TAG® Blog

Bias (whether conscious or unconscious) can impact teams and with workplace as a whole. What can you do to combat it in your organization?

The impact of the current pandemic has been felt by just about every business around the world. Organizations are navigating a broad range of issues that span from keeping their employees and customer safe to re-configuring business operations and getting things to a 'new' normal

Sollah is content rich and format agnostic. For self- directed learning, we design for all training platforms and help you aim your message and fulfill your learning goals by taking into account your ultimate objectives, specific requirements and the needs of your audience and facilitators. For workshops and classroom needs, we provide full instructional design services, train-the-trainer sessions, training delivery and implementation support.

On teams, it is important to be willing to invest time into the lives of other team members. We do this by learning about what they need and what obstacles they face and by then offering our assistance.

When working on diverse teams, sometimes you have to create your own opportunities by putting forth new ideas, proposing collaborations, and building networks that will help accomplish your goals.

In an effort to educate employees about ethical business practices and regulatory compliance within the organization, many organizations are developing ethics and compliance programs. These programs encourage ethical behavior and compliance with regulatory requirements.

So, now you’re working from home. Awesome! Right? Working from home is great on so many levels. Not having to commute saves money and time. You can avoid the fish and popcorn smells emanating from the break room. And new technology tools make it simple to check in with office teammates.

Our fears limit us. They hold us back. They keep us from living a positive, proactive life that embraces the good and decries that which needs to be changed. Fear-based decisions hurt us, and they hurt others who are affected by our decisions. The child who is never allowed to make decisions because we fear she’ll make the wrong decisions finally rebels and turns into the teenager from the black lagoon.

Little kids run everywhere they go. Ever notice that? They don’t just move in a dignified way from room to room like we do. You get the impression that they’re afraid they’ll miss something exciting if they don’t approach life at warp speed. And they can be brought to a screeching halt by a colony of ants or a pile a leaves. If you catch us running, it’s because we’re late for a meeting.

During these stressful times, Sollah Interactive is here to help. Whether it’s walking through training needs or simply for an ear to listen… we are here. We are open. We are present. We are prepared to help.

When we feel that we have no control, many (ok most) people get frustrated, fearful and stressed. None of this helps to improve our interactions with others who inhabit this planet with us. But, we can all make a difference – large or small – to ourselves and others as we move through this challenging time.

When working on teams, it is important not to look at limitations but instead at the potential contribution that each person can make – regardless of what kind of package that contribution comes in. This will allow you to maximize the skills and abilities of all team members. Action Step: The next time you interact with someone, ask yourself, what potential contributions do I see this person?

The individual brilliance of an employee is not always realized until a group comes together to collaborate. Working with other employees on diverse teams helps each team member to tap into their creativity, often producing ground breaking products and services that could only be discovered through collaboration.

In order to reduce harassment claims in your organization, employers should establish, distribute to all employees, and enforce a policy that prohibits inappropriate behavior (including harassment), and communicates a procedure for making complaints.

Be patient when working on diverse teams so that together you are able to accept challenges and to grow from them.

Having a diversity program in place within an organization is fantastic! But having a well-planned and result-driven diversity and inclusion program that is getting results is never implemented without careful planning. Here are some common mistakes we've seen organizations make in the name of 'diversity.'

A single drop of water splashing against a rock may not seem to have an erosive impact. However, there is power in water drops, for over time water has the strength to wear down stone.

If you’re like most managers, your greatest need is for a system of interviewing that doesn’t force you to rely on a gut feeling or your intuition. You want a system that enables you to gather the right information and use it to make informed hiring decisions. You want a system that has built-in predictability, so you know that the person you hire will be successful on the job.

Seriously... what's all this talk about inclusion? Leveraging the power of diversity is all about embracing inclusion!

Interviewing can really suck! Having a hard time getting it right? Behavior-Based Interviewing works when it comes to hiring for a good fit.

Jumping out of an airplane might seem insane to some people, while to others it is an exhilarating and often repeated experience. What makes one person deeply afraid may not be at all scary to another person.

