SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Loden Associates, Inc. is a recognized leader in the diversity education field and has developed awareness and skills training programs for clients in the financial services, consumer products, technology and telecommunications industries. The firm's "Diversity at Work" training series includes behavioral and attitudinal training programs that can be customized for executives, managers and employees in large and smaller organizations. 
Our training curriculum includes workshops focused on: 

• diversity awareness and effective communication, 
• diversity leadership development, 
• cross-cultural mentoring, 
• cross-cultural coaching and performance feedback, 
• intergroup conflict resolution, 
• conflict mediation team training and certification. 

The Diversity Wheel 
This model illustrates both the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity that exerts an impact on each of us at home, work and in society. While each dimension adds a layer of complexity to individual identity, it is the dynamic interaction among all the dimensions that influences self-image, values, opportunities and expectations. Together, the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity give definition and meaning to our lives by contributing to a synergistic, integrated whole -- the diverse person. 

SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING

High performance in any organization depends upon open lines of communication. Gender conflict reduces productivity, contributes to job-related stress, and increasingly results in grievance suits. This awareness training is proactive, preventative, and inclusive, and designed to educate the entire organizational culture. All points of view are valued and both sexes are considered equally part of the problem and part of the solution in a blame free atmosphere.

Our approach is to focus on gender conflict on the job by developing protocols for communication that acknowledge the real differences that often exist between women and men. The result- anxiety and fear between women and men are reduced, communication is enhanced, and a cooperative approach to gender conflicts is established. Unlike typical training  which tends to focus on unilateral harassment rules that tend to drive conflict underground and paradoxically often breeds more distrust and hostility in the work environment, our approach enhances the workplace  and makes interactions  more pleasant, less humiliating  and intimidating. It makes it easier for effective work to be done.

Our purpose is to align the employer's objectives with people strategies to ensure success in business and harmony in the workplace. The  result - limited risk and potential liability of employment discrimination or harassment. 

CONTENT
Realities and Definitions

• What would you do? (Case studies)
• What is the law of sexual harassment and how does it operate
• New laws, recent court rulings, EEOC guidelines
• What constitutes sexual harassment
• What are the types of sexual harassment: Quid pro quo vs. Hostile Working Environment.
• Understanding the subjective and objective tests and how they work  in  various   factual situations
• Understand the EEOC's interpretation of "unwelcome" sexual advances
•  Know the types of sexually-related conduct which may be considered unwelcome
• What does this all mean in 1998 and beyond?

What’s Really Going On

•  Why sexual harassment problems persists
•  The impact of sexual harassment
•  Understand  the diversity, make it work for your organization and not  against    your organization.

Awareness and Understanding

• Understand the beliefs, attitudes, and cultural conditions that
   cause sexual harassment and other gender-based conflicts
• Learn the economic and psychological costs of sexual  harassment 
   to organizations and individuals
• Learn the proper steps to prevent the fear, ambiguity, and
   backlash that cause adversarial attitudes

Strategies- Preventing  Sexual Harassment
Guidelines for Employers, Supervisors, Employees

•  Understand organization’s, supervisors, and individual  responsibilities regarding prevention, investigation, and counseling  of employees in the area of sexual harassment
• The complaint process-how to report sexual harassment to the supervisor

Skill Development

• Explore: what would you do? (Case studies)
• Examine verbal and nonverbal communication skills that can prevent sexual  harassment     and reduce male / female  conflict
• Practice methods for communicating effectively and clearly with the harasser
• Dismantle the misconceptions, minimize the differences 
 and equalize the communication playing field at work
• Learn the communication differences between men and women
• What causes  men and women to be at cross purposes
• How do the different worlds of boys and girls produce different words in men  and  women?
• How do men and women talk on the job?  -Content, Style and Structure?
• What are the conversation rituals of men ? of  women ?
• What to do next

OPTIONAL HANDBOOK  Avoiding and Litigating Sexual Harassment 1998  
Chair Jana Howard Carey