Four Tips for Creating a DEI Council Charter

            When founding a DEI Council, one of the most integral elements to discuss is the creation of a charter. This document will help guide the group’s meetings, decisions, and initiatives from its conception throughout its future work. A successful DEI Charter interweaves several elements, including a strong mission statement, related goals, leadership assignments, and membership requirements. Through this article, I share the benefits of designing and implementing a charter and breakdown the central tenets of this initiative. 

1.  One of the first things a DEI Council should consider is its mission statement. This set of phrases lays the foundation for all initiatives to come. When dividing the mission statement, consider incorporating key language from the organization’s DEI strategy as well as the central mission of the company itself. Through this piece, we establish the sentiments which will underscore all future efforts of the DEI Council. First, evaluate the general values and goals of the group and devise language that encompasses these ideas into a defined and uniting statement. The following stages of the DEI charter will fall into place under this guiding light.

2. After a strong and clear mission statement has been established, begin listing understandable and achievable goals for the council. Consider employing SMART goals or objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. This step ensures that future initiatives will align with the organization’s mission and create measurable positive change. Attempt to break down larger goals, like increasing the culture of inclusion in the company, into achievable objectives. These smaller and more manageable programs and initiatives will help the council efficiently dedicate their time and resources to achieving their monumental milestones. With the combination of workable projects and affiliated goals, the charter defines the DEI Council’s critical responsibilities and emphasizes positive progress. 

3. Another important aspect of a DEI Council is leadership. In the charter, make sure to include a clear definition of these positions with detailed descriptions of roles and responsibilities. These statements will establish and support the backbone of leadership for the group. While in this section, give some thought to the technicalities of term lengths, elections processes, and committees. I strongly recommend including smaller leadership opportunities to encourage members to develop their communication and interpersonal skills. Additionally, these roles will allow current chairs and officers to recognize and groom organizational talent for upcoming leadership positions. By determining these aspects of the council early on, future transfers of power and leadership changes will progress more smoothly. 

4. The DEI Council charter should establish the central tenets and responsibilities for members. These are enthusiastic about increasing diversity within the organization but may not have the time necessary to serve as council leadership. Similar to the previous section, consider the election of members into the council, expected contributions, and their term lengths — should these be longer, shorter, or the same as leadership term lengths? The answer to these questions revolves around your company’s ideals, employee availability, and DEI strategy. Lastly, establish membership diversity as an integral aspect of the DEI Council. At all times, the council should accurately represent the employee base that they serve. This means a diverse demographic foundation with contributions from different races, genders, generations, and even departments. By integrating these tenants into the DEI Council charter, we ensure that members will remain committed, passionate, and dedicated to elevating diversity and inclusion within the workplace. 

While founding a DEI Council may be daunting, creating a solid charter will provide organizational leadership and future council members with the necessary guidance to enact change and positive progress. Upon establishing the council, set a preliminary meeting aside to either discuss or draft the charter together. Through this act, we gain the support and involvement of employees and move towards a greater understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company. Her mission is providing guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within their organization. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. For more information, visit DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

What Does Queer Mean?

The “Q” in the LGBTQ+ acronym stands for queer. Previously used as a slur against the gay community, it is important for us to understand the definition of this word and learn how to use it appropriately. 

Throughout LGBTQ+ history, homophobic groups often used the term “queer” to portray gay individuals negatively. Currently, some members of the gay community have reclaimed the word to describe sexual orientations or gender identities other than heterosexual and cisgender. Additionally, others may use “queer” because their sexuality or identity is too complex to fit into current labels. Technically, all LGBTQ+ members could identify as queer, but not everyone chooses to do so. Some still feel residual hurt from the harsh uses of this word in their past. Due to this, allies should be careful and considerate about their usage of this word. Never call a gay coworker queer unless they have given you permission to refer to them with this term. When in casual conversation, avoid using the term “queer” and instead use words like LGBTQ+ or gay. 

By learning about this term, we gain a deeper understanding of the gay community and its historical challenges. While newer generations have reclaimed the word “queer,” there is still a high chance that this word may elicit anxiety or fear in other LGBTQ+ members. We must do our best to be inclusive of both groups by being compassionate and considerate with our language. However, with this new knowledge, we can better communicate with coworkers who may identify as queer and foster a sense of support and inclusion.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company. Her mission is providing guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within their organization. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. For more information, visit DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

Four Tips for Creating a DEI Council Charter

            When founding a DEI Council, one of the most integral elements to discuss is the creation of a charter. This document will help guide the group’s meetings, decisions, and initiatives from its conception throughout its future work. A successful DEI Charter interweaves several elements, including a strong mission statement, related goals, leadership assignments, and membership requirements. Through this article, I share the benefits of designing and implementing a charter and breakdown the central tenets of this initiative. 

