We always hear of key areas for managers to improve in. Today we’re sharing 6 less common ways to be a better manager to your team.

Different’s Co-Founder, Milka Milliance, shares a personal reflection on her experience in navigating white workplaces as a Black woman along with some takeaways that can be helpful for your Black employees.

Different’s Co-Founder, Alex Suggs, shares a personal reflection on what DEI really means, outside of the manufactured rage around this important work.

We’re sharing 5 mindset shifts (+ a bonus shift!) you can make as a leader or manager to increase employee productivity without leading to burnout.

The landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is reaching a critical juncture. The journey thus far has been marked by both significant milestones and setbacks and the rapidly changing societal, economic, and technological milieu we’re all witnessing demands a different (and better) approach.

We’re therefore sharing five key ways to make your organization’s DEI and culture efforts find greater success in 2024.

Are you navigating the complexities of DEI in your organization and industry? Don't miss this crucial read! Milka Milliance, co-founder of Different, shares their expertise in a recent Business.com article, "Should Companies Take Stances on Social Issues?".

Are you navigating the complexities of DEI in your organization and industry? Don't miss this crucial read! Alex Suggs, co-founder of Different, shares their expertise in a recent HR Morning article, "DEI Disaster: 6 Pitfalls to Avoid".

Download our free workplace guide to learn how your organization and its leaders can engage more intentionally around issues that are important to your employees, customers, clients and the communities in which your organization operates.

Download our free workplace inclusion guide to learn about best practices your organization can integrate for more inclusive and equitable AI. The guide also comes with a free lightweight audit to assess the equity of your current AI practices.

Download our free workplace inclusion guide to learn about best practices your organization can implement for greater equity and inclusion for your LGBTQIA+ employees. The guide also comes with a free lightweight audit to assess and enhance your people processes.

Leaders play a crucial role in shaping the culture of their organizations. A healthy organizational culture is one where trust, open communication, and collaboration are fostered among team members. These types of organizations not only hire leaders that demonstrate high levels of empathy, they also encourage a culture that is psychologically safe for teams to thrive. Let’s explore the importance of building a healthy organizational culture and the characteristics that leaders must possess and the behaviors they may model to to achieve this.

Leaders play a crucial role in shaping the culture of an organization. A healthy organizational culture that fosters trust, open communication and transparency encourages collaboration. This leads to increased employee engagement, productivity, and psychological safety in the workplace. However, some leaders, knowingly or unknowingly, create cultures of mistrust and fear within their organizations which can have damaging effects on employee morale, and ultimately – business outcomes.

Try these 4 activities you can incorporate at your next team retreat to identify team gaps, build awareness of team dynamics, repair and strengthen relationships, and commit to an action plan that benefits the entire group.

We share some important lessons we walked away with from our leadership retreat that facilitated greater connection, alignment and clarity with our team that can enhance your next gathering.

Gov. Ron DeSantis believes he can reach the White House by being hostile, in both word and deed, toward Black people, migrants and the LGBT+ community. His “anti-woke” campaign may be effective at stimulating his political base, but it is bad news for business — especially cutting-edge industries of the future.

Have you ever felt rejected? 🙋🏾‍♀️

As a DEI practitioner, I talk a lot about inclusion and creating psychologically safe spaces for people who have always been on the fringe; who have never quite fit in and probably never will. That's why I co-founded Different DEI with Alex and Grace Yi. While I’ve learned to embrace the solitude inherent to my identity/lived experiences, where it remains a challenge is as an entrepreneur.

I didn't want to come back to work today.

Anyone else? 🖐 This isn't because I don't love my job, company, or coworkers but because over the last couple of weeks I finally found REST. I stopped the hustle. I took a beat. I slept in. I may have had chocolate for breakfast one day. Maybe two. I reflected on the past year and what I want from 2023. I found peace.

How does your organization respond to local and global events that affect employees? As humans and workers, we are all inundated with a world (and news cycle) filled with stressors that may impact us, our loved ones, and our communities.

It’s important that leaders have a rapid response approach to effectively engage and reassure team members to not fall into hopelessness or despair when tragic events disrupt employees ability to focus and perform.

Are you a small startup or org looking to start your DEI journey or needing more strategic support.

As our co-founder, Alex Suggs, MBA, shared in an earlier post: it is wise and rewarding when startups and small teams invest early on in their DEI efforts despite a small (or nonexistent) budget. The org will undoubtedly reap lasting benefits of investing in their people early on.

Having stood up dozens of DEI bodies (e.g. ERGs, Councils, Equity Teams, Committees and BRGs), we're sharing three reasons why these groups sometimes don’t work – even when the organization has committed resources for these programs and employees are going to meetings regularly.