Quick Skills:   Embracing Diversity

Career Solutions Training Group

What is Quick Skills:   Embracing Diversity?

Quick Skills:   Embracing Diversity is a guide from the Career Solutions Training Group.   The guide is part of a series that is designed to target the basic fundamental skills that enhance the guide user´s opportunity for finding career success.   This particular guide is geared towards increasing the users awareness to the diverse workforce, by providing them with the foundation to work effectively within a global environment.   The guide covers areas such as cultural roadblocks and conflicts, communication skill, and legal/ethical issues.

How is the guide set up?

The guide is broken down into the following sections:

• Introduction - introduces the user to the guides set up and purpose
• Workshop One:   One Workplace - describes today´s workplace and workforce in detail.   Indicates the benefits that companies and employees can receive by embracing diversity.
• Workshop Two: Valuing the mix - details how awareness of cultures and values can prevent miscommunication and nurture the differences that exist within the workplace.
• Workshop Three: Fitting in - helps the user learn to adapt to the corporate culture without losing their own cultural identity.
• Workshop Four: Communicating Across Differences - Identifies the skills needed for employees to understand and communicate effectively with people that are different from them.
• Workshop Five: Cultural Roadblocks and Conflicts - addresses racism, sexism, and other barriers that prevent success from happening within a diverse work environment.
• Workshop Six: Working With Different People - discusses specific groups that exist within the American workforce and the typical strengths and issues faced by each of those groups.
• Workshop Seven: Communicating Globally - focuses on increasing success in international assignments and how to serve international customers at home.
• Checklist - provides an overview of what was learned throughout the guide

The guide begins with a self-assessment quiz for the user and than flows into a series of career related scenarios and exercises based on those scenarios. The various workshops provide the opportunity for individual learning, as well as group discussion.

Who can use this guide?

The guide is extremely easy to use and provides thorough training material.   The guide is geared towards everyone from experienced professionals, employees re-entering the workforce and employees who are starting their careers.   The book seems to be geared more towards global companies, however the content is suitable for any organization as it addresses issues and barriers that take place everywhere.

How is the guide valuable?

The guide provides complete training material in one simple guide.   The guide can be used on an individual or group basis.   The exercises are set up in a way that an individual employees can go through the guide at their own pace or it can be slightly modified to work for a group training seminar.   In today´s workforce employees need to learn how to understand and work with a variety of cultures and differences, and this guide is a valuable resource to providing training in these areas.

How much does the guide cost?

Quick Skills:   Embracing Diversity can be found on Amazon.com (link below) for $13.95. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/053869842X/hrcom

What I like about the guide

I liked that the guide was easy and simple to use, and that the information was so relevant to today´s work environment.   The set up of the book and the exercises made the material easy to adapt to any situation or group of employees.   The activities can be completed right in the book or can be used as handouts for a group seminar.   The scenarios were relevant to actual workplace situations and made it easy for the user to identify with. I thought that the guide was useful and important because it helped point out biases and issues people may have or encounter, that they are not even aware of.  

Throughout the book their were helpful hints, and websites listed that can help the user after they have completed the training.   The websites provided quick reference tools and articles that encourage the user to continue to gather information and to start implementing what they have learned.   The helpful hints point out simple ideas and tips for things that many people would never think of or that they take for granted.   The book covers everything from cross gender communication tips to a listing of inappropriate gifts to give within different countries.   The checklist at the end of the book also provides the user with a quick overview of the guide and a useful reference tool for future use.

Limitations of the guide

I thought that the book could be of greater use to trainers if it took a lead from the "Dummies" series by including a CD that contained the various activities.   This would be useful when adapting the information to a group setting for creating multiple handouts and overheads.

Although overall I thought that the individual workshops were thorough and informative I thought the layout of the individual pages could be a bit scattered at times.   The pages included a series of sections that contain scenarios, exercises and boxes of tips and helpful hints.   A different layout may make it easier to navigate.

HR.COMmentary

I think that this book is an excellent resource for any individual or HR/Training department.   With the make-up of today´s workforce diversity training is something that all organizations need to address.   The book allows users to understand the biases and barriers that exist within today´s workplace and provides them with tools on how to overcome them.   For only $13.95 this guide is inexpensive and informative.

About the Author

The Career Solutions Training Guide (CSTG) is a company of experienced educators, trainers and business professionals who focus on sharpening workplace skills.   The CSTG provides consulting services to educational institutes and government agencies.