DEI Activity Ideas for Managers to Build Strong Teams

Here’s a thoughtful list of DEI activity ideas from The HR Digest that you can use to promote workplace fairness, employee wellbeing, and a sense of belonging for your workforce regardless of their differences.

Diversity, equality, and inclusion (DE&I) are three of the most talked about topics in the workplace. While the knowledge of it is still fresh to some, other people are already ensuring that they stay on top of it. Companies today are making extra efforts to ensure that all their workers feel welcomed and engaged.

DE&I goes beyond just words but dives deeper into the actions of supposed leaders. How? Through DEI office activities organized to push the same. Many leaders today encourage diversity and inclusion by creating team-building activities for office staff.

To help you organize yours, we have compiled a list of DEI activities for employees that will ensure that your company is promoting an inclusive and diverse workforce.

Team-Building Activities for Office Employees to Encourage DE&I

These activities help ensure that employees understand each other and feel understood themselves. They help to broaden the understanding of what a diverse environment looks like and how teams can work to ensure everyone feels comfortable. Some of these office activities include:

Diversity Convos

The first DE&I activity at the office should be the type where employees get to talk about their diverse cultures and what interests them. This can be done once a month or depending on what works best for an organization. It should be brief but effective so each employee can learn something new about one another.

Office Happy Hours

Happy hour is a very common fun activity at the office. However, it can be more fun when diversity is brought into the picture. To do this, you’ll need to figure out some of the best drinks and snacks your employees love. You can go all out by asking each of them what they prefer and providing those. A space can be set up so employees can discuss and seek out others with similar interests.

Flower Petals

This is a team-building activity for the office, where employees are grouped into teams of 4-10 members. Each group will have to draw a flower with petals equaling the number of members (for example, if a team has four members, then the flower should have four petals). Each petal will belong to a different team member. Members will write about the things that set them apart from other team members. In the middle of the flower, members should write their similarities. Afterwards, they can discuss each of these characteristics amongst themselves.

Potluck

Another activity at the office to encourage diversity and inclusion is potluck. Potluck is an event put together to encourage employees to bring dishes of their choosing to the office, particularly one that speaks of their culture. Here, employees will get to learn about each other’s cultures through food. They can try out each other’s dishes and discuss.

Book Clubs

One fun DEI activity at the office to try is organizing book clubs. This book club should be centered around learning about different cultures and personalities. This will give employees the knowledge they need to accept each other the way they are. There should be room to ask questions and discuss what has been learned.

The Privilege Walk

This is another activity at the office to organize when promoting diversity and inclusion. The game goes this way. Firstly, employees should stand in a straight line. Then, you’ll need to have an organized list of privileges. To begin, you’ll call out each privilege, and employees that agree with them will take a step forward or backward depending on the instruction given. For example, take a step forward if you are from South Africa. This will help each employee understand that they do have unique characteristics, and you can go ahead and discuss them.

Artworks

Another fun activity at the office to set up in support of diversity and inclusion is artwork creation. Here, you can ask employees to come together and create an art piece, particularly one that encourages diversity and inclusion. Their art should tell a story, and each of them can take turns speaking about it.

DE&I activities for work are great to boost collaboration while instilling the knowledge of what working together despite different cultures is all about. You should organize one of the activities listed above to create a safe space for your employees.

The post DEI Activity Ideas for Managers to Build Strong Teams appeared first on The HR Digest.

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