1.  One of the first things a DEI Council should consider is its mission statement. This set of phrases lays the foundation for all initiatives to come. When dividing the mission statement, consider incorporating key language from the organization’s DEI strategy as well as the central mission of the company itself. Through this piece, we establish the sentiments which will underscore all future efforts of the DEI Council. First, evaluate the general values and goals of the group and devise language that encompasses these ideas into a defined and uniting statement. The following stages of the DEI charter will fall into place under this guiding light.

2. After a strong and clear mission statement has been established, begin listing understandable and achievable goals for the council. Consider employing SMART goals or objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. This step ensures that future initiatives will align with the organization’s mission and create measurable positive change. Attempt to break down larger goals, like increasing the culture of inclusion in the company, into achievable objectives. These smaller and more manageable programs and initiatives will help the council efficiently dedicate their time and resources to achieving their monumental milestones. With the combination of workable projects and affiliated goals, the charter defines the DEI Council’s critical responsibilities and emphasizes positive progress. 

3. Another important aspect of a DEI Council is leadership. In the charter, make sure to include a clear definition of these positions with detailed descriptions of roles and responsibilities. These statements will establish and support the backbone of leadership for the group. While in this section, give some thought to the technicalities of term lengths, elections processes, and committees. I strongly recommend including smaller leadership opportunities to encourage members to develop their communication and interpersonal skills. Additionally, these roles will allow current chairs and officers to recognize and groom organizational talent for upcoming leadership positions. By determining these aspects of the council early on, future transfers of power and leadership changes will progress more smoothly. 

4. The DEI Council charter should establish the central tenets and responsibilities for members. These are enthusiastic about increasing diversity within the organization but may not have the time necessary to serve as council leadership. Similar to the previous section, consider the election of members into the council, expected contributions, and their term lengths — should these be longer, shorter, or the same as leadership term lengths? The answer to these questions revolves around your company’s ideals, employee availability, and DEI strategy. Lastly, establish membership diversity as an integral aspect of the DEI Council. At all times, the council should accurately represent the employee base that they serve. This means a diverse demographic foundation with contributions from different races, genders, generations, and even departments. By integrating these tenants into the DEI Council charter, we ensure that members will remain committed, passionate, and dedicated to elevating diversity and inclusion within the workplace. 

While founding a DEI Council may be daunting, creating a solid charter will provide organizational leadership and future council members with the necessary guidance to enact change and positive progress. Upon establishing the council, set a preliminary meeting aside to either discuss or draft the charter together. Through this act, we gain the support and involvement of employees and move towards a greater understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company. Her mission is providing guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within their organization. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. For more information, visit DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

VIRTUAL TEAM HOLIDAY PARTY ACTIVITIES: PART 1

As this year comes to a close, we must remember to recognize our employees and the hard work they have contributed. This appreciation is essential for remote teams to promote employee engagement and motivation. The yearly holiday party is the perfect occasion to celebrate our employees. By hosting a virtual office get together, we can keep our employees safe while also commending team members on their achievements. Here are a few virtual holiday party ideas perfect for employee recognition: 

Home Office Decorating Competition 

In the weeks leading up to the holidays, encourage your employees to decorate their home offices. To take this activity one step further, supply team members with themes such as “Candy Cane Stripes,” “Cosy for the Holidays,” or “Christmas Lights.” Ask members to send in pictures of their decorated set-ups and hold a vote for the best in each class as well as the overall winner. You can even turn this competition into an advent calendar by sharing pictures on a business social media account or company-wide email list. In the days leading up to the holidays, post each team member’s decorated home office and a thoughtful appreciation message. This event will motivate your teams with encouraging words and give each employee a chance to be in the spotlight. 

Virtual Gingerbread Wars

This activity involves cookie decorating kits, creativity, and icing skills! Coordinate with a local bakery or send individual cookie kits to employees before the holiday party. With all team members equipped with their icing bags and blank cookie canvases, hold a variety of decorating challenges. Ask employees to decorate self-portrait cookies or even make gingerbread men that look like coworkers or the boss! This activity is a sweet, lighthearted event that all members are sure to enjoy.  

Christmas Time in the City 

Many virtual teams are spread around large cities, states, or even countries. Through this activity, take advantage of your team’s geographic diversity and highlight different holiday traditions. Encourage team members to provide pictures of one or two city-specific activities that they usually attend. Team leaders can create a slideshow displaying each location and ask their peers to describe their favorite events during the holiday party. This event is a great way to illuminate your team’s diversity and recognize employees from unique cultures and backgrounds. 

Funny End of the Year Awards 

This light-hearted event recognizes dedicated employees while also incorporating holiday cheer and fun memories. Team leaders can put together a list of exceptional employees and come up with creative awards. A few I have found include the Duct Tape Award for employees who always fix difficult situations or the Mission Impossible Award for team members who always get the job done, even when it seems impossible. For more examples, check out this TalentLyft article. Mail the chosen employees a small gift box with a funny certificate and little treats like hot chocolate mix, a mug, or gift cards for online subscriptions. This activity is a great way to celebrate your hardest workers and show your teams that we appreciate them. 

To keep our remote teams going strong into 2021, we must recognize all of their hard work! By incorporating these activities into our yearly celebrations, we can combine the fun of the holidays with the joys of being rewarded for our commitment to the organization. These engaging events will motivate, encourage, and uplift our employees to finish off the year strong and return even more dedication in the future. 

Click below to read part 2



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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. In addition, she provides guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within the organization.

Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

Envision The Team's Potential

When talking about his method for creating beautiful stone sculptures, Michelangelo once stated, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

Starting with a large, untouched block of marble, Michelangelo would take time to envision the final result of what it could be. He would spend time envisioning his masterpiece from all angles and considering all possibilities. After diligent planning and visioning, Michelangelo would take specialized tools to chip away at the marble methodically and refine it until the marble’s inner angel was set free.

While this is a great method for artists, Michelangelo also offers a process that can be applied to the modern workplace. Paralleling Michelangelo’s guidelines, managers can envision future aspirations to help define current goals and create a detailed plan to achieve them

As Michelangelo chips away at the marble, we should chip away at the challenges in the office to remove our employees’ fears, insecurities, and general inefficiency in the organization. This process requires the use of well refined skills, such as effective communication, team building, and employee engagement. This process is not easy and often takes time, but it has the most tangible results. As we carve away menial stress in the work, a rough outline of our offices’ full potential will materialize.

Michelangelo’s process reminds me of an experience I had during my first management job. At the start of my term, my predecessor took the time to review individual members of the team with me, highlighting their personal strengths and weaknesses as well as their professional goals. However, when we came to one team member named Mike, she quickly dismissed him, telling me that he was on a short list of people to be laid off. She described him as an aloof and a low performer, reinforcing the fact that there was little hope for his future with the company.

However, while conducting meetings with my new team, it felt increasingly odd to simply ignore Mike. I eventually scheduled a time to meet with him, and I was blown away by our interaction. Contrary to what had been said, Mike was filled with energy and seemed eager to learn. He passionately discussed his interest in writing business reports and running analytics for current projects. However, when I reviewed his work load, it was filled with highly strategic and relationship building work--the exact opposite of his personal strengths. It was at that moment when I saw the angel in the marble and began to create a plan for Mike with his professional potential in mind. I worked closely with him to create a workload of engaging and challenging projects, chipping away at his dissatisfaction with the company.

After frequent meetings to check up on his personal goals and accomplishments, I slowly began to see Mike’s true capabilities and revealing the angel within the marble. Through this process of introspection, planning, and action, Mike transformed from a distant, hopeless employee to a shining star on my team. This process helped me envision my employee’s unseen capabilities and lead to the overall enhancement of my professional team. The power of foresight can guide leaders through a myriad of affairs, encouraging critical thinking and defining individual and team goals.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

Be an Effective Leader: Start By Being a Hero

The term hero conjures up a variety of images in one’s mind. From comic book drawings of strong individuals defeating evil counterparts to modern movies depicting teams of super human beings saving their cities, these Hollywood heros are different from the individuals I am referring to. My vision of a workplace hero aligns closely with the Greek definition of the word, “the protector.” As a leader in the workplace, one’s primary role is to protect their team. A workplace that feels safe and well guided will function more efficiently and productively, increasing employee satisfaction and company results. Lead by a manager who is actively concerned about the well being of those in their workforce, these employees will rise above their counterparts, fueled by the energy of their leaders. With this, there will be an overwhelming amount of trust established, allowing for personal and professional growth in the office.

