Framing a Diversity Strategy

We help organizations develop and maintain diversity in their workforce through a variety of processes. These include assessment, feedback, on-going consultation, and training. Initially, we meet with key individuals in the organization to learn the issues and to begin to define exactly what diversity means for that particular organization.

We believe the most effective diversity training is presented as part of a larger business strategy. Therefore in working with you, we pay particular attention to the following:

• What you're doing to make people want to work for you now;
• Your hiring and orientation practices;
• Your communications to employees and prospective employees;
• Your Affirmative Action statistics;
• Your customers' need for diversity in their suppliers;
• Current organizational policies and practices that might need to change as you develop a work environment more responsive to diversity.

Diversity Audits

We begin our work with clients with a diversity audit. This may include document review, interviews, and focus groups, as well as assessment tools. Once we collect and examine the data, we review our findings with you and your team. In the review meeting we help you clarify the issues and lay out options for action.

Our experience shows that some needs we identify relate directly to the changing demographic picture of the workforce. Others have to do more with organizational structure and general management practices. Sometimes "diversity" issues are about style and values rather than demographics. Other times, our clients need assistance in sourcing a broader diversity of people to meet the company's staffing needs.

Often, clients ask us to help them facilitate some of these choices or to conduct diversity training, which we are glad to do.

Harassment Prevention Training

In a perfect world, a company would not need expert guidance on how to prevent harassment in the workplace. But sometimes it is in the best interest of a company to get such guidance, and Debora Bloom Associates has extensive experience in this area.

Whether a monitoring agency has mandated that your firm have harassment prevention training, or you, as the firm's management, think it's good practice to make your employees aware of the current laws on this topic, we can provide the necessary training.

Debora Bloom Associates offers employee-level and management-level harassment prevention training. We conduct training on-site or at a location of your choosing. In addition, we can provide your staff with update training on an annual basis. This allows all new employees to be informed and experienced employees to stay current.

Our harassment prevention training begins with our understanding of why you want to conduct training at this time. The training itself consists of three components:

• First, we look at the essential elements of the law, both federal and state;
• Second, we ensure participants become familiar with your policy and practices;
• Finally, we have the group work through examples of varying kinds of harassment, and how to deal with them.

We deliver learning that is comprehensive and readily understood. Throughout the harassment prevention training, we stress that the law and your policy are designed to protect everyone from unwanted and illegal behavior and to provide a hospitable work place. Employees themselves need to be educated about what may or may not constitute unlawful harassment.

Participants leave with an increased understanding of the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate workplace behavior.

Management Development Services

Sometimes both new and experienced managers lack certain basic management skills. Debora Bloom Associates can help you structure your management development process, provide consultation on management practices and offer a range of workshops that address specific management competencies, including the following:

• Managing Performance
• Coaching and Developing Staff
• Interviewing and Selection
• Leading Change
• Team Building

In addition, we recognize that there is a clear relationship between management issues and diversity management. Managers often have problems managing their diverse workforce if they can't handle conflict, manage expectations, communicate expectations and give appropriate performance feedback to their staff. Our management development services are designed to strengthen these skill areas.

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