DAD - Moving past the past

“I feel discriminated against. Help me.” “There are tensions in our team around racial issues; what should I as the group leader do?” “What are unconscious biases? And why should we even care?” 

This course is for HR officers, consultants and other diversity professionals who seek answers to these and similar questions so that those they support can work together more effectively by addressing and overcoming racial, ethnic and other discriminatory tensions, inequities and conflicts that impact everyday interactions.

(Guest) faculty
Anjana Singh, PhD, Nadine Binder, PhD

Why participate
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana) 

To address pressing current-day organizational challenges that can impede the future requires addressing roots deeply ingrained in the past and overcoming these. Join this course for contextual insights about the origins of systematic discrimination and to gain practical skills that individuals in your organization — or those of your clients — can apply for more successful interactions with their fellow colleagues and other stakeholders.

Part 1 of this course will provide a contextual grounding on the topic by demonstrating how negative aspects of the past may be manifest in present-day behaviors and enabling structures. Using as an example Dutch involvement in the slave trade, we examine the historic roots of racial discrimination that is unequally visible to different members of our groups. 

In Part 2, we examine how developing certain practical skills — perspective taking, using emotion regulation techniques, and offering/accepting genuine apologies — to acknowledge the past’s impact and move beyond it can help build better interpersonal dynamics and resolve conflicts or tensions to result in a more constructive environment.

Participant profile/requirements
This course is for you if you are — or are helping those who are —

• Serving in a role that supporting colleagues’ professional development and wellbeing (e.g. HR, human capital, people)
• Implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives within an organisation and want to address (inter)personal changes needed within an organisation
• Providing training or on-the-job professional development opportunities to help colleagues better communicate and collaborate across diversity

Learning outcomes
In this course, you will learn how to help yourself and those you work with so that you/they can better: 

• Have a solid understanding of the historical underpinnings of racial, ethnic and other discriminatory practices 
• Appreciate and articulate ways in which negative aspects of legacy can be present in current interpersonal dynamics and interactions
• Develop skills around perspective taking, holding space for uncomfortable questions and answers dialogues, using emotion regulation techniques, and offering/accepting genuine apologies in order to begin to move beyond the past to a more constructive future.

Upon successful completion of the program, you will receive a Certificate of Participation listing 6 contact learning hours. 

*Please note that this course focuses on individual/interpersonal skills development rather than organization-level change (e.g. policies, procedures) which is also needed within organizations. Different 2024 DAD courses including those offered by Nene Molefi and Michaela Carriere together with Nagesh Rao are available to examine effective structural approaches to this topic.*

For course additional details see the Institute for Developing Across Differences website. 

€ 560
 

Available dates