BUSINESSES - NON PROFITS - B-CORPS
TRANSFORM YOUR WORKPLACE SO EVERYONE CAN THRIVE
And enjoy the benefits of happier
staff, lower turnover, and higher productivity.
Racism might be hurting your organization more than you realize...
Throwaway remarks, unwritten rules and customs, and small microaggression may be feeding into your workplace culture, despite your best efforts.
Tensions can mount and staff may unexpectedly quit but they don’t know how to articulate why...
Knowing how to manage this kind of conflict is tough. Preventing it is easier.
When your staff feel a sense of belonging and inclusion, you set them up for success.
And then they are more likely to stick around.
I can help you look through a critical lens to assess how your workplace can be more inclusive. Ready to get started?
Art, race history, and storytelling: The secret ingredients we use to help you self-reflect and think critically to create a more inclusive workspace.
The results you can expect when you invest in our corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops
- Help teams and managers better support each other
- Enjoy higher productivity levels by making the workplace a happier and more positive place
- Reduce turnover by giving staff a sense of belonging to your organization and its mission
- Increase profits
It gave me a path that I could immediately put into practice.
What a terrific conference!
One of the highlights for me was Dr. Melissa Crum! Her presentation was clear, filled with humor and gave me a path that I could immediately put into practice. She was able to put things in an easy to relate way which gave me more tools with which to focus on for my organization.
Denise G.
Outreach & Inclusion Manager
Elford, Inc
DEI SERVICES FOR ALL BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS
Audits and workshops that break down bias to build up staff
Audits: Shine light on the ignored areas at your workplace
This is the best place to start.
We’ll investigate the systems and practices in your organization to give you a highly customized diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan.
We’ll read through your policies, guidelines, and hold focus groups with staff to uncover unspoken rules that are holding your business back from leading the way.
Audits are not essential but are a great place to start so we can recommend the best path for workshops and further action.
Assessments: Metrics to make your interactions more productive
This is a great place to set benchmarks for personal and team growth.
The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI® ) allows you to see an individual’s or group’s progression along a continuum of cross-cultural competence. Because of this, the IDI provides in-depth insights into how individuals and groups make sense of cultural differences, and also how they respond to cultural differences.
The Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory® (ICS®) is an assessment that helps you understand your conflict and communication style, so you can better resolve conflicts and solve problems across cultural boundaries.
Both assessments come with additional tools. Click below to set a meeting with Dr. Crum to learn more.
Unlocking Inclusive Leadership in 90 Days:
Create a DEI Committee Governance Structure without Certification or Formal Experience
Tired of navigating the complexities of inclusion and belonging with few resources and no support from leadership? Let me be your resource!
Learn more about my transformative 90-day course for DEI advocates like you. In this course, you'll:
☑️ Gain clarity and find power in your role.
☑️ Gain support and buy-in from leaders and colleagues.
☑️ Learn a data-based sustainable strategy.
☑️ Align work with your organization's needs.
Stop the confusion and burnout—feel confident in your inclusive leadership and create a workplace where everyone thrives!
Interactive corporate diversity workshops that invite self-reflection and critical thinking
We offer three series of workshops for you and your staff. You can book one, two, or all three but they must be followed in the order below.
The time it takes to deliver each series is up to you - the workshops can be held as often as twice a week or as little as twice a month.
YOUR JOURNEY STARTS HERE
Series 1: Understanding Bias: The Work of Anti-Racism
This series of three workshops addresses the following big questions:
What does it mean to be anti-racist vs. non-racist? How do we combat personal bias? How can one create space for others experiences?
Get ready for some critical thinking to unpack your belief systems, influences, and background.
Goal: To arm staff with the tools needed to work towards transformative racial justice, strengthen understanding, and improve communication.
Included workshops (each one is 2 hours):
- Understanding Implicit Bias through Self-Reflection
- Critical Reflection with Peers
- How to be an Anti-Racist
Now you’re ready for...
Series 2: Race and Identity Definitions Toolkit
This series of seven workshops defines the complex concepts needed for productive conversations and purposeful action in the workplace.
In breakout groups, we ll process and unpack terminology and discover how we can mindfully use our words.
By equipping your team with powerful language and tools, they will be able to inspire change and critical thinking in others with more confidence.
*Note: Your organization can have fewer than seven sessions, but they must be taken in order.
Goal: To empower staff with more accurate language, clear communication, and a shared vision for a more equitable future.
