When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
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There are 6 modules in this course
Tough conversations are exactly that: tough. They might involve topics that include heated opinions, arguments, or even biases. But having these conversations doesn't have to be negative, and can instead be a great way to improve your company culture.
Join Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Expert Sterling de Sutter Summerville as he discusses how you can allow space to have challenging conversations within your team or organization. Sterling first reviews his tips for creating an environment that has built-in safety for all employees, then builds on this to review the elements of environments that strive for inclusion. With this foundation in place, Sterling then dives into the why conversations like this can get so heated, and what you can do during one of these conversations to maintain a safe space for all parties to express themselves.
Finally, Sterling covers concepts that support safe spaces, including company culture, a sense of trust, and collective buy-in. After finishing this course, you'll be able to engage more meaningfully with those around you and help others do the same.
Your team holds more potential than your current culture may be unlocking, and the gap often comes down to whether people feel safe enough to have the conversations that actually matter. In this module, you’ll identify the characteristics of a psychologically safe space, articulate why tough conversations are an asset rather than a liability, and design the values-centered foundation your organization needs to build one.
What's included
5 videos1 reading1 assignment
Show info about module content
5 videos•Total 12 minutes
Introduction•2 minutes
Tough Conversations•2 minutes
Defining Safe Spaces•3 minutes
Unlocking Workspace Potential•2 minutes
Creating a Safe Space•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
From Values to Practice: Building a Safe Space That Lasts•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
Safe Environments•15 minutes
Inclusive Environments
Module 2•1 hour to complete
Module details
Your organization’s culture is shaped by who feels included, and inclusion is rarely as simple as having good intentions. In this
module, you’ll examine how intersectionality shapes belonging and exclusion at work, identify the components of a genuinely inclusive environment, and apply a strategic institutional framework that makes your safe spaces trustworthy and sustainable.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 assignment
Show info about module content
3 videos•Total 8 minutes
The Impact of Identity•3 minutes
Inclusive Environments•2 minutes
Building a Foundation for Safe Spaces•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
From Good Intentions to Institutional Trust•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
Inclusive Environments•15 minutes
Accountable Environments
Module 3•1 hour to complete
Module details
You can’t build a durable safe space without reckoning honestly with the systemic forces and everyday behaviors that quietly
undermine it. In this module, you’ll recognize how injustice and microinequities surface in workplace culture, identify the conditions that block safe space creation before they compound into larger fractures, and build the cross-collaborative networks that keep accountability distributed and alive.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 assignment
Show info about module content
3 videos•Total 8 minutes
Systems of Injustice•3 minutes
Blockers of Safe Space•3 minutes
Protecting Safe Spaces•2 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
Building the Web - Networks, Accountability, and the Power of Upstanders•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
Accountable Environments•15 minutes
Developing Culture
Module 4•1 hour to complete
Module details
Your team’s culture is defined not only by what people do, but equally by what no one ever does at all, and both are within your power to shape. In this module, you’ll identify the normative behaviors and communication habits that build or erode safety, and apply psychological safety as a leading indicator to gauge whether your safe space efforts are taking hold.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 assignment
Show info about module content
3 videos•Total 7 minutes
Cultural Norms•3 minutes
Team Building and Communication•2 minutes
Psychological Safety•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
The Leading Signal - How Psychological Safety Predicts Whether Your Safe Space Will Hold•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
Developing Culture•15 minutes
Trust Building Policies
Module 5•1 hour to complete
Module details
Your safe space will be tested, and whether it holds depends less on the initial design than on the infrastructure you put in place to maintain it. In this module, you’ll identify how training, organizational expectations, and codes of conduct function as trust-building tools, and design the succession and contingency approach your team needs to sustain safe space culture through disruption.
What's included
4 videos2 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
4 videos•Total 10 minutes
Leveraging Trainings•2 minutes
Organizational Expectations•3 minutes
Codes of Conduct•2 minutes
Ongoing Reinforcement•3 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
More Than a Checkbox: Making Codes of Conduct a Cultural Force•10 minutes
The Other Half: Maintaining the Safe Space You've Built•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
Trust Building Policies•15 minutes
Leadership and Collective Buy-In
Module 6•1 hour to complete
Module details
You can have excellent policies and good intentions and still watch safe space culture fail if leadership is not genuinely in it and everyone else does not see inclusion as their job. In this module, you’ll recognize how leadership’s active participation accelerates culture change, identify the roles HR and management play in protecting people after tough conversations, and build the collective buy-in that makes inclusion a shared organizational reality.
What's included
4 videos1 reading1 assignment
Show info about module content
4 videos•Total 9 minutes
Leadership's Presence•3 minutes
HR and Managerial Support•3 minutes
It'll Take a Village•3 minutes
Moving Forward•1 minute
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
Everyone's Part - Driving Inclusion from Any Position•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
Putting It All Together•30 minutes
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To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.