A documentary about life in the sea will provide knowledge about ocean life. However, that knowledge is enhanced when it is combined with the experience of scuba diving. The combined knowledge and experience deepens your understanding of the sea exponentially.

During the Revolutionary War, lobster was considered such inferior food that it was used to feed the British prisoners, and even they revolted against it. With the advent of railroads, trains brought lobster to the Midwesterners, who had no cultural bias, and found it to be a delicacy.

Documenting Discipline™ our newest Classic course has just been released. Lack of solid documentation is the single most common mistake employers make when handling discipline or terminations. What if you need to justify an employment decision or termination long after it occurs?

Crisp, clear, high definition video is great for home... and even better for training. Sollah Interactive has been releasing new content in high definition video and now it's being added to TAG®!

Based on the best-selling interviewing program of all time. More Than a Gut Feeling™: Leveraging the Power of Behavior-Based Interviewing eLearning Program Has Been Released! This interactive course will empower and increase understanding that the single best predictor of future job performance is past job behavior.

When a rubber band is stretched taut it has potential energy. This potential energy is only important if the rubber band is released and the band moves towards a target. A diverse team can also have incredible intrinsic potential. However, if team members do not feel comfortable contributing their unique ideas, they will not release their great potential energy towards the target of innovation.

Sollah Interactive, a premiere training content producer and curator has announced today the acquisition of Media Learning International’s content library.

Even with the most common of words, understanding the context in which that word is used is critical to understanding the significance behind what is being said, whether communicating across the world or across the hall.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) is considered to be the compliment to traditional IQ (Intelligence Quotient). EI has been offered as the missing link which explains why people with average IQ outperformed those with the highest IQ 70% of the time.

The majority of the time, a male peacock looks ordinary and small. However, when given an opportunity to showcase himself, he becomes a world-renown beauty.

The energy of a “match on the pitch” comes from a group of people sharing in their common passion. Being in the midst of your passion is an energizing experience.

With effective instructions, open communication, and management support, employees are able to unlock and cultivate their natural talents and interests into skills that add to the strength of their team.

It's always great having a resource to help understand tough workplace issues - like harassment and discrimination. The EEOC has published their matrix for noticing the risk factors for workplace harassment and discrimination. We've added a column - called Sollah Solutions - that helps our customers find the best resources to combat those risks.

Diverse teams with members from different backgrounds will offer an even greater variety of expertise and personalities. While it may take an increased amount of respect and awareness to work in concert, the team has a greater potential for victory.

Having preconceived notions about other people is like assuming that you know all of the ingredients of an item of food just by looking at it.

On a calm, sunny day a lighthouse keeper’s job may seem unnecessary and unimportant compared to that of a ship’s captain. In the midst of a stormy night, however, the captain relies upon the crucial guidance of the lighthouse keeper to safely navigate the ship.

Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, space, symbols and spiritual concepts, and material objects and possessions acquired and passed along by communication and imitation from generation to generation.

Sollah Interactive is all about helping your organization achieve results by developing the greatest asset an organization has—its people. The bottom line for any individual in any organization is to deliver results. There are two components to delivering results: what you do and how you do it.

It's around the holidays that we typically wax nostalgic. We remember friends, family, co-workers, pets... you name it. The holidays tend to give us a chance to pause and reflect.

Get beyond your conscious or unconscious bias. Be willing to explore different points of view and in doing so, broaden your own.

On September 30, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a series of bills addressing workplace sexual harassment. This sweeping set of bills expand legal protections to victims of workplace harassment and expanding legal liability for those found to have engaged in such conduct.

Bias may be used to describe both positive and negative mindsets towards individuals and groups. Many references to bias refer to the persistent, harmful and unequal treatment of someone based solely on some characteristic they possess or their apparent membership in or identification with a particular group.

Most of us are familiar with sexual harassment in the workplace, but when it comes to harassment and discrimination, it’s not just about sex anymore. And it never was, quite frankly. In reality, laws prohibiting discrimination and harassment in the workplace go far beyond just sexual harassment.

