Bentley University
EN-12: Continuing Education

CWB Sustainability Continuing Ed Courses

i) Gearing Up Conference

The Gearing Up Conference is the Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business' premier annual conference at Bentley University. The transformational day reinvigorates the leadership aspirations of women, gender-diverse professionals, and allies in their early and mid-careers across industries to harness their skills and ambitions and to realize their full potential. This inspirational day provides participants with resources to thrive professionally and personally with opportunities for self-reflection, group exploration, and interactive learning. Gearing Up's impact extends beyond the one-day event through goal-setting activities to encourage continued learning and development.

Our empowering program fosters meaningful connections by cultivating a community of professionals across industries and the Bentley community that serves as a pillar to further grow diverse professional networks.

Workshops Held:

1. Unconscious Bias for Inclusive Workplaces

In today’s hybrid workplace, unconscious bias remains a significant barrier to forming an inclusive, equity-informed, and caring culture. This foundational program provides a unique and cutting-edge exploration of unconscious bias, including understanding across racial difference and the role of intersectionality. Our goal is to educate attendees in a psychologically safe space about the

imperative for inclusive workplaces, the power individuals have to make a difference, and specific strategies to put into action. In each program, participants: learn about underlying DE&I issues and specifics about how historically excluded communities are impacted by microaggressions; unpack the impact of microaggressions by exploring their own experiences; increase their understanding and empathy for all individuals; and identify tools to serve as more inclusive, active advocates.

2. Allyship: Justice and Equity at Work

The need for individuals and organizations to address allyship across difference is urgent, and the positive impact that knowledgeable, authentic workplace advocates can make is well documented. The goal of our Allyship program is to fully prepare individuals to serve as allies for each other and equip organizations to develop cultures of allyship. Each program focuses on: increased understanding of the complex issues required to become an ally – including privilege, the role of intersectionality, and group dynamics; empowering attendees to become effective advocates for change with specific tools and strategies; and how to utilize our CWB framework to engage in dialogue across difference and advocate for others.

3. Bridging Difference through Bentley Brave Dialogues™

Organizations are changing and becoming more diverse, inclusive and values-driven, as well as changing structures by becoming virtual or global. Our research reveals that employees and managers alike have difficulty engaging in conversations expected to be difficult or tense. On the other hand, we also know that learning organizations are feedback-rich, encourage authenticity among all employees, and harness the power of inclusion and cultural differences to meet business goals.

To address this gap, we developed a session in which participants learn to engage in difficult conversations across and about identity differences, roles, and functions. The workshop helps participants develop this critical leadership competency that can, in turn, help organizations expedite efforts toward developing more inclusive, innovative and high performing teams and cultures. It is offered as a stand- alone workshop or as a follow-up to Unconscious Bias training.

A CWB facilitator will model conversations, provide a dialogue framework, guide participants through a planning exercise, and provide ample opportunity for attendees to practice their own conversations. This is a practical, effective, and often transformational workshop for employees of all levels and backgrounds.

4. Driving Intersectional Gender Equity through Networking, Mentoring, and Sponsorship

People who can advocate for others, provide good advice, and offer strategies for navigating career challenges are vital to an individual’s professional growth, advancement, and emotional well-being. This is the essence of effective mentorship, sponsorship, and networking as vital components of professional and personal development.

The goal of this program is to empower attendees with knowledge of mentors, sponsors, and professional networks, and how to leverage these career drivers to advance intersectional gender equity in the workplace. Participants will build understanding of the importance of diverse networks, gain awareness of the gender and racial network gap, and explore strategies to navigate more inclusive networking. This program equips participants to enhance mentoring and sponsorship relationships, with strategies to serve as more effective mentors/sponsors or mentee protégés. Incorporating extensive discussion, interesting data, and interactive exercises, this workshop focuses on: the differences among mentors, sponsors, and networks; the three types of professional networks and their value; how to serve as either a mentor/sponsor or a mentee/protégé; real-time mentorship practice; and specific strategies to create more diverse and inclusive networks.

5. What is the Gender & Racial Wage Gap?

#EqualPayDay represents how far into the year women have had to work to catch up to what their male colleagues earned the previous year. Unfortunately, this day does not tell the intersectional story of the event.

Intersectionality refers to the connection of social identities in the context of unjust sociopolitical systems that confer unearned benefits to some groups and unfair obstacles for others. Therefore, women who are Black, Indigenous, Latin, Asian, and people of color take longer to achieve equal pay, amplifying the adversity for women, trans and nonbinary people, people with disabilities, and those with non-white non-cis social identities and lived experiences.

The Center for Women and Business at Bentley University advocates for pay equity and prepares students and organizations to embrace intersectional gender equity. As a highly valued member of our community, we invite you to take action by participating in our upcoming events and raising awareness about pay equity.

