In this fast-paced opening session, you will get to know your fellow peers, hear their biggest DEI&A challenges, and you can also learn a few fun facts!

Organizations have begun to look at communications with a DEI lens, however, there is still room to grow when it comes to communicating with neurodiverse employees. One in seven people in society are neurodivergent and communicators play a critical role in their success in the workforce by championing an internal communications approach that can engender meaningful progress. Hear Pearson's journey to communicate their neurodiversity inclusion progress and ways that communicators can advance an organization’s DE&I goals in respect of neurodiversity.

In this session, you will learn:

• The role internal communications can play
• The importance of applying the neurodiversity lens to what we do
• The need to think about the neurodiversity community visibility

Words and images matter. When we are thoughtful of the content we use, we can acknowledge and respect diversity, celebrate what makes us different and address unconscious biases over time.  During this interactive session, hear Freddie Mac’s journey to develop an inclusive content guide to advance an inclusive culture.

Leave with new ideas and practical examples to guide your own DEI&A strategies forward, including:

• What inclusive content is and why it’s important.
• The steps Freddie Mac took to develop a guide and lessons learned along the way.
• Ideas for making the guide remain relevant and timely.
• How communicators and DEI champions can use inclusive content that accurately portrays the diversity of the human experience.

The guide was recently recognized as an Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion Award Winner for 2022 by the Profiles in Diversity Journal.

When it comes to DEI efforts, it can be difficult to ensure every employee feels included in the journey, but it’s an important factor in fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion. Hear from Enact on how they kept employees involved in the progress of their six DEI priority workstreams, ensuring employees were included at every milestone.

Key Takeaways:

• Transparency is key. Let employees know of every step along the way, so it doesn’t feel like the work is happening behind closed doors (or not happening at all).
• Communication should be complete and continuous. Significant time lapses between communication on the work in progress can leave the work out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Incorporate regular mentions of the work on a regular rhythm to make sure it’s not forgotten. Additionally, be intentional about keeping all the work being done in context so that the impact of your efforts are fully felt.
• Ensure your messages are heard and consistent across all stakeholders. Make sure all stakeholders internal to external, from employees to shareholders to potential talent, are being kept in the loop. The more your communication is in sync and consistent across audiences, the more impactful your messaging will be.

What gets measured gets managed.

In order to build a strong and effective DEI strategy, you must start with a strong and effective data reporting strategy. Data serves as a benchmark so that we can identify blind spots and opportunities, provide a quick “health report” snapshot to stakeholders, and manage progress.

In this session, you will learn:

• The basics of building a data-based DEI strategy
• How to identify important KPI’s to further you DEI goals
• How to use data to tell an effective story to further your DEI goals

The workplace changes quickly these days and that includes how we communicate with our internal colleagues. As internal employee communicators, this means that words, phrases, tools, and processes that had been created, tested, and refined may not work for everyone in this new and evolving structure.

Learn how government (and all) communicators can adapt their approach to serving all workers in all environments, including:

• Changing our language, titles, and phrases to be inclusive of all types of workers
• Understanding the genesis of the words and phrases we use so we can avoid causing unintentional offense
• Helping managers learn how to inform and communicate with all staff to ensure everyone receives equal information
• Addressing the evolving culture and helping employees and leaders avoid creating an unintentional bias toward those who are working in less traditional ways

Have you found yourself asking where to start with DEI or the role a communicator plays? We have assembled a panel of communicators who can answer your questions and provide tips on the challenges you’re facing within your organization.

Moderator: Kevin Finke