There is a distinct and measurable advantage to fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Here are a few of the most significant advantages to a diverse and inclusive organization.

When learning about or dealing with key workplace issues, it’s helpful to have a tool that quickly empowers coworkers and leaders to tackle tough situations. Sollah's Discussion Cards provide talking points that are easy to use as well as tips for others to follow.

For all of our Federal Government clients and customers, Sollah Interactive is registered with SAM.

Sollah Interactive is all about helping your organization achieve results by developing the greatest asset an organization has—its people. The bottom line for any individual in any organization is to deliver results. There are two components to delivering results: what you do and how you do it.

How can your organization prevent sexual harassment? Besides being fully informed - and professionally sensitive to the policies regarding sexual harassment - the best thing we can do is understand the deep consequences of harassing behavior - to the target of the harassment, coworkers and the organization.

Rock climbers put their lives in each other’s hands. They do this because they have a deep trust and respect for their climbing partner’s skills and reliability. Developing trust in a climbing partner takes time, as each person must learn the other’s communication style, abilities, and climbing strategies.

Sollah has released TAG® - a unique, comprehensive and curated cloud-based content library with over 5,300 ready-to-use training assets. TAG® users can put our content to work today by choosing from nearly 90 training topics. And to keep our resources in step with our changing world, our menu is ever-growing — with new assets added each week.

Sollah Interactive makes a wide range of training materials available to help today’s corporate world as it blends an ever-increasing role for technology with its ongoing sense of humanity. Soft skills can take a variety of forms, including things like problem-solving, critical-thinking, common sense, and even basic forms of human interaction.

PREVAIL! active shooter/armed intruder training program provides employees a 3-OUT model (LOCK OUT | GET OUT | TAKE OUT) that they can apply no matter where they are - whether at work or out in the public. This model helps them respond quickly, with the right choice of action, no matter their circumstances.

Approximately 13,000 sexual harassment cases are brought to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each year. 54% of U.S. women have experienced unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances from men at work. (Source: Langer Research Associates)

When the training is about EEO issues, it is important the trainer have both a depth of understanding of the legal issues and, more importantly, an appreciation of the limits of his/her own knowledge about the subjects.

As organizations focus on the implementation of diversity & inclusion programs they sometimes, mistakenly, assume that there is no longer a need for EEO or affirmative action/affirmative employment efforts. This can be a serious error as each program contributes to the organization’s success in different ways.

In order to reduce harassment claims in your organization, employers should establish, distribute to all employees, and enforce a policy that prohibits inappropriate behavior (including harassment), and communicates a procedure for making complaints.

While shifting a company’s perspective to seeing D&I as an organizational development initiative does bring about a substantial change in regard to how diversity is viewed and approached throughout the organization, this change also creates new efficiencies and business opportunities.

For an organization making the shift from diversity program to diversity Organizational Development initiative, thoughtful and strategic decisions must be made in order for that initiative to be successful and achieve business results.

From diversity training to diversity learning environment - embracing diversity from an Organizational Development approach.

Making the transition from diversity to diversity and inclusion (D&I) requires organizations to shift the way D&I is applied to business operations and understood through the organization.

If diversity training was a push in the right direction, diversity as a continuous education environment becomes a pull towards a workplace that employees want to be part of.

We are often asked about the 'formal definitions ' of the terms used in Sollah's video programs and eLearning courses. We work closely with our subject matter experts to present the terms used in our training materials as both legally correct and easy-to-understand. Here are some of the key terms and concepts we're most asked about.

Simply put, PREVAIL! is designed to change the mindset of all viewers, trainees and participants. This program instills a 'prevailing' attitude - as opposed to a 'survival' attitude. There is a difference!

The more time we spend with our own personal sources of inspiration, the more creative we will feel. The more we act upon those feelings, the more we will create. To paraphrase the ever wise and venerable Spock, “Live long, create, and prosper.”

The constant pressure to do more with less can lead to worker burnout. Burnout happens when requests for our time and energy exceed our capacity to comply.