Workshops will look at the following terminology (each one is 2 hours):
- Session 1: “Normal," discrimination, prejudice, and privilege
- Session 2: White supremacy, race, systemic structural racism, and power
- Session 3: Anti-Blackness, racial battle fatigue, colorism
- Session 4: Ethnicity, latinx/e, BIPOC, gender, cis
- Session 5: Microaggressions, microinequities, intersectionality
- Session 6: Diversity, equality, equity
- Session 7: Inclusion, belonging, liberation, allyship, accompliceship
And finally...
Series 3: Action and Application - Investigating Workplace Culture
This three-part series equips your business with best practices for collaboration, conflict resolution, and community building.
Together, we investigate dominant culture norms’ and examine who holds power.
This workshop spans power hierarchies, helping each member of your team communicate their needs in a brave space.
Goal: To create radical growth for your company through increased productivity, inclusivity, authentic communication, and robust and transparent policies.
Included workshop (each one is 2 hours):
- Best practices for collaboration, conflict, and community building
- Investigating dominant culture “norms” in your organization
- Taking risks in a growth mindset community
Not exactly what you’re looking for? Create your own customized diversity training workshop..
This option allows you to craft a session tailored to fully meet the needs of your organization.
Whether you’re striving for more ethical hiring practices, creating strong lines of communication with leadership, or resolving conflict, we’ll work with your team to reach their goals and create a more equitable environment.
Want a different approach?
We’ll create an informal weekly club for your staff
where we use books as tools to break down bias
Dialogue and action: A club for shifting workplace culture
Designed to foster connection and community, this weekly one-hour club uniquely gathers colleagues, regardless of their title or position, into honest and critical conversation.
By creating a space where authentic dialogue can occur, teams have the opportunity for greater productivity, empathy building, and higher retention rates.
This action-oriented club meets for eight weeks, focusing first on discussion and then on applying DEI concepts specifically to your team.
Participants leave with the tools and courage needed to create change from wherever they are.
Potential books include:
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown
The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations by Robert Livingston
Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggression by Michael Baran and Tiffany Jana
We Can’t Talk About That at Work: How to Talk About Race, Religion, Politics and other Polarizing Topics by Mary-Francis Winters
I am confident to hold meaningful conversations with my company.
“Dr. Melissa Crum is a phenomenal diversity practitioner and educator. I have been fortunate enough to see her present twice, where I learned about numerous subjects regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion that I am confident to hold meaningful conversations upon returning to my company.
Her vast knowledge in this arena have led to invaluable discussions stemming from her guidance. I look forward to working with her at future events.
Mia W.
PHR, SHRM-CP
Workforce Diversity Analyst
ODOT Human Resources Division
Your questions answered
(and maybe a few more)
What kind of organizations do you work with?
Our process works best with organizations that have fewer than 250 staff. We work with all organizations; from corporate businesses to nonprofits and B-corps with everything in between.
Do you help with registration?
Sometimes, when organizations register large groups and need to repeat workshops (because there are more than 50 people), we are asked to register participants in different sessions. There is an extra fee for this, but it’s no problem to do.
How many people can attend the workshops?
We have a maximum capacity of 50 people to keep the sessions intimate and interactive.
For organizations with more than 50 people we can hold multiple identical workshops.
Which workshop should I book?
The three series of workshops have been designed to go through consecutively.
Series 1 is the place to start so you can start with understanding implicit bias and self-reflection. Then you can work through series 2 to build up your language toolkit, and finally series 3 which is where we look at systems, practices, and power in the organization.
Will you (Melissa) facilitate all sessions?
If I am available, yes! If not, I have a fantastic team that I have trained who can deliver these workshops with the same results.
How do we decide who should be in which workshops (if we have more than 50 people)?
It’s important to have a real mix of all staff in each workshop - it’s important not to separate people based on their position in the organis=zation. Mixing up hierarchy is key.
Do you lead virtual and in-person workshops?
Yes. I have traveled across the States and have held workshops in Ohio, California, South Carolina, to name a few. I’ve also held plenty on Zoom.
Hmmm, none of your proposed workshops meet our objectives. Will you create a customized workshop?
Yes, absolutely. Just get in touch and we can have a chat to put together a proposal.
The training sparked interest and made staff question how they teach works of art.
This session allowed our staff to start thinking about their teaching in important new ways. They were already skilled at critical thinking (both doing so themselves and prompting others to do so), and are in the habit of reflecting with their peers after tours.
But now, they have a shared language with which to discuss issues of multiculturalism and an interest in continuing that conversation. They had the opportunity to practice reflections and discussions, and they worked in groups to design a gallery talk about one object.
The training sparked interest, made them question how they teach works of art at the Crow Collection, and started a conversation that is continuing both at formal trainings and casually between educators as they compare notes.
Carolyn A.
Educator Programs Manager, Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas, TX
