Everyone looks at things in a unique way. Today, the companies with the greatest competitive advantage are those that can make the most of their people’s diverse abilities. This course gives people effective tools for appreciating others’ unique perspectives, understanding people’s inherent differences, and collaborating in a mutually beneficial way.
Course Overview
Learn About Yourself: Learners complete a Styles, Abilities, and Motivations (SAMs) profile. A video parodies a team with SAMs and ideas that are all the same, and an activity contrasts how it feels to be valued or devalued. The facilitator introduces a Value of Differences model and “LENS,” a process for valuing differences.
Explore Differences: Learners begin a team-based activity to design a poster illustrating the value of differences, develop a SAM profile of team members, and prepare a presentation. They use the profile to decide which of four roles each should take on for the activity–artist, writer, presenter, and coordinator/observer.
Nurture Differences: Video and workbook activities show how Key Principles help nurture and support differences.
Putting Differences to Work: As teams complete the poster activity, the coordinator/observer notes the use of Key Principles. The team receives feedback on how well they capitalized on each member’s talents and how well they used the Key Principles.
Stop, Start, Continue: A video illustrates the principles and skills learned and their positive impact on people and performance. Learners identify things they’ll do to value differences on the job.
