Month: February 2009

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Coaching Diversity Competency

Diversity competency can be described as acquired knowledge, social attitude and interpersonal skills gained over time as a result of observations, personal interest, work requirement, or social consciousness. 

 

Competency in this context could also point to behaviour that reflects acquired or required competence in social interactions, behaviour and attitudes towards people of different groups based on culture, race, country of origin or orientation that can be strongly influenced by:

·        Observed behaviour

·        Practice or action

·        Feedback

·        Coaching or

·        Self-reflection

 

In order to develop competencies such as diversity sensitivity that will improve interpersonal wellness, it is often important for one to engage in a coaching relationship.  A coaching relationship according to the International Coach Federation is “a partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential”.   

 

I find that aspects of the coaching relationship such as accountability, truth telling and reflection, in a trusting relationship often allows the individual to take an honest look at his/her behaviour and assess the current and likely consequences.  This serves to inspire one to make choices that produce more of the consequences that empower his/her life and relationships.  This is why I believe coaching is one of the fastest and most effective ways to improve diversity competencies.  Competencies such as sensitivity, acceptance, respect and tolerance can be explored, discussed and challenged within the safety of a coaching relationship.

If you want to learn more about coaching diversity for your workplace, please do contact our office for more information.

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Is Diversity Management Part of Interpersonal Wellness?

Does your workplace have an interpersonal wellness plan that includes diversity management?  

 

With the month of February being Black history month and the month of March being observed as diversity month, this is a time of year when many people ask the same question.  Are there still issues of discrimination, exclusion and racism in workplaces? In an ideal world the answer would be an emphatic No!  However this is not a perfect world so the answer I unfortunately have to give is yes, we do have those issues present in the workplace today.  

 

Even with respectful workplace and anti-harassment policies and procedures in place many workplaces are still challenged with issues of either prejudice or discrimination in the workplace.  Often it can be as subtle as name calling, demeaning jokes or at times it is just outright exclusion of an individual because of orientation, race, language or even one’s accent can be the cause of one being shunned in the workplace.

 

What we have also come to realize is that conflicts that arise from issues of diversity culture or otherwise are very pervasive and presents various levels and dimensions that takes a very comprehensive approach of analysis and resolution.  It is for that reason we have been focusing on helping our clients over the past five years, to integrate diversity competency coaching to help their employees and their organizations better weed out those lingering yet challenging attitudes that lead to individuals acting in a manner that is exclusive, racist or discriminatory.  In my work, I find it is often best to help individuals develop competencies in sensitivity, awareness and respect. 

Though many organizations have policies in place to encourage these traits, very often certain employees will need further competency training to help them cultivate these behaviours.  Often coaching is a very good effective and fast way to help with this competency building objective.

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Welcome to our blog!

Welcome  to the Life Coaching Centre’s blog.  Each month we will link our newsletter to this blog where you our readers will have an opportunity to give us your feedback and share your thoughts with us on the articles and stories we share with you.

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To find out more about the life coaching centre please click over to our website at: www.lifecoachcentre.ca