Case Study: Basic Training

“We already know Diversity and Inclusion are important. But our organization is large, and we need to have everyone have at least some basic training. What can you do for us?”

Situation: A large government agency created a diversity and inclusion framework that required systemic change. They needed training for everyone in their organization – from senior leadership to front-line workers and administrative staff. However, they knew that full-day in-person training was not a viable option for many of their divisions. They contacted the CFRAC consulting team for their expertise in systemic change and to provide some recommendations on how to provide training that would work for all areas of their organization.

What We Did: CFRAC’s consulting team provided a variety of training options and helped the client determine which modality would best meet the needs of their various divisions. The organization’s senior leadership was interested in a series of lunch and learns that took the form of facilitated conversations on key diversity and inclusion topics. Our consulting created a series of webinars with follow-up assignments and email support to meet the learning needs of the administrative staff. For the front-line workers, CFRAC’s consulting team partnered with two other grassroots community organizations to design a four-day training course that incorporated theoretical knowledge, community voices and perspectives and practical application of the material. We also led the creation and facilitation of a community of practice for the HR consultants. CFRAC’s consulting team holds experience in creating engaging, interactive, and participatory training regardless of the modality used to deliver the content.

Benefits: Using many different modalities enabled us to work with the entire organization simultaneously. Participation was high as the format used in each division respected participants’ time and preferred mode of learning. The evaluations from all the divisions indicated that the entire organization had established a shared vocabulary around diversity and inclusion. Everyone participating in the training understood their role in advancing equity in the system.