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Eskalera Guiding Questions for Managers

Below are guiding questions and follow on materials that you can talk about with your teams to further their understanding of the Eskalera journey:

Identity and Diversity Matter

Understanding Diversity

Additional Engagement Opportunities for Team Members:

Manager Questions for 1:1 and Team Meetings:

  • During the module what were your initial thoughts when listing your identities?
  • Are there invisible identities that you listed, but rarely share with your colleagues? Is there a reason why you choose not to share those identities?

Understanding Diversity/Our Identity in the World

Additional Engagement Opportunities for Team Members:

  • America Ferrera describes her relationship to identity and stereotypes (14:02)

Manager Questions for 1:1 and Team Meetings:

  • Self-disclosing information about identity can be uncomfortable and vulnerable for many. How did you feel during this exercise?
  • Is there an aspect of your identity that people often make incorrect assumptions about?
  • Have you had conversations with colleagues about what you’re learning in Eskalera? How did those conversations go?

Our Identity in the World/Your Lens on Diversity

Additional Engagement Opportunities for Team Members:

Manager Questions for 1:1 and Team Meetings:

  • What did you notice -- for/within yourself -- while doing the “what you see versus what you know” activity?

  • Judging others is a natural instinct. This exercise is about suspending thoughts and actively listening. What did you learn about yourself/others during this exercise? 

Impact of Exclusion

Otherness

Additional Engagement Opportunities for Team Members:

Manager Questions for 1:1 and Team Meetings:

  • How did you feel when reflecting on the term “othering”?In what ways do you see “othering” taking place within your life?
  • “Panning” is to make observations about group dynamics without assumptions or judgements, what did you find hard about “panning” when observing a group?
  • Now that you are familiar with the term “panning” in what ways did your observations change when entering into a group dynamic?

Otherness and Covering

Additional Engagement Opportunities for Team Members:

Manager Questions for 1:1 and Team Meetings:

  • How have you felt in the past when you had to hide a difference?
  • In what ways can you create an inclusive setting to allow differences to be shared?
  • How have you felt in the past when you have taken a risk (opened up and shared your opinion)?
  • Looking at the colleagues you work with on a daily basis, how much do people share about their personal lives? Is it an expectation that you share?

Covering and Ingroup/Outgroup

Additional Engagement Opportunities for Team Members:

Manager Questions for 1:1 and Team Meetings:

  • How does talking about “unwritten rules” make you feel?
  • Reflect on a time when there was an unwritten rule that impacted you, in that moment how did you feel? Did you follow up with anyone?
  • How did you feel when determining who was in your “ingroup” and who was in your “outgroup”?
  • Reflect on what makes you feel more comfortable with folks that may be in your ingroup? Likewise, what makes you feel uncomfortable with those in your outgroup?
  • In what ways has your level of comfort changed when reflecting on “ingroup” versus “outgroup”?
  • In what ways will you alter your approach when working within a group setting (after understanding ingroup and outgroup)?