Polarity Management for Managers: Generational Differences to Creating a Culture of Belonging

PROGRAM SUMMARY

Many organizations strive to achieve their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) goals by aiming to create a culture of belonging but often times don’t know how or where to start to affect the most change and create a lasting impact. Join us as we use the Polarity Management™ model (ENCORE) to take a both/and approach to a given situation when an either/or solution isn’t the answer. Polarity Management is a powerful tool to help navigate complexity when you don’t have a problem to solve but a polarity to manage.

In this session we will explore differing generational tendencies to ‘create a culture of belonging,’ to include all perspectives, discover how to achieve the best of multiple worlds, and experience how Polarity Management can be applied in the workplace to help create sustainable EDI change.

What You Will Learn:

• Assess how Polarity Management can help create positive movement in situations that seem unsolvable, specifically in the context of successfully creating a culture of belonging
• Explore the impact of polarities in human systems like UBC when they are managed versus left unmanaged (ENCORE)
• Appreciate how Polarity Management allows for contrasting values, and therefore increased empathy and acceptance of difference, using generational differences as a timely example
• Consider how the interdependent nature of a polarity creates better decision-making, team, and organizational culture (ENCORE)

How You Will Learn:

• Learning and practicing the Polarity Management™ tool
• Personal reflection
• Analysis and reflection of team and organization
• Small group discussions
• Large group discussions

AUDIENCE

We have one session geared towards managers and one session geared towards professionals. The managers’ session is most appropriate for members with direct staff reports, team leads, and project leaders. The professionals’ session is most appropriate for independent contributors and specialists.

PARTICIPANT EXPECTATIONS FOR LIVE ZOOM SESSIONS

1. To attend the full session (late arrivals and early exits are very noticeable and negatively impact the session)
2. To participate using audio and video (we appreciate that there are sometimes technical issues, but please be in a space where you can at least use audio. If that doesn’t work for you, please sign up for the recorded version)
3. To actively participate in the breakout room conversations, group activities, and personal reflection exercises
4. Be open and engaged with the content of the session, even if it doesn’t immediately resonate with you. We encourage you to try things out.
5. To be professional, kind, and courteous to fellow participants and practice patience, confidentiality, and inclusivity.

ABOUT YOUR FACILITATORS

Chantoy Williams is the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategic Advisor for Médecins sans frontières (MSF)/ Doctors Without Borders Canada, where she works to help MSF progress towards refining and implementing an MSF Canada EDI vision that fosters a safe workplace-community in which all individuals are valued, empowered to use their voice for its social mission, and where they can develop a strong sense of belonging.

Prior to her work in the non-profit EDI space, she worked for the Ontario Public Service in the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, where she worked as a Senior Policy Analyst in the Advocate for Community Opportunities Secretariat, as part of the Youth Strategies Branch. In her policy research and analysis, she worked to uncover issues affecting marginalized communities, and develop recommendations on opportunities for engagement and support. Her work contributed to establishing an advisory group focused on supporting young people, especially those in marginalized communities, to bring solutions to help overcome social and economic barriers, exacerbated by the pandemic. She was a key member in the communication strategies with stakeholders, networks, and community partners for the Black Youth Action Plan, resulting in a significant funding increase.

Chantoy holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Law & Society, and Philosophy, and is currently working towards a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional designation where she plans to use the competencies gained to continue to fulfill her passion of promoting change, advancing diversity and inclusion, encouraging community engagement, and designing inclusive solutions for stakeholders and partners.

Jessica Earle-Meadows is Owner + Principal Consultant of a boutique firm specializing in leadership development, team development, and organizational change.

Jessica knows firsthand the challenges that people face in large institutions, start-up cultures, and not-for-profits. She’s worked with 3 major Canadian universities, and knows the realities of the higher education context well.

Jessica holds an MA in Human Systems Intervention, a holistic degree in organizational development and group dynamics, and is a Certified Integral Professional Coach™ with Integral Coaching Canada. She’s been the Director of a not-for-profit, as well as Manager of Process Design and Facilitation at UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT).

Over the past 15+ years, she has grappled with how to integrate EDI issues into her work - prior to its explicit focus and naming in the past few years. Over the past several years, she has learned first-hand the complexity of integrating EDI considerations into wider-spread culture change initiatives within organizations - and, in particular, how to integrate these considerations (along with those of flexible work arrangements and mental health) into the executive teams that lead the change.

REGISTRATION

1. Managers: Polarity Management: Generational Differences to Creating a Culture of Belonging, Friday, February 23, 2024 from 10am-12pm
    
2. Professionals: Polarity Management: Generational Differences to Creating a Culture of Belonging, Friday, March 1, 2024 from 10am-12pm
    
3. Recorded Version: (available after March 6 for steaming for 60 days)

ABOUT YOUR HOST

AAPS is the labour relations organization that represents the Management and Professional Staff group to their employer UBC. AAPS is a separate organization from UBC and your conversations with us are confidential. We offer members professional labour relations advice that is in your best interest as an employee. We encourage you to get to know AAPS and your Collective Agreement and let us know if you have any questions or if we can help. The AAPS Professional Development Program is designed and hosted by AAPS for our members. We offer a variety of topics on management, leadership, interpersonal skills, workplace skills, as well as personal and social development. The AAPS PD Program is designed in consultation with the AAPS Board of Directors and staff. Member Services Officer Sarah Muff is the program’s architect and manager. She staffs the PD events. If you have ideas or feedback, please email Sarah.

ABOUT THE POWER AND BELONGING SERIES

As our post-pandemic work unfolds, organizations are experiencing slower progress on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) programming, creating feelings of EDI overwhelm, burnout, and, in some cases, backlash.

• What is it that our workplaces were really trying to do when EDI work arose in prominence during the pandemic, and how can we move closer to the reality of those aspirations in a meaningful and impactful way?
• How can we work to “transcend and include” our old or current workplace environments that have been inherently exclusive, while evolving to include new ways of being that are more inclusive?
• How can we allow for a “both/and” approach to change, rather than an “either/or” approach that, ultimately, creates resistance to the inclusion that we want?

“People are keenly attuned to experiences of injustice and will notice—and react to—another’s power regardless of its source. If we define inclusion simply as an issue of social identity and don’t include the more subtle dimensions of power, we create the potential for backlash, hampering efforts to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workplace” - Julie Diamond

Join us for a 2-part series exploring how we can recognize the power that we have and use it for good while building our confidence in navigating the complex social realities of the workplace. See the session descriptions for part 1: Power and Inclusion for Managers, February 2 and Power and Inclusion for Professionals, February 9. Registration for session part 1 is now open.