Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are frameworks of inclusion and belonging within an organization. The goal is to promote full participation and equal treatment of all employees, especially those historically discriminated against. While DEI is a common phrase for corporations, nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations also need strong policies to harness the innovative, productive benefits of diversity. For organizations working in human rights, strong DEI frameworks go hand-in-hand with respecting everyone’s rights in the workplace and beyond. Leaders play a vital role in setting the tone for the workplace, managing tensions, and harnessing the power of diverse terms. This requires skills like emotional regulation, an understanding of power dynamics, excellent communication, cross-cultural management and much more. In this article, we’ll describe nine online courses that help NGO professionals lead diverse teams.
Table of Contents
#1. Leading Diverse Teams & Organizations (University of Michigan)
#2. Leading Diverse Teams (University of California, Irvine)
#3. Leading Culturally Diverse Teams in the Workplace (Deakin University)
#4. Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace (ESSEC Business School)
#5. Creating Psychological Safety for Diverse Teams (Big Think)
#6. Optimizing Diversity on Teams (University of Pennsylvania)
#7. Gender and Sexuality: Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace (University of Pittsburgh)
#8. Organizational Leadership in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Rice University)
#9. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the Workplace (StellenboschX)
#1. Leading Diverse Teams & Organizations (University of Michigan)
Diverse teams are proven to be more innovative and productive, but only when equity and inclusion are also present. Leaders play a huge role in a team’s success. They must understand how to design and lead diverse, equitable and inclusive teams and organizations. This beginner’s course, which has four modules, is designed for learners from various backgrounds and starting knowledge points. Professor of Management and Organizations Lindred Greer serves as the instructor for this course.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Describe the benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion within organizations
- Identify your privilege, implicit bias and microaggressions in your organization
- Incorporate considerations (such as conflict management skills and emotional regulation) into leadership
- Develop tools on how to apply DEI strategies, such as the role of data and metrics
How you will learn
“Leading Diverse Teams & Organizations” is divided into four modules. The whole course can be completed in 3-4 weeks with 7 hours of work per week. The schedule is flexible, so you can take longer to finish the course if necessary. Coursework includes readings, discussion prompts, app items and videos. There’s a final 5-minute quiz worth 100% of your grade. There’s also a final assignment, but it’s ungraded. If you want the certificate, the fee is $49, but you can access all course materials on the free audit track.
#2. Leading Diverse Teams (University of California, Irvine)
Leaders in charge of diverse teams need a strong set of skills and competencies. This beginner-level course presents frameworks, principles and practices on how participants can use their cross-cultural business experiences across different regions, countries, organizations and teams. Camille Funk, who is the director of Instructional Design and Learning Innovation, teaches the course.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Develop a working knowledge of the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) framework, including the four CQ capabilities and how they apply in the workplace
- Analyze how implicit bias affects organizations and decision-making processes
- Describe the strategies, practices and policies employees, teams, leaders and organizations can use to reduce the negative outcomes of implicit bias
- Create an action plan on the most important CQ capabilities for your organization
How you’ll learn
This course is divided into four modules, three of which take around an hour to complete. The third takes about two hours. When you spend around two hours on the course each week, you can finish it in just three weeks. The course is self-paced, and if you choose to get the certificate, the fee is $49. If you select the free audit track, you still have access to all course material. Coursework consists of readings, discussion prompts, and four quizzes, each of which is worth 25% of your final grade. To pass, you must earn at least 80%.
DEI’s main goal is to foster equality and equity in the workplace. Here are examples of what that looks like.
#3. Leading Culturally Diverse Teams in the Workplace (Deakin University)
Culturally diverse teams require cross-cultural management skills. In this course, participants will develop global perspectives on the impact of cultural diversity, its benefits and its challenges. They’ll also learn how to lead and communicate with culturally diverse teams. Dr. Puva P. Arumugam and Dr. Sneha Chrispial are the instructors.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Describe cultures and their many dimensions
- Describe the MBI Model
- Identify diversity within your teams and what opportunities and challenges are present
- Explore cultural diversity, its benefits, and how to enhance the team’s decision-making capabilities
How you’ll learn
This course, which is for intermediate-level participants, takes two weeks to complete with three hours of work per week. You can buy this course for $129 or subscribe to the FutureLearn platform. If you choose to buy the course on its own, you get access to both a printed and digital certificate. The free audit track gives you access for about two weeks, but you won’t have access to graded materials. Coursework includes videos, readings, polls and discussions.
#4. Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace (ESSEC Business School)
Diversity can be a double-edged sword. There are many benefits, but unique challenges often present themselves, as well. This course helps participants understand the paradox of diversity and how to manage it. Dr. Junko Takagi is the course instructor.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Describe diversity concepts and issues and how they’re relevant in the workplace
- Analyze your reactions in the context of social categorization impact and diverse social settings
- Apply a cognitive method for mobilizing diversity to a diversity case
- Identify diversity and inclusion best practices
How you’ll learn
“Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace” is a beginner’s course, so no prerequisites are required. There are four modules, and with three hours of work per week, you can complete the course in about three weeks. Coursework includes videos, readings, discussion prompts, peer-reviewed assignments and quizzes. It’s unclear what grade you need on the peer reviews to pass, but for quizzes, you need to score 75% or higher. If you want to complete these graded assignments and earn a certificate, you’ll need to pay a $79 fee for the course. Auditing the course for free gives you access to all materials except graded assignments.
