empowered workforce Archives - Training Unleashed

Creating Inclusive Workplaces: A Conversation with Sejal Thakkar

Sejal Thakkar is on a mission to educate and empower people to create a world where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. In this episode of “Training Unleashed,” host Evan Hackel engaged in a compelling conversation with Sejal, delving into the critical aspects of equity, diversity, and employee civility in the workplace.

The Hard Way v. The Easy Way?

The discussion kicks off with the question of whether companies prefer the hard way or the easy way when it comes to training and coaching leaders. Thakkar emphasizes the importance of being proactive in providing leaders with the necessary tools to prevent issues, rather than taking shortcuts that might lead to negative consequences later.

Bystander Training: Empowering the Silent Observers

Thakkar passionately advocated for bystander intervention training, shedding light on the pivotal role of bystanders in creating safe environments. By encouraging respectful and professional intervention, organizations can alleviate the burden placed on marginalized individuals and contribute to the establishment of psychological safety.

The HAT Technique

Thakkar introduces the HAT technique—an acronym for Hold Off, Ask Why, and Take Action—as a framework for mitigating unconscious biases. This technique encourages individuals to question immediate reactions, explore the reasons behind biases, and take actions that promote inclusivity.

Golden Rule? No, The Platinum Rule!

The episode concludes with a valuable tip from Sajel: adopting the platinum rule—treating others how they want to be treated. By understanding and respecting individual differences, organizations can enhance creativity, innovation, and overall workplace dynamics.

About Our Guest

Sejal is a former employment law attorney, a 2X TEDx speaker, and the Founder and Chief Civility Officer at TrainXtra, where she helps leaders create positive, safe, and respectful workplaces through customized training and coaching. She is responsible for cultivating a people-first culture at Nobody Studios.

She invites all organizations to explore TrainXtra‘s workshops and resources. Whether in-person or virtual, TrainXtra offers a diverse range of workshops covering topics such as unconscious bias, microaggressions, and fostering diversity and inclusion.

Building an empowered workforce with Lee Caraher

Lee Caraher is the founder and CEO of Double Forte, a national public relations and digital media agency, best-selling author of The Boomerang Principle: Inspire Lifetime Loyalty from Your Employees, and recent guest on the Training Unleashed podcast where Lee shared her proven strategies for building an empowered workforce with host Evan Hackel. Lee is an expert on managing the media, leading people, building an empowered workforce, and a communication ninja.

We know you will profit from every big idea Lee and Evan discussed.

One of the big ideas: there is a disconnect when training executives and their teams separately

The training that many companies give their senior managers doesn’t work. Why? Lee explains the flaw in training senior managers and their teams as two-fold.

One issue, according to Lee, is that many companies send their leaders to off-site training programs, where experts give the leaders big ideas. But when those executives return to their companies and start to explain all those new ideas, their teams respond with, “What are you talking about? What is this new language you are using?”

That is the first disconnect.

Another disconnect occurs when top executives never take the training that is being delivered to their employees. They think they’re too busy. Or perhaps that the training is beneath them. And when nothing changes, the executives think the people in their organizations are resisting.

One solution Lee proposes is for executives and their teams to attend training together. In that way, everyone can determine how they can move forward together. And cooperation becomes the focus.

A Special Offer

This is the best offer EVER!

Lee explains, “One of our goals at Double Forte is to help women and people of color become more noted as experts in their fields . . . not to make them experts, but to take people who are already experts in their field and have them get noted for it.”

Double Forte is on a mission to train 5000 accomplished women managers to be spokespeople for themselves and their companies… they are halfway to reaching their goal.

The offer: Lee explains, “We can’t go in and do an eight-hour session with everybody who wants to do this. But we can do a two-hour training session or two and a half hours, with you and your team for free if you are a nonprofit. If you are a business, it’s not free. But we will show you exactly what to do to get quoted by the media, because when that happens your star rises, your income rises, your gravitas rises, and you have many more options in your career.”

To take advantage of the offer: connect with Lee at [email protected] for more information about the offer and to make sure you and your team are a right fit for their mission.

About Our Guest

Lee Caraher is a CEO, best-selling author, and sought-after speaker. Founder and CEO of Double Forte a national PR & Communications firm in San Francisco, New York, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Lee is an acclaimed communication strategist known for her practical solutions to big problems. Her company works with companies big and small that are making a difference in their categories.

Lee’s the author of Millennials & Management based on her experience with failing and then succeeding at retaining Millennials. Her second book, The Boomerang Principle helps companies create high producing, positive work cultures that employees want to return to – a critical factor in sustainable businesses.

Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. She is a straight talker who doesn’t hold too many punches, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble.

Lee is active in the community and currently serves on two nonprofit boards. A graduate of Carleton College, Lee is currently running her company from home whilst we all wait to see how the pandemic shakes out (and is happy that she finally has something relevant to share from her Medieval History degree).