Looking Back to Look Forward
By Shilpa Pherwani
I’m so glad I can reach out and connect with you at the end of this year. While the year has had many challenges, it’s our ability to connect with one another that really stands out to me as a powerful opportunity and gives me hope for the future.
Our connections help foster growth and change. To see people reaching out across geographies, time zones, and spaces to connect and learn has been a profound silver lining to the cloud of this year’s health crisis.
Strong voices connecting to call for change can make a difference. The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among others, led to a groundswell of questioning what needs to change and what individuals can do to change our society. At IBIS, we had those questions too. But it was both healing and insightful to work through it together with our clients—one manager meeting, one workshop, one policy change at a time.
Having so many working remotely allowed for more access to conversations, even as it created new DEI challenges for others. Enduring COVID-19 empowered more conversations about empathy, reflection, and core values. The election cycle forced many to connect to have courageous dialogue.
With issues like racial equity, empathy, and dialogue at the forefront for so many, we were thankful to engage and have an impact on thousands of people. Our racial equity training was rolled out to more than 2,000 managers around the world at one global technology giant, another 1,000 at a national retail chain, and yet another 900 managers at a toy and game company. Our workshops on learning how to be an ally impacted university leaders.
We coached numerous CEOs on communication and policy change. Our award-winning e-learning was enjoyed by tens of thousands of learners. Combined with our memorable Interactive Theater sessions, we've reached upwards of 50,000 people this year.
We know more is needed. A lot more. But we’re ready. And we can’t wait to partner with you to make it happen in 2021.
How can we help you find your silver lining this year?
Shilpa Pherwani, the principal of IBIS and a leading expert in diversity and inclusion, has been guiding global organizations for over 16 years on leveraging diversity as a business advantage. An organizational psychologist by training, she partners with organizations to effect sustainable organizational change by conducting cultural assessments, developing comprehensive strategic diversity action plans, and designing compelling and interactive classroom-based and online training.