None of the offices or conference rooms at our offices have locks on the doors. Also all of the conference rooms have a front wall of frosted glass with the lower panel being plain glass. We’re struggling with what options (if any) we have within our facilities for LOCK OUT with the design of these rooms. What should we do?

When it comes to an armed intruder/active shooter, preparedness is a key part of the equation. Preventing an armed intruder should revolve around a comprehensive strategy.

Little kids run everywhere they go. Ever notice that? They don’t just move in a dignified way from room to room like we do. You get the impression that they’re afraid they’ll miss something exciting if they don’t approach life at warp speed. And they can be brought to a screeching halt by a colony of ants or a pile a leaves. If you catch us running, it’s because we’re late for a meeting.

A fun and interesting perspective of Gen X and Gen Y employees - from the perspective of a Baby Boomer. Honest thoughts and interesting stereotypes are discussed. Will some generation-based attributes still annoy us? Sure they will. Can we work through those problems? We can if we choose to do so.

So when and how did this focus on diversity and inclusion as business issues get started in the USA? Most people point to the mid-1960’s when the civil rights movement led to the passage of the anti-discrimination laws which ultimately changed American business practices. But...

Coaching is a powerful tool. Asking the right questions is key to getting the right results. In this post, we present the top 25 questions that can jump start any coaching session.

This U.S. election cycle has been divisive like none other in recent history - and in the days since the election, that divisiveness has continued. Diversity and inclusion professionals can play an important role moving forward by helping people to reset to this new reality.

Most of us take pride in having a strong moral compass. We do our best to take the high road when presented with a moral or ethical challenge.

Damaged workplace relationships and unresolved conflicts can cause a tremendous personal and productivity toll. If you have experienced one or more conflicts that disrupt the flow of work, you’re not alone. In fact, a CPP Inc. study suggests U.S. employees spend an average of 2.1 hours each week dealing with such conflicts, at a yearly cost to employers of $359 billion.

There are common characteristics of a solid diversity initiative. Here are a few best practices that can help you get things kicked-off in the right direction.

The recent spate of violence around the world has left many employers wondering what they should do to support employees, many of whom are feeling stressed, overwhelmed and disengaged at work. We have developed a Diversity & Inclusion Integration: Bringing Social Issues into the Workplace Model which can help you to decide what steps are appropriate for your organization.

Over the past several months, episodes of violence and the media storm that followed has left many employees in our diverse workforce coming to work feeling scared, stressed and fearful. The events are bringing up many conversations about unconscious bias and being respectful.

When launching new products, a typical adoption curve has three stages: early adopters, mainstream/majority adopters and the late adopters. Diversity & Inclusion integration isn't that much different!

Understanding the ADA is an arduous task. That's why you have an HR and/or Legal Department. But there are some things a manager should know. Here is a case study about the ADA that you can use in an upcoming ADA training session.

It’s important to understand key concepts like diversity and inclusion – especially as the U.S. continues to evolve and change. The current workplace is different much different than it was a short decade ago. And the change is happening faster! Let me give you a few definitions that will help put these core concepts into perspective.

Sollah's best-selling workplace conflict program - Conflict Clock™ - captures two Telly awards.

Cultural difference should be celebrated! Here are a few tips and action steps you can immediately use in your workplace.

Understanding and embracing our diverse workplace is a powerful (and oftentimes daunting) concept. Cultural difference should be celebrated! Here are a few tips you can immediately use in your workplace.

Differences between colleagues may lead to disputes that make it impossible for them to see past their biases, resulting in a conflict or stalemate.

Like building a skyscraper, collaboration on large projects works best when you bring together a team with diverse areas of expertise. On-going and continuous collaboration among disciplines helps to ensure that your project achieves all of its goals when it is completed.

Sled dogs such as huskies and malamutes are elite competitors. These dogs perform in harsh winter conditions, love working together as a team, and can travel as far as 100 miles a day. This intense effort requires racing sled dogs to consume 10,000 calories a day.