Diversity Essentials Bootcamp

The Diversity Essentials Bootcamp will explore diversity and inclusion from a leadership perspective.  Designed as a “hands on” workshop, the camp will challenge participants to roll up their sleeves, dive deep and begin designing the elements of a powerful and integrated D&I strategy for their organization. 

Participants will learn about both domestic and global best practices and cutting-edge initiatives in diversity and inclusion as well as the changes in the prevailing theories and practices in diversity and inclusion leadership, strategy and execution. 

Formation of D&I Strategy, education and training, and other initiatives designed to facilitate a smooth introduction or acceleration of diversity and inclusion at your organization will be covered.

The program uses presentations, small group discussions, storytelling, experiential exercises and in-depth workshop sessions to involve the participants and keep their interest and motivation at high levels.  A diverse group of facilitators and participants ensures that many topics are introduced and that the learning environment is rich and effective for everyone.

All participants will receive 30 minutes of 1:1 Coaching by the facilitators.

Topics to be covered include (but are not limited to):

• The Business Case for D&I
• What’s Your Business? Why Now for You and Your Organization?
• D&I 101: What is it? Definitions, Concepts
• The Inclusive Leader: What’s the Profile?
• 5 Steps to Building a D&I Program (SHRM Research)
• 6 Steps to Building an Inclusive Workplace (SHRM Research)
• D&I Strategy Creation and Governance… Who, What, When, Where and Why?
• Measuring Diversity: Scorecard Basics
• Measuring Inclusion: Creative and Impactful Approaches to Measuring Inclusion
• Current Practices in D&I Education and Training
• Unconscious Bias: Practical Applications for Mitigating Bias at Work
• Action Planning and 1:1 Coaching

Recommended HR practitioners, D&I practitioners, Supervisors, Team Leaders and anyone working with a diverse population.

Coming soon.

Central Connecticut State University

1615 Stanley Street

New Britain, CT  06053

Room:  TBD

Dates:  TBD

9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Wednesday until 3:00 pm

$1,795

15 SHRM PDCs will be offered at the completion of the course.

Includes lunch Monday – Wednesday, Dinner Tuesday evening.

Includes pre-work before the first day.

Christa Sterling; 860-832-2277; csterling@ccsu.edu

Mr. Richard Spada and other invited guests

Mr. Richard Spada

For more than 25 years, Richard Spada has helped global organizations and their people realize their greatest potential. He brings passion, purpose, and inspiration to his work with clients, who operate in some of the most complex, highly regulated industries in the world including biopharma, health care, government, finance, and retail.

As principal consultant of Aspire International, LLC, a global diversity, inclusion and leadership consulting firm based in Boston, Richard offers his unique blend of skills and empathetic approach to help others with training and performance management. He has particular expertise in executive coaching and improving diversity and inclusion among global multinational corporations. He is deeply versed in helping organizations discover their corporate competencies and with guiding professionals to recognize and overcome their unconscious biases.

His experience includes nearly 15 years at Novartis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. He most recently served as Global Executive Director at the Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence for Novartis International, AG, based in Basel, Switzerland. In that role, he supported and enhanced an inclusive and productive culture for the organization, which has 120,000 employees working across 120 countries. While with Novartis, Richard developed tools and training to provide a consistent, ethical framework that allowed employees to achieve professional and personal success.

Richard is an expert facilitator and successful coach who has worked with more than 1,500 individuals at all levels, from front-line workers to C-Suite executives. His areas of specialty include leadership development coaching, transition coaching, peer coaching, and life coaching.

He is a sought-after lecturer and public speaker and has served as a faculty member at San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley. His recent speaking engagements include the ICON Global Inclusion Seminar 2018 in Zurich, Switzerland, Forum for Workplace Inclusion 2018 in Minneapolis, and Central Connecticut State University’s 2nd Annual Diversity Conference. He is an active member of the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee of The Conference Board.

Prior to joining Novartis, Richard led a successful consulting practice specializing in training, facilitation, and leadership development. He has also worked for Kaiser Permanente, a leading U.S. healthcare provider, as an internal learning and development consultant, and headed up their corporate training consulting practice.

Richard holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Central Connecticut State University (1982) and a master’s degree in adult education and office systems administration from The College of New Jersey (1984). He is certified as a professional and executive coach by the International Coach Federation.
Among his honors Richard has been awarded a distinguished alumni award from Central Connecticut State University for his work to advance LGBT inclusion. In 2014, Richard received the Diversity and Inclusion Humanitarian of the Year Award from Novartis Pharmaceuticals for his work to foster a more safe and inclusive environment for Novartis associates, worldwide.

Richard makes his home in Massachusetts and travels the globe to manage remote teams, conduct trainings, and provide coaching expertise.