We greatly benefited from the custom leadership program that ProInspire designed for our organization. Since the training, our managers seem more attuned to the emotional climate within themselves and the organization. I’ve noticed increased productivity in our meetings and an enhanced ability to hold difficult conversations as a result.”
Jo Smith, President & COO, PeerForward
Overview
We support organizations on their journeys to advance race equity, build inclusive leadership practices, and support leaders at all levels to accelerate equity. We believe that in order to change systems and advance social impact, we need leadership at all levels to champion equity first.
We also work with foundations, networks, and associations to design and deliver programs to support their grantees or members with advancing race equity and leadership. These programs are typically structured as Communities of Practice, Cohorts, Fellowships, or Training Programs and can be customized to meet a wide range of needs.
Our approach to Strengthen Organizations includes:
- Understand the organizational context
- Support individual learning
- Facilitate interpersonal and organizational work
- Move from talk to action around race equity and inclusive leadership
Custom Program Process
Reach out for a consultation so we can learn more about your needs.
What Does a Custom Program Look Like?
Overview
We design our programs with the understanding that learning happens through experiences that expand knowledge, shift thinking, and provide an opportunity to practice. Programs can include half-day, full-day, or multi-day workshops or retreats, webinars, assessments, and/or coaching. In addition to designing and facilitating the program, ProInspire can manage the logistics, communications, and evaluation processes.
- What We Do: Our primary areas of work with organizations include:
- Data Gathering
- Targeted Work with Leadership Teams and/or DEI Teams
- Race Equity Foundational Work with Full Staff, Boards
- Inclusive Leadership Practices Work with Managers/Supervisors
- Coaching for Individuals and Teams
- How We Do It: Our values of equity, authenticity, collaboration and courage are essential to who we are and what we do. They are our guiding stars as we continuously strive to embody their ideals in our lives and in our work. Some of the ways these show up include:
- Create authentic relationships with partner organizations through regular meetings, a consistent feedback model, and customized training designs
- Create spaces for personal reflection and authentic conversation around race equity and inclusive leadership
- Speak to our lived experience
- Say “the thing” that others in the organization can’t say
- Advocate for people of color in the organization
- Push individuals and organizations to move from talk to action
Our projects typically establish a foundation for the ongoing internal work needed, creating shared understanding for conversations among staff members and growth across the organization. Facilitated sessions focus on mindsets, skill sets, and practice. We take into account the individual, interpersonal relationships, and organizational culture – as well as how the current system may impact each. We work with each partner to support a journey that incorporates our knowledge from the Race Equity and Leadership program and Leadership Practices for Race Equity Impact. Our sessions are reflective and interactive to deepen participants’ understanding, build shared experience, and make the learning practical.
We bring together multi-racial teams for each project and collaborate closely with partner organizations to design, plan, and follow-up on the work. Currently, all of ProInspire’s programs are facilitated virtually for groups of 20-30 individuals to support courageous conversations; for larger organizations, our sessions are provided multiple times in order to reach all participants. We recommend starting with the DEI Committee, the Senior Leadership Team, and/or people managers so that they can best support the organization and its staff on their journey. We recommend that organizations support staff with building foundational understanding of the history of systemic racism prior to this work, and can provide recommendations on providers for that work.
Review our project approach here.
Example of Workshop Design and Facilitation
| Focus | Proposed Session Focus |
| Organizational | 1. Community agreements, definitions, setting personal goals |
| Individual | 2. Identities, my story, dominant and non-dominant groups |
| Interpersonal | 3. Implicit bias, manifestations of bias in the organization |
| Structural | 4. Four levels of racism, identifying racial impact and recommendations to address racial bias |
| Individual/ Organizational | 5. Unpacking organizational culture, showing up fully at work |
| Structural | 6. Understanding how structural racism is connected to the organization’s mission |
| Organizational | 7. Aligning on definitions and race equity case statement |
| Organizational | 8. Building an equitable and inclusive culture |
| Structural | 9. Building collective vision for race equity |
| Interpersonal/ Organizational | 10. Race equity tools, team action plans |
Sample Arc: Leading People
An arc can include five sessions on the following focus areas. Each session can typically cover 1-2 objectives, depending on the length of the session. The planning and design phase will be used to identify which objectives to prioritize.
| Focus | Objectives |
| Session 1: Context + Identities | Set the context for program and connect to ongoing race equity work in the organization Discuss and establish community norms to support authentic engagement Deepen individual understanding of social identity categories and racial identity Explore the role of managers and key leadership practices |
| Session 2: Centering Relationships | Explore mental models and how socialization impacts your identity and work style preferences Understand implicit bias Explore trust preferences and how those impact relationships |
| Session 3: Conscious Communication | Understand practices for conscious communication Explore tools for enrolling team members in shared outcomes (including delegation) |
| Session 4: Restorative Relationships | Practice strategies for healthy conflict and courageous conversations Consider approaches to address challenges and restore relationships (including microaggressions) |
| Session 5: Interdependent Interactions | Explore tools for giving and receiving feedback Understand approaches for coaching in team member partnerships |
*Note: If you are thinking about how our work with foundations, networks, and associations could be applied to internal teams, please see our Custom Work with Foundations, Networks, and Associations