On-site Day

Kick-off

Kick-off by Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander and Sybille Hug, with a video message from Prof. Dr. Jamie Gloor.

9:30 – 10:15

Workshop Round 1

10:30 – 12:00  | St. Gallen

Workshop 1:

(The workshop will be repeated in the afternoon)

The game can begin: Facing resistance with equality poker

Dr. Gabriele Schambach and Prof. Dr. Julia Nentwich | German

Resistance can stifle change. However, resistance can also indicate where there is energy rather than fatigue. Tapping into this energy in a productive way is therefore an important and beneficial task for change processes. This is where the Equality Poker developed by Leaders for Equality comes in.

It focuses on gender-inclusive leadership practices that managers can concretely implement to promote gender equality in the company. By assigning each individual leadership practice to one of the three colours of the card game, players can see at a glance how accepted and widespread it already is in Swiss companies. While the practices in the blue row are already widely used by male managers, there is great potential for the green cards to be used even more frequently with a little “coaching”. The red cards represent the gender-inclusive leadership practices that our research has shown are (still) difficult for the majority of male managers.

In the workshop we will introduce the card game and experiment with different ways of playing “gender equality poker”.

Workshop 2:

Resistance is fruitful – Navigating institutional resistance to DE&I initiatives

Dr. Verena Witzig | English

Do you know the feeling, when the greatest obstacle to doing your job is your employer? DE&I officers often face backlash for simply doing what they have been hired for. You neither want to cover systemic problems with a bandage nor make people angry? Welcome to the club. In this session, we will explore how to deal with institutional resistance, to deliver results for your organization while preserving your mental health and keeping your sense of humor.

The key is to find out how to navigate institutional resistance, and even use it to your advantage. Can’t get past a problem? Sidestep it. Your supervisor remains unconvinced? Convince everybody else. In this session, we will explore possible ‘guerilla’ strategies in the DE&I toolbox.

Workshop 3: 

InclusiVRT – Immersive training for inclusivity

Edgar Emilio Llamoca and Emily Telami | English

We are delighted to present our project – inclusiVRT – Immersive training for inclusivity – to the St. Gallen audience, offering a fresh take on DE&I. Join us for an insightful session where we discuss the project’s inception, roadmap, and valuable learnings from interviews with LGBTQ+ clients and UBS client advisors. This promises to be an engaging event, paving the way for future innovative DE&I endeavours. We look forward to sparkling inspiration and fostering a community of change-makers together.

Workshop 4:

Dealing with leaders’ resistance: How to successfully manage controversial DE&I discussions.

(The workshop will be repeated in the afternoon)

Dr. Anna Brzykcy and Nicole Niedermann | German

• How can HR professionals effectively manage controversial discussions about DE&I with leaders and executive teams?
• What are practical strategies for dealing with different forms of resistance from managers?
• What techniques can be used to promote understanding, open dialogue, and build empathy around DE&I issues?

Activation exercise

13:30 -13:45 

Input

With power comes responsibility: Preventing sexual harassment at the workplace

Agota Lavoyer | 13:45 – 14:45  | German

In the wake of the “Me Too” movement, which has raised awareness of sexual harassment around the world, there is a sense of fatigue around these issues. However, despite these signs of fatigue, the problem remains and is still highly relevant. Also in Switzerland, sexual harassment in the workplace is widespread. It can happen to anyone. Women are most often affected, as well as people who are in a weaker position in the company: new employees, part-time employees, apprentices or marginalised people. This is not random, but systematic.

Sexual harassment starts where the person feels harassed. It becomes very difficult in the context of the workplace because the victim cannot simply avoid the harasser. They are dependent on their job and cannot break off their relationship with this colleague or their boss or stop coming to work. This in turn gives the harasser power over them. And there we have it: dependency, power asymmetries and toxic corporate cultures.

Managers are responsible for ensuring a working environment that is free from harassment and discrimination. A healthy company culture makes it more difficult for employees to be sexually harassing and easier for those affected to denounce sexual harassment and seek support. Managers are also responsible for providing appropriate support to those affected by sexual harassment and for holding the harassers accountable.

In this presentation, we will discuss how this can be achieved.

Workshop Round 11

15:00 – 16:30 

Workshop 1:

If they don’t change, I’ll change it myself! Proactively leveraging diversity through job crafting

Prof. Dr. Stephan Böhm and Sophie Schepp  | English

• How can you proactively and independently craft your own work so that it better meets your own needs?
• What strategies are available to make more effective use of individual strengths and skills in the workplace?
• What impact do such adaptations have on leveraging diversity and inclusion in the workplace?

Job Crafting is a proactive approach to work design where individual strengths are recognized and purposefully applied in daily tasks. Particularly in the realm of diversity and inclusion, Job Crafting offers the opportunity to tailor one’s tasks and responsibilities to personal needs and strengths, thus experiencing them as more successful and meaningful. In this interactive workshop, you will learn about the Job Crafting method and discover practical approaches on how Job Crafting can be trained and successfully applied.

Workshop 2:

Why are we still in the margins? From resistance to inclusive culture

Dr. Ella Roininen | English

Why and how cultural change is a necessary driver for inclusive organisations?

Despite the topic moving closer to the foreground, it’s still not unusual to think of DE&I as a marginal activity in an organisation, something to be added to the its functioning and management system in the spirit of fairness and sustainability. However, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are foundational competencies to today’s organisations, relevant individually, competitively and societally.

In this session we talk about the premises of how organisational members may find themselves not being included or not including, resisting to the ‘old’ ways of doing things or feeling the resistance to their need for updating the organisational practices. We will brainstorm about the mindset for DE&I, and how a lasting change really comes by not only updating the policies and structures of an organisation, but learning how to challenge the norms and deep structures underlying it’s every day life.

Workshop 3:

Dealing with leaders’ resistance: How to successfully manage controversial DE&I discussions.

(2nd. run)

Dr. Anna Brzykcy and Nicole Niedermann | German

• How can HR professionals effectively manage controversial discussions about DE&I with leaders and executive teams?
• What are practical strategies for dealing with different forms of resistance from managers?
• What techniques can be used to promote understanding, open dialogue, and build empathy around DE&I issues?

Workshop 4:

(2nd. run)

The game can begin: Facing resistance with equality poker

Dr. Gabriele Schambach and Prof. Dr. Julia Nentwich | German

Resistance can stifle change. However, resistance can also indicate where there is energy rather than fatigue. Tapping into this energy in a productive way is therefore an important and beneficial task for change processes. This is where the Equality Poker developed by Leaders for Equality comes in.

It focuses on gender-inclusive leadership practices that managers can concretely implement to promote gender equality in the company. By assigning each individual leadership practice to one of the three colours of the card game, players can see at a glance how accepted and widespread it already is in Swiss companies. While the practices in the blue row are already widely used by male managers, there is great potential for the green cards to be used even more frequently with a little “coaching”. The red cards represent the gender-inclusive leadership practices that our research has shown are (still) difficult for the majority of male managers.

In the workshop we will introduce the card game and experiment with different ways of playing “gender equality poker”.

Conclusion, reflection, takeaways

16:30 – 17:00

Aperitif

From 17:00

Arrival at the Executive Campus HSG (WBZ)