix of Uniqueness vs. Belongingness) in a physical walking-grid exercise to locate and discuss their own felt sense of inclusion or exclusion at work, and journal using the "invisible knapsack" framework to examine how privilege or oppression shows up in their own lives before discussing findings in small groups.

This introductory module sets the foundation for a workshop series on inclusion and belonging at work. Participants explore what inclusion looks like in daily workplace interactions, discuss the business case for inclusive cultures, and reflect on how their own identities show up on the job. Through group agreements and a personal check-in exercise, participants share what they've learned from pre-work on identity, raise questions about identity in the workplace, and set individual goals for the workshop ahead.

This module distinguishes diversity from inclusion and focuses on the behaviors that make a diverse group actually work well together. Participants learn the distinction between diversity as the "mix" of visible and invisible differences people bring, and inclusion as the practices that make that mix function ??? treating people equitably, giving them equal access to opportunities and resources, and letting them be themselves while contributing. Through small-group discussion, participants share personal experiences of feeling included (or excluded), surface challenges and open questions about inclusive management, and compare themes across the group.

This module explores how social identity shapes self-perception, leadership presence, and team interactions. Participants watch a video on cultural competence and emotional intelligence, then use the Social Identity Wheel to map which identities they think about most and least, and which most strongly shape how they see themselves and how others see them. Through an anonymous "Who's in the Room" survey and small group discussion, participants surface the range of identities present in the room and reflect on how their own identities influence how they show up as leaders and team members.

No exercises in this module.

This module examines how unconscious bias shows up in hiring and everyday workplace interactions, and gives participants concrete tools to counter it. Participants learn to identify four specific bias types???confirmation bias, similarity bias, groupthink, and stereotyping???through interviewing examples, then practice applying before/during/after interview safeguards and evidence-based evaluation to a hiring debrief scenario. The module also introduces a framework for navigating "hot moments" (charged conversations involving bias), covering both internal actions (attend to your reaction, understand the situation, choose a short-term response, consider a long-term response) and external actions (interrupt, question, educate, echo), which participants apply to a scenario involving overheard biased comments about a colleague.

This module introduces a Six Traits framework for inclusive leadership???Commitment, Self Awareness, Curiosity, Humility, Courage, and Belonging???drawn from research on inclusive leadership. Participants first discuss what visible and invisible traits, actions, or skills make someone an inclusive leader, then learn how the six traits break into two dimensions: Internal Leadership (the personal work needed to live these values) and External Leadership (the actions taken to express them outward). Participants complete a self-assessment against the six traits and debrief individually on where they need more work (internal vs. external), which trait comes easiest and which is most challenging, and identify one concrete action to become a more inclusive leader or teammate.

This closing module gives participants a dedicated space to raise open questions from the Inclusion and Belonging workshop before wrapping up. Using a Q&A parking lot format, participants surface lingering questions or points needing clarification so key concepts and commitments from the session are reinforced before they return to work.