Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us

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08 Jul

Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us

Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us

Wednesday, July 8, 2026 (12:00 AM) to Tuesday, December 1, 2026 (11:59 PM)
1 PDCs
Provider: Equality Utah
Course Name: Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us

Speaker: Olivia Jaramillo
Program Type: Seminar/Workshop
Registration URL: https://equalityutah.org/bel/
Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us, Salt Lake City, Utah
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This educational program provides HR professionals, people leaders, and employees with practical strategies for improving workplace communication, fostering respectful dialogue, and creating environments where individuals from diverse backgrounds can work effectively together. The session opens with a brief personal narrative that illustrates how identity, life experiences, and organizational culture can shape workplace interactions. This serves as a foundation for exploring how unconscious assumptions, fear, and personal perspectives influence communication, decision-making, and collaboration. Participants examine how these factors can contribute to misunderstandings, conflict, and barriers to effective teamwork while learning evidence-based strategies to recognize and address them. The program emphasizes developing empathy through intentional communication, including the distinction between listening to understand and listening to respond, as well as techniques that encourage meaningful conversations without requiring agreement. Throughout the session, attendees reflect on their own perspectives and identify practical ways to strengthen communication within their organizations. Discussion includes strategies for supporting psychologically safe workplaces, improving employee engagement, reducing interpersonal conflict, and fostering collaboration across teams with differing backgrounds and viewpoints. By the conclusion of the program, participants will have a stronger understanding of how personal experiences influence workplace dynamics and will leave with practical communication tools to support respectful dialogue, build trust, and strengthen collaboration across their organizations.

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Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to: • Describe how individual life experiences, identity, and personal perspectives can influence workplace communication, collaboration, and organizational culture. • Explain how unconscious assumptions, fear, and cognitive biases affect interpersonal interactions, decision-making, and employee engagement. • Identify common communication barriers that arise from differing perspectives and recognize strategies for addressing them constructively. • Differentiate between listening to understand and listening to respond, and explain how each approach influences workplace conversations and conflict resolution. • Demonstrate active listening techniques that promote empathy, psychological safety, and respectful dialogue among colleagues and teams. • Recognize the value of empathy as a leadership and workplace competency that supports collaboration, trust, and employee engagement. • Apply practical communication strategies that encourage respectful discussions across differing viewpoints while maintaining professionalism and mutual respect. • Identify actions that managers, HR professionals, and employees can take to foster inclusive workplace environments where individuals feel respected and able to contribute. • Evaluate opportunities to strengthen organizational culture by promoting open communication, trust-building, and constructive engagement across diverse teams. • Develop an individual action plan for implementing learned communication and inclusion practices within their own workplace to improve collaboration and organizational effectiveness.

Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us
Forward Together: Understanding How Our Differences Unite Us
416 E 900 S Unit 203
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-4304

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