Be a Force for Diversity in Your Organization
Bentley University's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Certificate Programs equip business executives with the training and tools to create and nurture an inclusive organizational culture. The program is designed to meet learners where they are in their DEI journey and move them forward as agents of change.
Change does not happen in a vacuum so seize the opportunity to request sponsorship from your company to enjoy a special group discount rate. Remember, advancing DEI is a collaborative journey that demands strategic planning, empathy, and collective effort.
A Data-driven, Impactful Curriculum
Through our innovative Race/And approach, participants engage in self-reflection, deepen their understanding of DEIJ fundamentals, explore team-level diagnosis and interventions, and gain insights into organizational and system-level change planning.
Experiential Learning
Our program incorporates experiential learning through immersive activities, case studies, and interactive modules. Participants engage in real-world scenarios, role-playing exercises, and group discussions to apply theoretical concepts directly to practical situations. This hands-on approach allows learners to deepen their comprehension, develop problem-solving abilities, and cultivate empathy and awareness.
Creating Change
Participants will leverage their newfound knowledge to craft a tailored DEI change initiative for their organizations, complete with an implementation plan for integration upon their return to their professional roles.
Take the next step
Foundations and Individual Exploration
In this section, participants are introduced to our Race/And approach as they embark on a journey of self-discovery and skill-building, delving into critical topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Understand Bias
Explore foundational concepts such as intersectionality, unconscious bias, and microaggressions.
Analyze Neuroscience
Delving into the neuroscience of DEI and the basics of change management.
Conversation Framework
Learn about the Bentley Brave DialogueSM framework for engaging in conversations across differences in the workplace.
Inclusivity Within Teams and Organizations
Participants further their understanding of fostering inclusive environments and driving organizational change through an intersectional lens.
Develop Synergy
Developing an inclusivity narrative, understanding team dynamics, and promoting high-functioning, inclusive leadership.
Explore Teams
Exploring inclusive team leadership, addressing biases, transforming organizations, and managing diverse team conflicts.
Cultivate Inclusivity
Exploring organizational culture, tackling micro-inequities, and leading inclusively with intersectional awareness.
DEI Change in Organizations and Systems
Participants embark on the final stages of their journey towards driving meaningful change within their organizations and prepare their change initiatives.
Promote Equity
Learn how to translate initiatives into actionable plans by engaging your organization and strategizing implementation.
Enhance Initiatives
Utilize evidence-based organization developmental tools to refine and strengthen DEI change initiatives, ensuring their efficacy and sustainability.
Create Action Plan
Participants culminate their experience by crafting personalized action plans, solidifying their commitment as allies and advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice within the workplace.
Facilitators
Yaro Fong-Olivares (she/her), M.S. – is an Afro-Caribbean and Chinese immigrant from the island of Hispaniola (now known as the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Washington Heights, and now living in Massachusetts. Her most salient identity is as a priest of Yemaya in the Lucumi spiritual tradition. She serves as Executive Director of Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, an organization dedicated to advancing intersectional gender equity from the classroom to the boardroom.
Wiley Davi Ph.D., is professor of English & Media Studies at Bentley University. In addition, Wiley is a program facilitator for Bentley's Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business and for Erasmus University Rotterdam’s Erasmus Center for Women and Organizations. Wiley is co-author of the book Leading with Uncommon Sense (Springer 2019). Their teaching and research interests span the fields of writing, diversity and inclusion, gender studies, and leadership. Wiley holds a Ph.D. from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Nyacko Pearl Perry is an experienced executive coach and organizational development consultant with expertise in equity-based systemization, people development, and financial sustainability. With a passion for facilitating Equity Diversity Inclusion-based practices, She helps small businesses, community organizations, and corporations foster equitable and sustainable systems through coaching for executives, teams, and entrepreneurs.
As a growth strategist, Nyacko is committed to developing innovative frameworks that enhance structural growth while centering employee experiences. Nyacko is skilled in team building, change management, policy change, data-driven decision-making, conflict resolution, and networking.
Nyacko holds a master's in Organization Development from American University and is a Certified Coach. She is the co-founder and Organization Development Partner at Comfort Kitchen. This James Beard Award-nominated café/restaurant celebrates the African diaspora through global comfort foods connecting Asia to the Americas.
