Managing Diversity

More Effective Leadership of an Evolving Staff

Topics: Interpersonal Relationships, People Skills, Skill Development, Workforce

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Workshop Preview Video

  • Managing DiversityManaging Diversity


    JoNeil Smith and Jim Veronesi discuss the workshop Managing Diversity, which prepares leaders to meet the challenges posed by a highly diverse workforce and patient population.

Workshop Overview

The imperative for leaders to understand how to lead in an environment where patients, staff, and physicians encompass diversity of age, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and socioeconomic and cultural background cannot be ignored. Among the challenges leaders face on a regular basis are leading staff both younger and older than themselves, supporting staff as they treat patients from extremely diverse backgrounds, and incorporating staff from abroad into their organization. The ability to manage diversity impacts the core functions of a leader’s role: staff recruitment and retention, staff productivity, and delivery of high-quality service.

Learning objectives for pParticipants

  • Recognize the impact a diverse workforce has on day-to-day management tasks
  • Improve communication techniques to minimize miscommunication
  • Evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of minimizing differences and emphasizing differences
  • Select appropriate diversity management strategies based on individual situations
  • Discern how biases can impact behavior
  • Identify personal biases and minimize their influence on actions and decision making

Course content and teaching methodology

This course incorporates classroom presentation, case studies, and individual and group exercises. The following topics are among those included in this course:

Uncovering managerial challenges

  • Understanding how a diverse workforce complicates the three common managerial processes of relationship building, communication, and decision making
  • Reviewing typical approaches to managing diversity

Exploring two approaches: Minimizing differences and emphasizing differences

  • Understanding the benefits and pitfalls of both approaches
  • Developing strategies to combat the inherent pitfalls of each approach

Overcoming the Hidden Handicap

  • Recognizing the natural, universal nature of bias
  • Preventing bias from influencing decision making in important managerial situations