How to Address Gender in Cross-Cultural Training

Change the system, not the individuals. This trans day of visibility, I encourage organizations to change their environments for transgender & gender diverse (TGD) inclusion. 🗺 Co-design workplace initiatives, practices and experiences with transgender & gender diverse (TGD) folks. Pay, recognise and reward them for this unique and vital contribution. This is not volunteer work, this is a form of research, this is culture building, this is experience design. This has an emotional tax so pay the bills. 🛑 Drive a zero tolerance approach for all forms of transphobia. Clearly define what’s a teachable moment (i.e. make a mistake, acknowledge it, apologize, aim to not make the same mistake, show growth) and what’s a sackable moment. Embed this into your code of conduct, policies, practices, training and values/behaviors efforts. Hiring? Here are Some Specific Edits at “Joining” Stage of the Employee Lifecycle. Systems: Review all systems and forms where gender markers and pronouns are asked. What options do you provide? What comes next and is it an ID/verification check? If so, what happens when someone’s government name and documentation doesn’t match their name on file? Can this be avoided and if not, are you teams trained on inclusive customer/employee experience? If a candidate is likely to meet 4-5 people during the hiring process, how will you ensure you limit the risk of them being misgendered or deadnaming occurring? See Envato example in comments. Process: Review your recruitment practices end to end with TGD employees and/or experts. Where you think you are being equal, you may need to consider where it is necessary to be equitable. Sameness isn't fairness. This includes when you collect information and why, unbiased interviews and selection practices and making sure your role descriptions and selection criteria are robust and line up otherwise, it’s left to “gut feel” and bias will come into play. Not all trans colleagues or candidates are out at work, and no two trans people will have an identical journey or transition. So remember to treat everyone uniquely, and without bias. Language: De-gender your targets, adverts and language. Use “they/them” as a default. Ensure you have 40/40/20 targets not 50/50 gender targets as nothing tells a non-binary colleague they aren't welcome in the exec team more than a target that literally denies their existence. Demonstrate: Show candidates not tell them. On your careers page, adverts and key hiring process points remind candidates that they can access someone in your team who is trained and aware of the barriers trans and gender diverse people face through the application process, and in work. See: Coles example in comments. Leverage (and credit) some great trans-led organizations who are specialists in this work. I’ll drop examples in the comments. What would you add?

Please stop telling your recruitment partners that "it'd be great if you could find a woman for the team". ❌ Instead, start doing the following... ✅ Evaluate your sales culture. If it's feels like a "boys club", it is. Fix it. ✅ Analyse the language you are using. Gendered wording of job advertisements signals who belongs and who does not. "Masculine- worded ads reduced perceived belongingness [among women], which in turn lead to less job appeal, regardless of one’s perception of their personal skill to perform that job." - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, January 2011 - (🔗 Link in comments.) ✅ Provide workplace flexibility A 2023 study conducted by the University of Oxford’s Well-being Research Centre found that when it comes to fostering a positive working environment, reducing stress, and boosting employee resilience, flexibility is one of the most effective elements required to create a healthy work-life balance. The findings correlate with a separate study which found that post-pandemic, 72% of women are prioritising purpose and balance at work, and are looking for the flexibility that facilitates this. (🔗 Link in comments.) ✅ Build an infrastructure and culture of coaching and support. The opportunity to be coached by other women (both internal and external) goes a long way in not only developing existing staff members, but also in attracting new talent. (Bonus point: ensure your interview processes are as gender diverse as possible. You can't be what you can't see.) ✅ Implement gender-neutral and diversity-inclusive policies. Offer gender-neutral parental leave policies to prevent issues like absence visibility, project loss, and early return pressure. In my experience, the Nordics lead the way in gender-equitable parental leave policies, for example. ✅ Address any existing gender pay gaps. It's 2024... This shouldn't even have to be a point. I'm a recruitment & search professional. I'm not a DE&I specialist. But I really hope one day the conversation changes from "it'd be great if you could find us a woman" to "we have awesome diversity in our team because...". Women in sales & those of you in gender diverse businesses - what else would you add? LP ✌️ Pack GTM | SaaS Sales Recruitment in Germany #sales #hiring #careers #startups #recruitment 

How well does your organisation support the LGBTQI+ community? Shape Talent Ltd engaged Dr Ciarán McFadden-Young, Senior Lecturer and researcher on EDI at the University of Stirling, to author a white paper that examines the barriers to LGBTQI+ career progression. This is an adaptation of the research that we conducted into women's career progression, looking through a lens of gender identity and sexual orientation. Addressing systemic barriers is at the heart of our work. You can download our white paper to see the specific recommendations that we make on how organisations can cultivate inclusivity and address the barriers to LGBTQI+ people in the workplace. For those who are time poor, here are the 8 headline recommendations: 𝟏. 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲. For example, do the childcare and parental leave policies assume a heterosexual employee? Does the workplace have gender-neutral bathrooms? Is a uniform required, and are there only gendered versions? 𝟐. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐆𝐁𝐓𝐐+ 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩. Although there are social, cultural and historical reasons why lesbian women, gay men, bisexual people, trans people and queer people all form one distinct and recognisable collective group, different sub groups experience distinctly different barriers. 𝟑. 𝐄𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Organisations should have clear and well communicated anti-discrimination and harassment policies, provide anti-discrimination training, and engage in cultural audits to uncover any potential informal issues 𝟒. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰. This is particularly important for multinational organisations operating in very different regions with different legislative norms. 𝟓. 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬. Training and development can be offered to help demystify common concerns, clarify the terminology used in discussions about LGBTQ+ identities, and in many cases offer a starting point for conversations on LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace. 𝟔. 𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧. A policy should, where possible, have input from those it seeks to protect or promote inclusion for. 𝟕. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬. While your organisation may have excellent inclusion and anti-discrimination policies, it’s important that your employees are made aware (and reminded) of them. 𝟖. 𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝-𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞. In June of each year, more and more organisations are accused of ‘pink-washing’ or ‘rainbow-washing. It is a form of performative allyship. Ensure your work extends throughout the year and is meaningful. #WorldPride2024 #Pride2024 #ThreeBarriers https://lnkd.in/erD9a3Sy

She’s a mother, an immigrant, a survivor. But your intake form only asked about income. This toolkit helps frontline workers see the full picture—not just a funding checkbox Center lived experience—not just service eligibility → The toolkit emphasises listening to survivors’ full identities and histories, not reducing them to a single demographic label. Expand your intake tools to reflect layered realities → It encourages organizations to revise intake forms and assessments to include race, immigration status, ability, language, and cultural needs—without making clients feel “othered.” Train your staff on intersectionality—not just trauma-informed care → Because trauma doesn’t impact everyone the same way, the toolkit includes guidance on how racism, poverty, and ableism compound survivors’ experiences of violence. Build trust through culturally relevant engagement → Tips for hiring peer workers, offering language support, and recognizing community-specific stigmas around violence and help-seeking. Rethink what you track—and why → The report challenges organisations to collect data that reflects who is being underserved, not just who showed up. It pushes for disaggregated data that reveals inequities. Create safer spaces for complex identities → Includes tools for group facilitation, staff self-reflection, and community partnerships that affirm LGBTQ+, racialized, disabled, and immigrant survivors. Design programmess around equity—not uniformity → Encourages flexibility in programming and resource allocation to meet people where they are, not where a form says they should be. Because no woman is just one thing—and our services shouldn’t treat her like she is. ♻️ Share if you care 🔔 Follow me #Intersectionality