6. Managing Up: A Framework for Workplace Success

Learning to manage workplace relationships not only makes work more productive, but improves job satisfaction and contributes to career success. Yet managing such relationships – especially with supervisors and anyone with more conferred power – is challenging and often nuanced.

The goal of this session is to help participants understand the challenges in managing important workplace relationships and provide a wide array of strategies to improve them. This engaging and interactive session helps attendees: understand organizational hierarchies; assess managers’ styles and learn how to adapt to them; conduct a self-assessment; provide and receive feedback; negotiate workplace boundaries; and leverage actionable communication strategies and frameworks.

7. How to Influence at Work: Effective Communication & Conflict Styles

Progressive organizations equip employees with the right competencies to engage effectively with a variety of communication preferences, to engage in productive disagreement, and to work collaboratively. This skill is crucial in the trajectory from individual contributor to manager to C-suite position. The goal of this session is for participants to understand conflict, learn more about effective communication, and identify how to adapt to a variety of styles. Through candid discussion and insightful exercises, the program focuses on effective conflict/communication strategies that enhance team effectiveness, innovation, and workplace culture. Strategies include; listening; working with varied communication preferences; practicing critical communication skills; and learning how to effectively navigate and leverage varying conflict management approaches.

8. Coaching and Feedback for Positive Workplaces

As managers and organizations contend with the impacts of the Great Resignation, it is vital to retain and engage employees through feedback and coaching conversations. Business leaders have always been challenged to inspire, motivate and develop their teams. Employees at all levels crave developmental feedback and are often motivated by actionable and timely feedback. In this highly interactive session, participants will work with a Bentley faculty to develop coaching and feedback competencies proven to cultivate behavioral change.

ii) Taking Charge – Women’s Executive Leadership Program (Spring 2022)

Taking Charge is a 7– day intensive leadership experience for mid–to–senior level female managers looking to gain the executive presence and capabilities necessary to lead at the executive level. This dynamic program focuses on critical knowledge and skills that empower effective, impactful leaders. This includes gaining insight into individual leadership strengths and developmental opportunities via a 360° leadership assessment, understanding the unique challenges of women in leadership and strategies for advancement, strengthening communications skills for improved effectiveness with internal and external constituents, building knowledge on strategic leadership and change management, executive coaching focused on engaging and leading teams, learning to build a business network for the long term.
Implementing strategies that attract candidates with different intersectional identities is critical in ensuring the sustainable diversification of a company’s workforce. Organizations striving to become inclusive must adopt recruiting and hiring practices that reflect their value of diversity and commitment to inclusion and equity. Participants in this session will work together to address challenges and solutions to hiring and retention issues. What are the best processes to emphasize? What are the advantages and pitfalls of recruiting using Artificial Intelligence tools? How can you rally your employees to be your best recruiters? Please join us for this session to discuss recruiting and retaining diverse, successful employees. Veronica Barber, Lecturer at Bentley University, will provide an overview of current research and lead the group in facilitated discussion. Participants will receive a resource list and an executive summary in advance, and a summary of key takeaways and strategies will be shared following the event.

Token or Trendsetter? Reframing How We See Our Power at the Table

Token or trendsetter? This is a question that many woman leaders - especially BIPOC women who hold complex intersectional identities have to contend with. In partnership with Women Accelerators, a nonprofit dedicated to providing a centralized network and community where career-focused women can access resources tailored to their career goals, join us to explore and learn how to navigate opportunities when you reach a never-before-achieved leadership position in your company. Yaro Fong-Olivares, Executive Director for The Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, will begin with an overview of the research behind being “the only” and provide tools to shift power dynamics in the workplace by reframing how you see yourself.

Bentley University’s Diversity & Inclusion Champion Certificate equips business executives with the training and tools to create and nurture an inclusive organizational culture. Participants in the program move from individual self-reflection and learning, to team-level diagnosis and interventions, and finally to organizational and system-level change planning.

More information can be found here: https://www.bentley.edu/centers/executive-education/diversity-inclusion-champion-certificate?utm_campaign=execed&utm_source=google-search&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=diversity&utm_term=eta&gclid=Cj0KCQjwka_1BRCPARIsAMlUmEqfgFGFx9miyWJEYHMhyXdV7OMD-vNqy35dQKHjeXoFEYJp0RpdlWAaAplGEALw_wcB

This information was gathered for FY2022 from the Center for Women in Business and the Executive Education departments.

The courses included as sustainability courses have been counted due to each addressing a sustainability challenge as outlined by the UN Development goals.

We do not have any continuing education regular credits. Therefore the majority of our continuing education courses are offered related to gender issues and thus qualify for this credit.