Becoming an Inclusion Champion
Team Learning Session Guide
A handy guide for team reflection, after taking the e-module
Why Teams Sessions?
The team learning session, to be held after everyone in the
team has done the Becoming an Inclusion Champion
Module, aims to help internalize and sustain the learning
from the module within a team.
This can also include the development of a joint
commitment of action to promote inclusive behavior in the
team. Should this be an option, see the Inclusive Champion
Playbook for ideas/guidance on developing a team
commitment for action (slide 30 to 33). One could also use
this ahead of committing to make your team meetings more
inclusive and psychologically safe. Here is another idea for
how to bring the team together to do this:
Psychologically Safe Team Meetings
An approach for fostering inclusion
Who can facilitate?
The team learning session can be organized by anybody engaged in or responsible for
culture and DEI in the team – this could be someone from the People and Culture Team,
Ethics and Culture Champions, Staff Association Representatives or anyone from a
Culture and/or DEI Task Team, should this exist in the office.
For the facilitator of the session, it is important to keep in mind some ground rules and tips
on a facilitating a conversation on DEI, which can be found on the link embedded. Some
ground rules for conversations on DEI, i.e. holding a brave space for conversations of
growth, include:
Stay engaged by listening to others and “trying on” new ideas and noticing what’s
going on in both the content (visible) and process (invisible).
Speak your truth by sharing about yourself honestly and allow others to do the same;
being aware of and taking responsibility for your intentions, behaviours and impact;
and not blaming, shaming or attacking yourself or others.
Be prepared to experience discomfort because it’s OK to disagree with others: in a
learning environment we can differ on ideas; practice self focus and be honest about
how you are feeling.
Be trustworthy by honoring confidentiality: other’s stories remain with them and
my learning leaves with me and sharing own stories/experiences and not those of
others when talking.
Accept and expect non-closure because solutions are ever forming and ever-
changing and the end of every conversation is the beginning of the next conversation.
Begin with Checking in
In the session, start with a ‘checking-in exercise’ that aims at putting people at ease so
that the session starts in a good mood. This could be checking in with our emotions in a
fun way that both helps participants to acknowledge how they are feeling and also bring
in a bit of a laughter – e.g. using fun imagery such as animals.
In conducting the session, depending on level of psychological safety and number of
participants, the facilitators may use an anonymous platform such as Slido or Mentimeter
or ask the questions directly for people to speak to. If using anonymous platforms, ask for
people to speak to what is coming up so as to allow for exchanges in the room and not
just the facilitators speaking.
Reflective questions
Reflective learning questions are aimed at helping individual bring out their truth and
reflect on that in terms of the topic of the reflection. It is therefore important to emphasis
honesty in responding to these questions, and using anonymous platforms helps people
to be more truthful in their responses. These questions could include – please adapt to
context and need:
Personal reflections
How did I feel when I started the module?
How did I feel when I completed the module?
What is the one thing that surprised me in this module?
What did not surprise me in this module?
What is my one take away from this module?
What is the one thing I will do differently after completing this module?
Team reflections
Which behaviors amongst this team make me feel included?
Which behaviors make me feel excluded?
How inclusive is our team?
Responses could be a ranking from 1-5, 1=not inclusive at all; 2=somehow inclusive;
3=inclusive of certain people only; 4=inclusive of everyone; 5=very inclusive of everyone.
A follow up question could be why this rating? Give examples.
What inclusive behaviors are we good at as a team?
What inclusive behaviors do we need to start working on as a team?
Has this guidance been helpful? How could we improve it?
Please feel free to reach out to us at orgculture@[Link].