Additionally, a hero provides their team with a sense of hope. This is an integral aspect of leadership, as hope has been proven to increase workplace engagement and satisfaction. In a recent Gallup poll which asked employees “whether their leader at work made them feel enthusiastic about the future,” of those who strongly agreed, nearly 70% were engaged in their work (Gallup). These statistics illustrate the importance of hope in the workplace, demonstrating the effect of inspiration on workplace engagement.

As leaders, we can inspire hope by focusing on our employees, evaluating their daily challenges and praising their strengths. Through this, a hero emphasizes the power of the individual, inspiring those on their team to work towards their fullest potential. Optimism also springs from a sense of stability in the company. We can facilitate this by creating a solid foundation and business strategy for our teams and reinforcing a long-term company vision.

As a hero, we take on the task of protecting, guiding, and inspiring our teams. These responsibilities, in turn, produce a safe, engaging, and creative workplace fueled by future aspirations and goals. With these ideas in mind, the culture becomes part of the strategy, interwoven in the company’s success and tied to their community. This stresses the importance of an empathetic, attentive, and proactive leadership, highlighting the positive effects of becoming a hero in the workplace.

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Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.

Holiday Team Building Activities

Whether your small business gathers for simple festivities or a large team pot-roast, it is a wonderful idea to utilize the holiday season to increase employee engagement, interpersonal communication, and overall office morale.

Incorporate some of these fantastic holiday party ideas for your next company function!

1. Holiday Mapping

Want to increase diversity and cultural awareness in your workplace? Here is a fun idea. Simply print out a large map of the world and place it on the floor. Throughout the activity, a leader asks a series of interactive, geography-oriented questions, prompting co-workers to travel to different places on the world map.

Question examples include:

• Where are you spending the holidays?

• Where is your dream place to travel during the winter season?

• What holiday traditions would you like to learn more about?

Have fun with the questions and create your own. Use this interactive game to learn more about your team members, their diverse cultures, and holiday experiences!

2. HGTV Gingerbread Homes Edition

Love spending your winters cozied up on the couch watching your favorite HGTV shows? Bring the fun to your office holiday party with this entertaining game. Purchase (or make) a few gingerbread house kits for your co-workers. Divide the office into teams and race to create the most intricately designed gingerbread house. (This is great for large and small workplaces as teams of 3-4 can easily decorate a whole gingerbread house together while in larger offices, bigger groups can work on individual aspects of the home (Example: two individuals work on the walls while another three work on the roof) and put together their final product in the final seconds.) These activities spur moments of teamwork and insight creativity in the workplace.

At the end of the hectic house-building time period, line up the newly created gingerbread homes for judging. Encourage each team to present their creations in the style of an HGTV House Hunters reel. This funny and imaginative presentation is sure to bring a few smiles to your teammate’s faces. After each group has spoken, present a “SOLD” sticker or a similar award to the best home!

3. New Years Vision Board

If your workplace is looking for something more glamorous this season, consider a New Years themed function. With glitter and fancy outfits, this event wouldn’t be complete without some resolutions! Use this opportunity to highlight office objectives and individual goals for the upcoming year with a New Years Vision Board. If there is a large end goal in the upcoming future, make that the centerpiece of your vision board and utilize the room around it for your team’s gameplan. Create a cork board with enough space for everyone’s aspirations and encourage your team members to create and decorate sheets of paper with their future professional ambitions.
Once everyone has finalized their goal statements, begin placing each objective on the cork board. This can be followed with a short conversation about individual goals!

Bonus: Use a string to connect similar goals, encouraging teamwork and increased conversation in the upcoming year. By literally and metaphorically intertwining objectives, this activity will bring your team closer!

4. Multicultural Holiday Trivia Night

Does your office have a competitive drive? Try out a holiday trivia night featuring seasonal traditions from around the world! Assemble your work force into groups and keep track of points as you quiz them on the origins of Hanukkah, Tibetan holiday traditions, and the world’s Christmas delicacies. Through this activity, your office will grow more inclusive, learning more about diversity and culture.

Unsure where to find fun Holiday facts? Use links like these:

• Green Global 75 Christmas Traditions Around the World

• National Geographic Holiday History Quiz

• List 25 Unique Winter Traditions

5. Memories Slideshow

While this last activity does not require immense audience participation like the previous few, creating a presentation that showcases the years achievements will surely increase morale in the workplace. The slideshow should highlight the companies achievements, individual successes, and fun moments from throughout the year. Feel free to edit in some holiday music and include funny pictures for some laughs in the crowd!

As the end of the year approaches, these activities provide a wonderful way to learn more about your team, form strong team bonds, and acknowledge the achievements of the past year. Make good use of this time to show your appreciation for your co-workers, and have a happy holiday season!