A Four Part Program
Learning & Development
Laying the Foundation for Sustainable Engagement
Format: Online, In-Person, or Hybrid
Duration: 3.5 to 4-hour workshop Description:
In today’s diverse and dynamic work environments, fostering a culture of
inclusion, equity, and engagement is essential for organizational success. This
workshop introduces participants to the A.A.C.T.™ framework, Dr. Summerour’s
proprietary process. A.A.C.T.™—which stands for Accountability, Alignment,
Communication, and Trust—provides the foundation for driving sustainable
engagement and promoting initiatives like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,
Culture Change, and Leadership Development.
In this workshop, participants will explore key concepts of
Engagement through a structured process that includes personal reflection,
group activities, and experiential learning. This approach reveals how
differences in perceptions and unspoken rules can lead to misunderstandings in
diverse groups, underscoring the importance of Communication and Trust.
"The goal is to build a culture where diverse people consistently
choose to give their best effort, supported by equitable solutions
in an inclusive environment."
Learning Objectives:
Heightened Self-Awareness (Accountability): Participants will develop Accountability by identifying personal barriers to engagement and inclusivity, leading to more intentional and responsible interactions.
Deeper Understanding of Socialization (Alignment): By recognizing how foundational beliefs and biases shape behavior, participants will enhance Alignment with organizational values and DE&I goals.
Commitment to Equitable Solutions (Communication): Participants will learn to choose equitable solutions that foster an inclusive environment, improving Communication, and understanding within diverse teams.
Awareness of Perceptual Differences (Trust): Through recognizing how differences in perceptions can lead to misunderstandings, participants will strengthen Trust by promoting empathy and adaptability in cross-cultural interactions.
Enhanced Personal Engagement (Accountability and Alignment): Participants will learn to identify barriers to their engagement and their ability to positively engage others, reinforcing Accountability and Alignment with the organization’s mission.
Empowered to Empower (Communication and Trust): Participants will leave the workshop empowered to experiment with ways to support their organization’s culture and promote DE&I initiatives, using engagement as the catalyst. This will foster Communication and Trust amongst colleagues.
Empowering Employees to Navigating Their Own Engagement (team members)
This workshop is designed for individual contributors only. It is recommended that leaders and managers take Leading with Inclusion and Engagement in Mind
It is true that leaders are responsible for creating an inclusive work environment that fosters engagement. It is also true that employees will feel more empowered when they understand and embrace their ability to align with leaders in accomplishing this goal.
This workshop begins with a brief review of the previous workshop before taking a deeper examination into employee engagement. Participants will have an opportunity to assess their own engagement. In Leading with Inclusion and Engagement in Mind, leaders will assess the engagement of their teams or departments.
Participants will learn ways to address seven different behaviors through the Behavior Awareness Model. Case studies will be introduced to walk attendees through the Dr. Lisa's E.N.G.A.G.E. Model where they will learn tools that equip them with having challenging conversations that address behavior while holding space to keep everyone involved engaged and honored.
Learning Objectives:
• Participants will assess their own engagement and/or the engagement of their team or department
• Participants will learn to identify and address seven behaviors
• Participants will learn to initiate a challenging conversation using Dr. Lisa's E.N.G.A.G.E. Model
Leading with Inclusion and Engagement in Mind
This workshop is designed for those leading teams. It is recommended that team members or individual contributors take Employees Empowered to Engage.
Leading with Engagement gets to the heart of what is the most important to individuals and organizations–deeper, more consistent employee engagement in the form of discretionary effort.
This workshop helps those in positions of leadership understand their role in creating inclusive environments that promote the highest levels of engagement for their teams.
Assessing Engagement
This workshop explores different methods for conducting formal and informal engagement assessments; and provides insight into how to determine what is right for your organization.
How Well Are You Doing?
Managing for Engagement challenges leaders to evaluate their direct reports as well as their own engagement. In this workshop, leaders are invited to take an informal assessment of their team's engagement. Leaders gain insight into why it's important to pay attention to shifts in employee's engagement level and how to address those shifts when they happen.
Engagement and the E.N.G.A.G.E. Model
Creating a workforce of engaged employees is the end goal. We believe when an organization gets engagement right, diversity will take care of itself. This workshop explores the components of engagement and the connection to discretionary effort.
Participants will learn or come to understand:
• Review the diversity to engagement journey and how DEI+E are related
• How to address challenges in the workplace related to diversity dimensions
• To use engagement to create more cohesive team
What if Bias Isn’t the Problem?
Unconscious/implicit bias workshops continue to be some of the most popular in the learning a development field. Nevertheless, the question that continues to come up is: are they working?
This workshop moves attendes through unconscious, or implicit bias to where the real work lies in changing behaviors that impact and reflect culture.
Researchers have revealed that everyone has unconscious or implicit biases. They also confirm the following:
• The evidence for effectiveness of unconscious bias training is anecdotal (Kilduff & Pelunsky, 2016).
• Bias awareness does not equate to behavioral change (Warmington & Kline, 2015).
• No empirical data to support the hypothesis that being aware of unconscious bias has an effect on behavior.
“What if Bias Isn’t the Problem?” This workshop reviews the limitations associated with focusing on bias and shifts focus to what will exact the desired changes in employee behavior.
Attendees will participate in an exercise designed to help them better identify unwanted behaviors so they can self-correct using inclusive tactics that enhance engagement.
Participants will be introduced to P’s and Q’s. The P’s include: policies, practices, principles, procedures, and processes. Q’s refer to the questions leaders can ask to identify and eliminate undesirable elements that exist within the P’s. This is a key to creating sustainable culture change and addressing isms that are impeding desired outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
• Participants will learn what influences our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs
• Participants will learn working definitions of commonly misunderstood words
• Participants will learn what is important to focus on in order to change behavior
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