Over the decades, America has overcome many diversity challenges. Although challenges definitely remain in creating a truly fair and equitable view of all people, much of the challenge rests within the psyche of individual minds. Stereotypes and prejudices come from the labeled experiences of an individual as well as from the teachings of influencers around a person. Overcoming diversity challenges ultimately becomes a matter of learning to peel off the labels that a person has towards another person or a group of people and re-label the meaning that they have given to them.
When a person is growing up, it is the meaning that they assign to events that will create the values that they carry with them into adulthood. As a person progresses through the imprinting stage of development, into the modeling stages, and then through the socialization stage, they blend their experiences with their values in order to create their picture of reality. When a person can fully grasp that their reality is one that was created, then they can understand the process to recreate their labels/reality in any way that they wish.
In this program, participants will learn why we think the way that we do about others, how those labels were created, and what can be done to intentionally create the new labels that we desire. Whether the challenge is related to generations, gender, race, or even factors related to appearance or handicaps, learning to control one's thoughts is the linchpin for success. Overcoming diversity challenges becomes a matter of managing your psychology so that the organization improves through a collective desire for a better culture.