Detailed Topics
Session 1
- Understand the business and human case for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) by exploring the neuroscience of DEIJ
- Define foundational concepts including intersectionality, unconscious bias, and micro-inequities
- Understand key psychological processes that impede relations across difference and how to address them
- Learn how to identify individual biases and techniques to de-bias behaviors
- Explore how allyship, cultural humility, and an understanding of individual privilege can help leaders facilitate organizational transformation and help organizations uproot systemic barriers to inclusion
- Explore and share your own commitment to DEI and develop your "why"
- Create an individualized action plan for moving forward as an ally and workplace advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Explore a framework outlining different personal conflict styles and their role in group interactions
- Understand your default conflict style, and learn to recognize the conflict styles of others
- Leverage conflict style understanding to better engage others in discussions across difference
- Practice the skill of initiating and teaching others how to have courageous conversations across difference
Session 2
- Understand your own racialized experience by reflecting on early learnings about race and racism
- Integrate intersectionality into understanding your racialized experience
- Develop ability to dialogue about your race and a greater understanding of how to facilitate conversations about race in multiracial and multicultural environments
- Develop and share your inclusivity story
- Explore the competencies required to be an inclusive team lead
- Marshmallow Challenge
- Understand the stages of group development, and how to leverage this understanding to promote high-functioning teams
- Examine the challenges and opportunities related to developing and leading inclusive teams
- Explore how to identify individual and group biases and delve into remedies to interrupt these individually and as a team
- Learn the foundations of transforming homogenous and white dominant organizations into multicultural organizations
- Investigate interventions to resolve conflict within teams while leveraging disagreements related to diversity of opinions, skills, and expertise
- Effects of change
- Data Collection Methods and Diagnostics
- Final presentation example and overview
- First racialized experiences
- Research and pipeline data
Session 3
- Strategy implementation: Create a plan to engage others in your organization with implementation planning of your change initiative
- Change sponsor evaluation
- Critical skills for inclusion practitioners
- Self-assessment for inclusion practitioners
- Evaluation
- Iteration
- Final presentations
- Final takeaways, and group debriefing
| Entry and mid-level professionals responsible for employee engagement, talent development, and other organizational development functions, and who need foundational knowledge in DE&I. Examples include: Talent Managers, HR Coordinators, Hiring Coordinators, DEI Coordinators. | DEI professionals, looking to increase their knowledge of developing team and organizational change initiatives. Examples include: DEI Managers, Chief Diversity Officers new to the role. | |
| Professionals interested in taking a more active role in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations but are at the beginning of their DEI journey and development. | Senior HR professionals with foundational DEI knowledge and engaged in personal DEI work, looking to expand their impact in this dimension. Examples include: Chief HR Officers with informal or self-directed DEI training looking to deepen organizational DEI expertise. | |
| Key HR decision makers in roles that require additional awareness of diversity and unconscious bias. Examples include recruiters, hiring managers, and HR business partners who need foundational knowledge in DEI. | Leaders of corporate employee resource groups with informal knowledge and experience with leading DEI efforts looking to expand their impact or move from group level impact to organizational change and impact. | |
| Recently promoted managers seeking to learn how to manage diverse teams. | Members of employee resource groups seeking to develop interpersonal DEI advocacy toolbox. |
To translate demographic and cognitive diversity into a culture of belonging, organizations must encourage, train, and inspire employees to take ownership of the organization's diversity and inclusion journey. Bentley's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Certificate Programs offer intensive, experiential programs that prepare participants as advocates to foster an inclusive workplace culture.
Participants will:
- Understand the business and human case for DE&I by exploring the latest data, and learn the fundamental vocabulary used in DEI work
- Gain insight into potential barriers to an inclusive workplace and actionable strategies to overcome these barriers
- Explore your own racialized experience, integrate the concept of intersectionality into that understanding
- Develop the ability to dialogue about race and identity and how to facilitate successful conversations about race and identity in multiracial and multicultural environments
- Develop an individualized action plan to move forward as a workplace advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Explore the foundations of transforming homogeneous organizations into multicultural organizations
- Learn about organizational systems and culture and how these contribute to organizational inequities
- Learn to identify and mitigate team and organizational inequities
Program Details
Program Dates
Friday, October 18, 2024
Friday, November 1, 2024
Friday, November 15, 2024
Program Cost: $3,950
- Program fee includes tuition, instructional materials, breakfast and lunch.
- Register 30+ days in advance to receive a 20% discount automatically.
- Register 14 days in advance to receive a 10% discount automatically.
- Bentley Alumni receive a 50% enrollment discount.
For information regarding the alumni discount code, contact:
Bentley University Executive Education
execed@bentley.edu
Group Enrollment 30% Discount
Empower your leaders to learn together and grow together. Bentley offers a special 30% group rate discount to companies that send five participants or more.
Bentley Refund Policy
Bentley University will grant a full refund for cancellations received at least 30 days before the program start date. A 50% refund will be given for those cancellations made prior to fourteen days of the program start date. No refund will be granted for those cancellations received after that time.
Supporting Our Community
50% Discount for Alumni, Non-Profits, Veterans, and Job Seekers in Transition. Inquire for more info: execed@bentley.edu.
