Congratulations to Eastman, a global specialty materials company, for winning a Brandon Hall Group Gold Medal for “Best Learning Program for Unconscious Bias Awareness”!
This award-winning 12-module Inclusive Leadership training program was built by Stacey Helstrom, MA, and Jasmine Crumsey Forde, PhD, both members of Eastman’s Learning and Leadership Development team. When designing the training, they knew the last module needed to go beyond theory and awareness—it needed to provide actionable next steps to start moving the needle toward behavior change.
GlobeSmart was a key part of the solution.
As the final step in the training, participants create a GlobeSmart Profile by taking a work-style self-assessment. Team members’ work styles can be compared across the five dimensions of culture, providing a launch point from which to start useful dialogue to better understand each other. GlobeSmart was selected because it provides an accessible, practical, and neutral way to talk about style differences that can often feel uncomfortable in the workplace.
There is no right or wrong GlobeSmart Profile. Some may see themselves on either end of a dimension and initially feel anxious, assuming they’re somehow unbalanced. However any and all points along the dimensions are valid and add value to teams. Opposite ends of the dimensions can mutually benefit each other. Teams can leverage differences by honoring the strengths of each side, and individuals can learn to adapt their work styles to collaborate in the best way together.
We can approach differences from an appreciative standpoint. By fostering a respect for differences within your workforce, you are cultivating a more psychologically safe and empathetic workplace.
Consider how you can use GlobeSmart at your organization to foster inclusion within your teams and your staff as a whole. As a start, managers can use the team comparison in the GlobeSmart Profile to start a discussion about work styles, and how they may intersect within the team (this sheet can be a guide). This can help team members get to know one another better, and ultimately work better together.
Through GlobeSmart Profile comparisons, team members receive advice for working better together. They also have the ability to compare their Profile with that of averages of cultures around the world. These both offer good opportunities for discussions about cultural influences.
For Eastman’s inclusive leadership training, Helstrom and Crumsey Forde wanted to focus on creating psychologically safe environments for personal storytelling—environments that honor how much and how little people feel comfortable sharing. Participants are asked to discuss two comparisons in small groups: one of their profile in relation to the averages of cultures represented by their own team members, and a second of their profile in relation to those present in their small group. The stories told to describe these visuals are left entirely up to the participants. And it’s working! They’ve received positive feedback from global regions that staff members are noticing effective behavior changes among their peers and having more organic conversations on inclusion and culture.
Taking inspiration from Eastman, you can help staff members move from awareness to action with help from GlobeSmart. Log in to start making progress at your own organization.
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