Skills-Focused, Specific, & Invitational: The Justice Informed Training Difference

Justice Informed learning and development sessions always center transformation from theory into practice, responsiveness to the unique needs of each client organization, and the compassion to invite people into the work of equity.?

In an era where the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are under acute attack, it is essential that its champions feel equipped with the necessary competencies, capacity, and confidence to engage fully in both the defense and continuation of the work.?

One of the primary ways that learnings about DEI and related subjects are facilitated in the workplace is through DEI trainings. However, among those of us that believe in the transformative power of equity, DEI trainings can have a bad reputation, and often for good reason. Off-the-shelf DEI trainings are often notoriously vague and rarely provide tactical ways to transform DEI from theory to practice.?

In our learning and development services, Justice Informed intentionally fills these gaps by using the following three values to ground our sessions, regardless of the specific training topic.

1. Moving beyond theory and into practice

While a deep understanding of DEI theory can be a powerful foundation for organizational change, that change also requires practice of the concrete skills and tactics used to implement equity at an organization or at an interpersonal level. For example, instead of just focusing on a team’s ability to define identity-based microaggressions, Justice Informed trainings go a step beyond to develop participants’ confidence when responding to instances of microaggressions in the workplace.?

2. Relational specificity

Your doctor wouldn’t prescribe you treatment without first thoroughly assessing the present pain or injury, and Justice Informed doesn’t offer trainings without first developing a strong grasp on how the content of a session will meaningfully speak to the specific experiences and unique circumstances of an organization, its staff, and the challenges it faces. That’s why Justice Informed approaches all client learning and development work through the lens of relational specificity—the idea that when we tailor social impact work to the specific needs and experiences of an individual team or organization, the impact is most meaningfully felt.?

3. Invitation-based approach

At Justice Informed, we know that the work of generating consensus is not effective when it relies on declarations of moral superiority. Instead, we invite people and organizations into the work of equity using invitation-focused language. Still, in our training and mediated sessions, we make sure that a compassionate, invitation-based approach to introducing new learnings and concepts is never at odds to the values of equity and inclusion that we hold ourselves and our clients to.?

These Justice Informed differences in DEI trainings have real and tangible impacts on our clients and their levels of competencies, capacity, and confidence to carry out the work of DEI at their organization. Before engaging with Justice Informed, 84% of people said DEI and organizational commitment to it was important to their organization, but only 42% felt they knew what action steps to take. After participating in a Justice Informed training, 83% of people felt they understood what the next steps for DEI can be for their organization. So if your team or organization is ready to move DEI from theory to practice in a relationally specific and compassionate manner, consider a Justice Informed training or mediated session.?

Interested in learning more about how your organization or team can benefit from a Justice Informed training or mediated session? Contact us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.justiceinformed.com today.