A 2019 Pride in the Triangle Initiative – LGBTQ+ Workplace Equity Toolkit

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NOTE: Even though we are “Pride in the Triangle” in North Carolina, corporate sponsorship is welcomed for anywhere and you can still come to our area for the two-day “trainer of trainers.”

Consider starting off the New Year supporting a project coordinated by Pride in the Triangle, a collaboration of Triangle, NC area LGBTQ+ employees and allies from various corporations coming together to share best practices, work together on LGBTQ+ issues in our corporations and in North Carolina, and network with other out employees and allies.

Throughout 2018, the group met to agree on requirements and contents for a Workplace Equity Toolkit, which will be open source and available for any company to use for workforce training, and includes an inter-company training of trainers (TOT). I, along with consultant and trainer Katherine Turner of Global Citizen, LLC, have been brought on board as professional diversity training course developers and trainers to now professionally develop this comprehensive toolkit.

Pride in the Triangle is striving to raise the remaining funds (we already have our first confirmed 2-3 corporate contributors) in the next few months, so that Katherine and I can develop the toolkit and hold the training of trainers in the early Spring, enabling corporations to use the toolkit for LGBTQ Pride Month this upcoming June.

The goal of the training is to create a more equitable and inclusive work environment for LGBTQ+ colleagues by:
• Articulating the business rationale for equity and inclusion in the workplace
• Explaining LGBTQ+ related terminology, concepts, misconceptions and history
• Expressing empathy for LGBTQ+ colleagues and concerns
• Demonstrating their ability to comfortably initiate constructive conversations about LGBTQ+ colleagues and concerns
• Making a commitment to take action to promote equity and inclusion for LGBTQ+ colleagues.

Katherine Turner (left) of Global Citizen, LLC and myself from Total Engagement Consulting have been engaged to develop the toolkit.

These contents of the toolkit provide a totally turn key solution to organize and hold the sessions:
• Facilitator’s agenda that includes facilitation instructions and adaptation guidance for different sectors, timeframes and audience familiarity with the topic.
• PowerPoint slides with presentation notes.
• Participant booklet with handout, worksheets and other resource materials
• Two sample agendas for different time frames
• Sample evaluation form
• Certificate of participation template
• Leadership engagement tips
• Boilerplate email invitation to the training session

Various sponsorship levels ranging from $1,000 to over $10,000 include recognition benefits, with 1-3 guaranteed seats in the 2 day Training of Trainer sessions for the larger contributors.

Please contact me soon (email [email protected] or office number 919-787-7315) for more information and to discuss your organization’s possible participation.

Happy New Year – My Top 7 Blogs of 2018

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This is now becoming an annual tradition – looking at my website statistics for the past entire year and listing my top seven most read blogs as a New Year feature.

I normally blog about my two areas of consulting a few times each month: Diversity with a specialization in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) workplace and marketplace; and career and skills development based on my innovative Total Engagement Career Mapping process. And once in a while I throw in a more personal blog or rant about something that is irking me.

In 2018, for the first, time, all seven most read blogs dealt with some sort of diversity topic, with diversity within sports being the most popular. Also, this year, two of the seven top blogs were written by guest bloggers, my cousin Brandon Garrick and one of my consulting associates Elsa Maria Jimenez Salgado. Here are the “Top 7 of 2018” in reverse order:

7. The seventh most read blog of 2018 was guest written by my cousin Brandon Garrick, Masters of Social Work Candidate at NC State University. “Five steps to reduce mass incarceration of African Americans” was a follow up to his first blog about the key impacts of the mass incarceration of Black Americans.

6. Number 6 was “Five Key Messages on the Importance of Out Gay Olympic Athletes” which focuses on the value and importance of Olympic athletes being open about their sexual orientation, an increasingly critical message for today’s youth.

5. My fifth most popular blog was “Three Wonderful Recent Examples of Diversity and Sports,” in which I provide three short summaries with links about an NFL football player with one hand, an WNBA player who is a new mother with her wife, and a college track star who overcame a harsh abusive upbringing in Africa.

4. Number 4 is “Seven Biases in the Workplace – Let’s Be Brutally Honest About It.” I challenge us all to be brutally honest about unconscious biases that can pop into our heads about the diverse co-workers we interact with, and to address it with action.

3. Number 3 was the 2014 – 2016 number 1,and the 2017 #2, actually published way back in 2011! As many people search for online resources about diversity training, they found and read my 2011 blog “Three Components of Diversity Training,” where I discuss three major components required for diversity training and exactly who within an enterprise should be trained. I have also updated that blog to include links to more resources including to a blog sharing a sample outline of diversity and inclusion training contents.

2. This past year’s number 2 blog, “Seven Misconceptions or Stereotypes of Hispanic People” was a guest piece written in 2016 by my part-time bilingual consultant on staff, Elsa Maria Jimenez Salgado.

As an adult competitive figure skater myself, I enjoy including skating and skaters in my blogs.

1. And finally, by a complete runaway with 35,000 hits across the two blog was my 2016 personal labor of love which included several personal photos that I took, “Seven Fabulous Out Gay Men of Figure Skating.” along with this year’s Seven More Fabulous Out Gay Men of Figure Skating (and One Bisexual Woman.)

Thanks to all the readers who enjoy and share my blogs. In 2019, if you want to be notified each time I do publish, you can like my business facebook page (Link), or if you subscribe to my monthly e-newsletter, I include a short summary and links to the past month’s writings.

Wishing all my readers a wonderful 2019 filled with much contentment, success and hopefully a rebounding stock market!