Our Approach
Our perspective differs from that of other DEI Services in how we present the information. We believe that change is a collective endeavor. We avoid the use of language that is divisive, confrontational, or promotes the stance of “us vs. them” or “victim vs. perpetrator”. While we acknowledge and expect that each organization will require specific solutions, we persist in our belief that we are on this journey to find solutions together.
Culture of Equity Assessment
Alford Group’s proprietary DEI self-assessment tool delivers a comprehensive scan combining internal perceptions and factual metrics as well as a detailed report of the findings along with multiple recommendations for next steps to advance your DEI objectives.
Our services encompass three main areas of focus:
Change Management
Strategic DEI Planning:We are on our own journey and know what it takes to do this work.
We will partner with you to create your strategic DEI plan, along with methods of communication, alignment and implementation for yourorganization.
Plan Implementation and Integration: Highly focused support to assist those charged with leadership of identified DE&I focus areas with the leadership and technical skills they will need to move your organization towards the identified objectives, strategies and activities in your DEI plan, supported by intensive skill-building training sessions.
Succession Planning: Building a leadership pipeline is foundational to retention, but it is not an easy process. When you engage with our succession planning services, you will develop transparent infrastructures that incorporate equity in mapping out career paths for your team members. Our succession planning service is designed to give everyone visibility to opportunities across functions for lateral and vertical career movement. We provide methods to enable managers to identify knowledge gaps on an individual and department-wide basis and provide coaching and training as needed. This planning empowers employees to manage their professional growth and it cultivates the next generation of leaders in your talent pipeline.
DEI Strategic Planning: These days, a sense of belonging and inclusion is increasingly essential to run an impactful organization. How is your organization ensuring inclusivity and equity for its members? Is there a need for a culture shift? Do you want your organization to be more equitable in its practices? We can join you in developing your strategic plan to implement DEI-specific initiatives while ensuring the meaningful engagement of diverse stakeholders throughout a truly inclusive process.
Executive Coaching
We serve leaders by being trusted advisors, thought partners, and truth-speakers. Research shows that coaching accelerates the success of learning new skills, new ways of working and shifting mindsets to increase an organization’s capacity for change.
Trainings
Microaggressions: Reading Between the Lines: When you speak, all of you speaks. Your micro-messages–your facial expressions, word choice, and tone—eveal your core feelings, often even when you don’t intend them to. The subtle message is the real message. Have you ever identified or witnessed subtle slights and snubs only to hear responses that the person on the receiving end is “too sensitive”, or “paranoid”? This is an example of a micro-inequity, where feedback of micro-messages from certain individuals is discounted or ignored. It happens consistently and significantly impacts employee morale and engagement. Come to this workshop to find out how to address it in your organization.
Uncovering Cover Terms: Cover terms are used by organizations to identify some important aspects of organizational life. Its use often reflects one’s “membership” and may only be available and accessible to those privileged with the knowledge. Cover terms are an easy vehicle to hide (unintentional) personal bias. This workshop will help you uncover and unpack your organization’s secret language and establish how you can incorporate this concept to onboarding programs, mentorship programs, and succession planning.
Examining Identity in the Workplace: It is said that we can only recognize the privilege we don’t have. Conversely, the more privilege we have the less we recognize how it can affect others negatively. How do race, gender, class, and other factors affect rank and privilege in our organization? This workshop helps us discover how our identities and positions in life can influence our perceptions, judgments, and behaviors.
The Power of Feedback: Feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have for creating high performance, aligning our goals and developing a career path. So why wait until review time to give and receive feedback? Why not use it every day? This training walks through an easy-to-follow feedback model that will help you give candid insights and direct reports to peers, and higher-ups. Using this model alleviates the need to be defensive and allows for all parties to be accountable for their actions. This workshop will take the sting out of giving and receiving feedback.
Decoding Code-Switching: We all change the language we use or the tone of voice we adopt in order to adapt to our environment, but we may not always realize when it’s happening. Code-switching helps us announce a specific identity by creating meanings or attitudes intended only for some individuals to understand. In this training, we explore topic questions such as “is there such a thing as “authentic code-switching?” and “should we accept code-switching or work to eliminate it?”
Facilitating Diversity Dialogues: This training models what a successful conversation about racial identities looks like so that change agents in your organization can facilitate dialogues in their own teams The focus will be on how to manage and facilitate both external interpersonal dialogue as well as tips on how to hold space for internal feelings that come with these conversations. The objective is to create an environment so that all parties are heard, understood and contribute.
Recruit & Retain Diverse Talent: Having a diverse workforce can bring many benefits to an organization: it brings increased innovation, creativity, and productivity and as a result, this attracts more diverse talent. However, attracting quality diverse talent is a common challenge that many organizations face. With the current job market, workers are more selective in where they want to work. So how do we encourage them to stay? More workers are seeking an inclusive environment where they have a sense of belonging and value, where they are given opportunities to learn and grow, and where they see their own values reflected. Our training provides best practices and recommendations for how to cultivate this inclusive environment, how to attract diverse talent and how to sustain long-term engagement and motivation.