Interested in workplace activities that can help foster equity and inclusion? Check out our article on 13 diversity activities.
#5. Creating Psychological Safety for Diverse Teams (Big Think)
The modern workforce is very diverse, so psychological safety is vital. What is psychological safety? It occurs when team members feel comfortable and safe, so they can take risks and generate more innovative outcomes. This course, which is produced by Big Think, offers insights from leaders from organizations like the New York Times, the NBA and more. Charles Duhigg, Gretchen Rubin, Shane Battier, Jane Hyun, and Fred Hassan have videos in the course.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Describe what psychological safety is and why it matters
- Identify key concepts like inclusive team leadership and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB)
- Explore how to get out of your comfort zone
- Describe how to manage across cultures
How you’ll learn
This intermediate course takes just 22 minutes and 19 seconds to complete. It consists of five videos. There doesn’t appear to be additional coursework. When taken on LinkedIn, you’ll need to sign up for their learning platform, which does offer a free trial month. Organizations can also purchase the course for their teams. You’ll get access to a project file and a certificate of completion.
#6. Optimizing Diversity on Teams(University of Pennsylvania)
Through social science perspectives, this course introduces participants to diversity and how it can improve team performance, creativity and innovation. You’ll also learn how to manage common challenges such as conflict, bias and discrimination. Dr. Aviva Legatt and Dr. Derek Newberry lead the course, which is part of the Culture-Driven Team Building Specialization.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Apply strategies to develop diversity initiatives
- Describe basic concepts of difference, bias and conflict
- Identify the reasons why conflicts occur in diverse workplaces
- Analyze real-world cases of companies creating inclusive workplaces
How you’ll learn
This beginner’s course is divided into four modules, so with about three hours of work per week, you can finish the course in four weeks. The course is self-paced. Coursework includes videos, readings, quizzes, peer-reviewed assignments and discussion prompts. To earn a certificate for the course, you have to sign up for Coursera’s premium option. You get a 7-day free trial, after which you need to pay $79 a month to continue accessing the course and earning your certificate. With the fee, you also get unlimited access to all the courses in the Specialization. You can also audit the course for free, although you won’t get access to the graded materials.
#7. Gender and Sexuality: Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace (University of Pittsburgh)
This course introduces participants to the gender, sexuality and women’s studies field, which is essential to understanding diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The course uses many interdisciplinary concepts, tools and methods that will be useful to any profession. Julie Beaulieu and Susan Marine are the instructors for this course.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Describe key terms around gender and sexuality and why they’re significant in a social and political context
- Explore the history of gender theories from the 1970s to the present
- Analyze the history of sexuality and sexual identity discrimination and how it plays out in the workplace
- Examine discrimination and oppression against transgender people in a workplace context
How you’ll learn
This self-paced beginner’s course takes about three weeks to complete when you spend five hours studying each week. There are four modules consisting of coursework like readings, videos, discussion prompts, peer-reviewed assignments and quizzes. To pass a quiz, you’ll need to score at least 80% or higher. To earn a certificate, you’ll need to pay $49, but you can audit the course for free.
DEI consultants can be a very helpful resource for organizations. Here’s our article on what DEI consultants do.
#8. Organizational Leadership in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Rice University)
This four-course specialization introduces participants to concepts and strategies that improve DEI across organizational planning, programming, training and assessment. By the course’s end, you’ll be equipped with tools, best practices and strategies that help you build successful DEI efforts. Richard Anthony Baker, the executive director for Institutional Equity, AA/EEO and University Title XI Coordinator, teaches the course.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Describe major terms relevant to diversity, equity and inclusion
- Identify the differences between forms of discriminatory thinking and behavior
- Explore recruitment strategies, what a successful DEI statement looks like, and how to assess effectiveness
- Analyze the benefits of benchmarking DEI efforts internally and against other institutions
How you’ll learn
With six hours of work per week, you can complete the four courses in one month. All courses in this specialization use a blend of videos, readings, discussion prompts, peer-reviewed assignments and graded quizzes. Because this is a specialization, you need to sign up for Coursera to get unlimited access and a certificate. You can also audit the courses for free, although you won’t get access to the graded assignments or feedback.
#9. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the Workplace (StellenboschX)
Diversity, equity and inclusion is very important to the long-term success of organizations. Professionals wanting to apply DEI in their workplace will benefit from this course. Participants will develop a comprehensive understanding of DEI, its importance in the workplace, how to develop an action plan and much more. Menanteau Beukes, a lecturer in the Department of Industrial Psychology, teaches the course.
What you’ll learn (excerpt)
- Define key concepts about diversity, equity, bias, discrimination and inclusion
- Analyze DEI’s importance and how it affects business
- Develop key tools and methods regarding DEI targets, goals and policies
- Describe how technology and the digital age affect DEI
How you’ll learn
This is an intermediate course, but no specific prerequisites are required. With 5-8 hours of work per week, you can complete the course in just two weeks, but the course is self-paced. Coursework includes readings, discussion forums and activities. For a $149 fee, you can get full access to the course and a verified certificate at the end. The free audit track gives you limited access (around two weeks), but you won’t receive feedback on any graded assignments.
Want to learn more about creating a more inclusive workplace? Here’s our article on seven ways to start the process.
