• ⏰ Time: 9AM – 11AM PT, 10AM – 12PM MT, 11AM – 1PM CT, 12PM – 2PM ET
• 🎯 Title: NWDLS Workshop #2: Working with Polarizing Tensions: Practicing Inclusion with Compassion and Care
• ✍️ Register: https://i4sdi.org/registration-2026/
• 📅 Date: May 14, 2026
• 🎤 Presenter: Bernardo Ferdman
• 📚 Series: Navigating Workplace Uncertainties: Let’s Recommit to Practicing Inclusion to Foster Safety, Belonging & Healthy Relationships

Polarizing tensions in our society don’t stop at the door of your workplace. Indeed, they just walk in the door and can make inclusion difficult.

“Inclusion work has always involved navigating tension,” says presenter, Bernardo Ferdman. “What is different now is that those tensions are more visible, more contested, and more consequential.”

So this raises two challenging questions:

• How do you lead with compassion, care and accountability when differences feel polarized or personal?
• What small, everyday actions make people feel they belong, or quietly push them away?

Save Your Spot: Join in this critically important learning opportunity with Bernardo Ferdman, editor of Diversity at Work: The Practice of Inclusion (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2014), and author of the recent blog post, “Staying the Course: Navigating the Tensions of Inclusion in a Time of Pushback” (The Inclusion Solution Blog, April 2, 2026).

Our presenter, Bernardo Ferdman is widely recognized for his work on inclusive leadership and for framing inclusion as a practice, because he is the one that conceived of it that way. A “practice” is something that you continually do and improve. It must be developed in every situation and practiced every day. And no one can just say you’re “included.” Each individual is the one who determines whether they are included. Each individual is the one who points to the behaviors, the structure & policies, and the communications in the context that makes them feel included, or not.

You’ll discover what it takes to practice inclusion with intention, skill, and care when it matters most. You’ll learn how to practice inclusion in real time, especially when conversations feel difficult or charged. You will learn not only practical ways to navigate tension, but how to strengthen connection and trust. And in the process, you’ll have ample opportunities to dialogue with your fellow participants about how to do this!

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, you will:

• Recognize and name key tensions that arise in polarized conversations
• Use simple practices to stay engaged with others across differences
• Learn how to respond with compassion and care while addressing difficult issues directly
• Apply an inclusion lens at multiple levels, from individual interactions to group dynamics
• Take specific actions to foster more inclusive and constructive dialogue in your workplace

Reserve your spot and join us in this important conversation.

Register Here

We can’t wait to see you at the next workshop.
Until then, please share this post with anyone you think would be interested.

The post NWDLS Workshop #2: Working with Polarizing Tensions: Practicing Inclusion with Compassion and Care | May 14, 2026 appeared first on Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion.

We are so excited to reach out to you as we launch the 2026 NW Diversity Learning Series!

We begin 2026 with a lot of uncertainty, and it seeps into the workplace. In fact, that is the theme of the entire 2026 Series, Navigating Workplace Uncertainties: Let’s Recommit To Practicing Inclusion To Foster Safety, Belonging & Healthy Relationships.

We believe this is a noble goal, we all want to feel safe, to belong, and to have healthy relationships at work. At the same time, people have different viewpoints, different values. So what can we do?

In this climate, we believe it is much more productive to work collectively and co-create than to work alone. So in this first workshop, we will work together to lay the foundation of dialogue, as that is the methodology we’ll use to address all of our 5 workshop topics. This first workshop will focus on, Navigating Conflicting Mindsets: Engaging Skillfully in Dialogue Across Divides.

We ask you, as participants, to help us co-create a dialogue space to explore answers to difficult and complex issues we face, as a society and as organizations. (This is also a chance to practice inclusion together!)

When conversations at work (or elsewhere) become tense, polarized or emotionally charged, how do you engage constructively? Do you lean in or do you silently avoid the conversation?

How do you help someone feel heard when their views differ sharply from yours? What are the best strategies for connecting with people, and potentially persuading them?

Presenter for this workshop, Dr. David Campt, has coached and advised thousands of people about how to build on findings from the arts of dialogue, persuasion and conflict resolution.

“Many of my clients tell me that the methods I teach often help them make remarkable progress when talking to people they have longstanding disagreements with.”

Come and join in a dialogue experience. Become more confident and more skillful in creating dialogue opportunities in your life!

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Shift from a focus on immediate persuasion to the interpersonal connection that is the necessary precursor to greater influence.
• Move the conversation from facts to the experiences and/or the values that influence each person’s perspective.
• Improve the ability to recognize and articulate the key trade-offs in values behind most deep disagreements.
• Learn ways to strategically use stories of one’s own mistakes to change a conversation from a confrontation to one where both of you are re-examining your point of view.

We invite you to join the 2026 Series, as a Sponsor, as a Subscriber, or as a single workshop purchaser. We remind you that we offer non-profit and other sliding scale registration fees.

You can sign-up here as a Subscriber, or you can register as a single-seat purchaser.

✏️ Register Here

Accessibility: American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, by certified interpreters, is available upon request. If you need an accommodation, contact Abi Depositar, isdi.admin@i4sdi.org.

Requests MUST be made at least TWO weeks prior to the session.

Barbara Deane
barbara.deane@i4sdi.org 📧️
Co-Director

Effenus Henderson
effenus.henderson@i4sdi.org 📧️
Co-Director

Abi Depositar
isdi.admin@i4sdi.org 📧️
Project Manager

https://i4sdi.org/ 🌐
+1 (206) 362-0336 📱️

We can’t wait to see you at the next workshop.
Until then, please share this post with anyone you think would be interested.

The post ISDI: Next NWDLS Workshop: Navigating Conflicting Mindsets: Engaging Skillfully in Dialogue Across Divides: March 11, 2026: Register Now appeared first on Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion.