Learning Labs

The White Men and Allies Workshop® is a three and a half day residential learning lab designed for organizational teams of two or more individuals. Each team, consisting of a mixture of white men, women and people of color, should be intentionally formed so that, upon return, they will work together as partners within their organization’s ongoing diversity efforts. We recommend that white men, when possible, first attend the White Men’s Caucus®. The session format includes use of videos, group discussions, personal reflection, and other experiential activities.

The purpose of the White Men and Allies Learning Lab is to have participants:

• Understand more about how systemic racism, sexism, heterosexism and classism operate as systemic advantage in their work, community and personal life.
• Become more conscious of how their own behavior may unintentionally reinforce these unproductive dynamics.
• Identify new options for interrupting systemic advantage, and for being a more effective partner across difference at work and in other interactions.
• Examine and better understand American white male culture and its impact on all people - white men, women and people of color

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"Women make up 31 per cent of the official labour force in developing countries and 46.7 per cent worldwide. In most countries, women work approximately twice the unpaid time men do. The majority of women earn on average about three-fourths of the pay of males for the same work, outside of the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries."  United Nations Image and Statistics

Women of Different Tribes:
What Unites Us...What Divides Us...
A Women’s Caucus®
Women's Caucus Brochure

Learning lab focused on Cross-racial & Cross-cultural Leadership and Partnership Skills Development

Those statistics are sobering. They underscore the need for women’s global leadership development programs that provide space, time and tools for today’s women to reflect on the impact of their roles at work and the partnerships they create with women and men in support of women’s business, professional and personal goals.

The recent election year in the United States highlighted an exciting aspect of the lives of women. Then Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy and the vice-presidential run by Governor Sarah Palin demonstrated the distance women have travelled as accomplished politicians. That distance can be seen more clearly if we remember that it was Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress, who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1972. Geraldine Ferraro was selected as vice-presidential running mate of Walter Mondale in 1984. Charges of sexism against the media and male politicians during the 2007-2008 presidential campaign surfaced a longstanding dynamic which touches the lives of women in organizations. Chisolm wasn’t taken seriously in 1972 and thirty-six years later some of the same dynamics related to charges of sexism, exposed the often unspoken societal reality that women are still valued differently than men.

We believe a new conversation is needed. It is a conversation more powerful than research and committees and conferences on women at work. Women need to talk to each other about how we value each other -- or not -- and what we can do through our leadership to shift our individual and collective realities. This conversation will require our skill and commitment because it will be more difficult. It will require us to understand each other and build intercultural competence and partnership skills at the same time. It will require we engage our hearts, not just our heads.

Women, we invite you to attend Women of Different Tribes, whether you have been at the helm of a large organization for many years or are just starting your leadership journey. No Women’s Leadership Development Program can answer the needs of every woman from small remote villages around the world to the corporate halls of Fortune 100 companies, but we can begin.

The focus of the White Men’s Caucus® is to assist white men in becoming full diversity partners within your organization. The Caucus acts to significantly raise awareness and understanding among white men so they can actively participate in creating more inclusive working environments back at work. The caucus takes place over an intensive three and a half day learning process that assists men in understanding the value of inclusive organizational cultures. Learning takes place through video and experiential exercises combined with dialogue and listening to explore how attendees feel and react to the effects of racism, sexism and homophobia. Participants will:

• Gain a systemic perspective and understanding of the costs of racism, sexism, heterosexism, oppression and privilege.
• Come to understand and recognize themselves as both an individual and as a member of the white male group.
• Become a more full partner in organizational diversity efforts.
• Learn to create supportive systems that enhance learning and inclusion
• Depart with specific personal and professional action plans.

The White Men’s Caucus® is a complement to the White Men and Allies Workshop®. We encourage white men to consider participating in a White Men’s Caucus and then joining a colleague who is a woman or person of color at a White Men and Allies Workshop®.

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