Workplace Diversity Training First Activity -- Feeling

Workplace Diversity Training

First Activity -- Feeling Different

In this activity a group of workers (from diverse cultures) are asked to participate in a diversity training session, and they arrive in a room together waiting for instructions. They are asked to take a seat. The seats are arranged in a big circle.

(One) The leader of this activity asks each participant to recall a time when they felt different from everyone else around them. Did you ever walk into a room and you were the only African-American person, or you were the only male in a room full of females? Maybe there was a time when you were the only person who spoke Spanish, or the only person who spoke English -- what was it like to experience that incident?

(Two) Each participant is asked to think of just ONE WORD that explains how it felt to be the only one speaking Spanish or the only Caucasian in a room full of African-Americans, etc.

(Three) Participants are to walk around the room and instead of introducing themselves to all the other participants using their names, they are asked to use the ONE WORD in the introduction. For example, if a participant was once the only person that could hear in a room-full of people using sign language, he may have felt isolated. Hence as that person shakes hands with another in the room he says, "Hello, I'm ISOLATED" (Lambert, et al., 1994).

(Four) Once all the participants in the room have had a chance to meet, they should now return to their chairs and talk about their experiences -- with the entire group listening as each person describes that situation that resulted in that ONE WORD. As each participant takes a turn to talk to the group, he or she writes the ONE WORD that applies to their situation on the flipchart at the front of the room.

(Five) The group leader explains at the conclusion of the session that by remembering how we felt when we were the only one in any particular situation it will help us become more sensitive to the feelings of others.

Second Activity -- Walking Apart

Assemble a group of employees in a room and ask for two volunteers. Those two should be standing in front of the group; they should stand back-to-back and wait for instructions. The members of the group will call out things that are different between the two; for example, "Bill is wearing a blue shirt and Jim has a leather vest," or "Joyce has blond hair and Pam's hair is brown." Each time a difference is called out, the two volunteers take a step forward (making they further apart). Once the two volunteers can't go any farther they turn around and face each other from that distance. Now the group calls out things that are similar between the two; like, "Both Pam and Joyce are wearing jeans," or "Jim and Bill both have short haircuts." Once the two volunteers are standing next to one another, a discussion of how differences may cause people to separate but similarities bring them back together (Belcher, 2010).

Third Activity -- Spider Web