With just one day’s notice, Sullivan and White stepped in to fill a planned workshop slot after the originally scheduled speaker suddenly cancelled. For this purpose they created “Seven Steps to Building a Sustainable Culture of Inclusion,” and co-presented it to a full room. Their session combined interactive exercises with informational content that covered executive level commitment (vs. support), assessment and diagnosis, inclusion councils, training, system changes, measurement and evaluation, and integration.
Later in the day, the Inspirus-Continuum team gave away prizes they had brought, including free consultations by them, and led a physical group game that energized participants for the remaining sessions. Approximately 90 human resource professionals from the North Carolina Piedmont attended this year’s Changing Faces Conference, a collaboration between Raleigh-Wake Human Resources Management Association, Wake County Human Services and Capital Area JobLink Career Center at Swineburne. Attendees praised the event’s overall content and presentation in their written comments, including “my experience today certainly surpassed my expectations.”
White, Sullivan and Nigro each infuse their partnership with a strikingly different set of individual life experience, professional skills and field practice. What brought them together was a joint desire to combine forces around engagement and inclusion needs, along with a deeply shared commitment to transforming cultures for real and lasting improvement. Their multi-modal and complementary approaches range from systematized, quantitative techniques like Six Sigma process improvement, to improvisational, qualitative techniques like experiential exercises, Open Space Technology, and Appreciative Inquiry. Their combined expertise also spans interracial/
ABOUT THE CONSULTANTS
White is a member of the Experiential Based Training and Development Alliance; in 2006 she led a nationwide Appreciative Inquiry Summit for the YWCA designed to Imagine A World Without Racism. Sullivan has Six Sigma Green Belt training and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a member of the Durham Workforce Development Board, and a graduate of Army Ranger School. Nigro has a background in scientific research and experience in diversity-based conciliation;
The three partners believe that truly inclusive work cultures increase problem-solving, innovation, productivity and fiscal bottom lines, and they aim for these outcomes. Past and current clients or employers include GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Social Health Association, NIKE, the US Army, Shelby Energy Division, Self-Help Credit Union, First Citizens Bank, IBM, Dell Computer, Duke University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the Portland (Oregon) School District, The Jewish Federation of Portland, and the City of Raleigh, North Carolina.
For photos and more information about Wendy B. White, Al Sullivan, Laura J. Nigro or Continuum Consulting Services, visit www.continuumcs.com or call 919.688.8920. For information about Inspirus Consulting, contact Al Sullivan at Al@InspirusConsulting.com or 919.535.8148.
