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Enhancing Inclusive Leadership at Global Health Vision (GHV) Through Manager Learning Labs
Executive Summary
Global Health Vision (GHV) partnered with our firm to align its internal culture with its external leadership objectives, aiming to foster inclusive leadership and amplify its global health impact. Through a bespoke Manager Learning Lab Program and group coaching, GHV equipped its leaders with skills to drive equity, psychological safety, and a growth-oriented culture. This case study outlines the journey, outcomes, and lessons learned.
Background
GHV’s mission to create a healthier planet hinges on equitable and inclusive global health solutions. Recognizing that internal practices must mirror external goals, GHV prioritized developing managers as inclusive leaders. Key challenges included bridging skill gaps in coaching, communication, and conflict resolution, while fostering connection in a virtual environment and embedding a culture of continuous learning.
Challenge
GHV faced three core challenges:
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Skill Gaps: Managers lacked tools to lead inclusively, coach across differences, and resolve conflicts.
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Disconnection: Remote work weakened team bonds, hindering collaboration.
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Cultural Shifts: Needed a shift toward psychological safety, feedback, and adaptability.
Insights from GHV Team Analysis:
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Priority skills included leadership (communication, coaching, trust-building) and role-specific expertise.
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Managers sought frameworks to understand employee motivations and scaffold growth.
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A culture of learning required modeling growth mindset behaviors.
Challenge
A hybrid program blending interactive learning with practical application:
1. Manager Learning Labs
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Structure: Four 2-hour sessions (virtual/in-person), capped at 20-30 participants.
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Content:
- Inclusive Leadership Foundations: Core beliefs, leadership frameworks, and managing across differences.
- Communication & Coaching: Motivating teams, delivering feedback, and conflict resolution.
- Psychological Safety: Creating environments for difficult conversations.
- On-the-Job Learning: Identifying growth opportunities for direct reports.
2. Group Coaching Sessions
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Four sessions to practice skills, troubleshoot challenges, and reinforce learning.
3. Customization & Evaluation
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Learning Design Sprint: Mapped GHV’s needs to existing modules, adding scenarios from GHV’s context.
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Metrics: Pre/post-assessments, leadership integration tracking (retention, promotion rates).
Implementation
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Phased Rollout: Quarterly sessions with 1–2 facilitators, ensuring manageable pacing.
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Virtual Engagement: Leveraged breakout rooms and interactive tools to build connections.
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Capstone Project: Managers applied skills to real-world challenges (e.g., improving feedback loops).
Results
Quantitative Outcomes:
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40% improvement in manager confidence in leading difficult conversations.
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25% increase in employee engagement scores.
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15% rise in retention rates for underrepresented groups.
Qualitative Outcomes:
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Stronger cross-team collaboration and psychological safety.
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Managers reported better alignment of employee goals with organizational leadership objectives.
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A visible shift toward a growth mindset, with peer-led learning initiatives emerging.
Lessons Learned
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Customization is Key: Tailoring scenarios to GHV’s context boosted relevance and engagement.
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Coaching Drives Sustainability: Group sessions solidified theoretical learning into habitual practices.
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Metrics Matter: Tracking leadership outcomes (e.g., retention) proved the program’s ROI.
Conclusion
GHV’s Manager Learning Lab Program exemplifies how intentional leadership development can bridge learning aspirations with operational reality. By investing in inclusive mindsets and practical skills, GHV is poised to lead more equitably in the global health arena—proving that culture change, though gradual, is achievable through trust, learning, and systemic alignment.
Impact: GHV now models the inclusive practices it advocates globally, inspiring stakeholders to embrace equity as a cornerstone of health innovation
Building a Unified DEI Ecosystem at Office Design Co.
Executive Summary
Office Design Co. partnered with Simetras, known before as Different, to reignite its Employee Resource Group (ERG) strategy amid rapid national expansion. Through a tailored leadership development program and an immersive ERG Retreat we collaborated with executives and ERG leaders to drive systemic culture change. This initiative strengthened cross-location collaboration, embedded learning principles into leadership practices, and equipped ERGs to become catalysts for organizational equity.
Background
Initiated in 2020, Office Design Co.'s ERGs emerged as a response to global calls for racial justice and inclusion. As the organization nearly doubled in size—expanding across state lines—its grassroots ERG model required alignment with enterprise-wide inclusion goals. Office Design Co. sought to foster cohesion across dispersed teams while ensuring executives could strategically champion equity.
Challenge
Three critical gaps threatened the impact of DEI efforts:
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Leadership Alignment: Executives lacked frameworks to sponsor ERGs effectively or model inclusive leadership.
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ERG Fragmentation: Geographic dispersion weakened connection and shared purpose among ERGs.
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Sustainable Strategy: ERGs needed tools to translate passion into measurable organizational change.
Key Insight:
"Culture change moves at the pace of trust."
ERG success hinged on unifying leadership commitment with member energy through human-centric design.
Challenge
A two-phase approach combining leadership development with community building:
Phase 1: Leadership Development
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DEI Starter Series: Full-day, in-person intensive for executives + ERG chairs (15–20/cohort).
Content Focus:
- Unconscious bias interrogation
- Sponsorship best practices
- Aligning ERG missions with business goals
- Creating psychologically safe feedback systems
Phase 2: ERG Summit
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Design: Co-created via workshops with ERG leaders.
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Delivery: 2-day immersive retreat featuring:
- Cross-functional collaboration labs
- Mission-refinement sessions
- Data-driven impact planning
- Trust-building activities
Core Methodology
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Human-Centric: Started with self-reflection to explore identity’s role in leadership.
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Data-Driven: Research-backed frameworks tied to Office Design Co.'s values.
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Action-Oriented: Custom tools for immediate application (e.g., conflict resolution guides).
Implementation
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Cohort Design: Mixed groups of executives + ERG chairs to bridge hierarchy gaps.
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Summit Engagement: Interactive workshops replaced lectures, with 78% of activities focusing on dialogue.
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Scalability: Virtual follow-ups maintained momentum across offices.
Results
Quantitative Impact:
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92% of executives adopted ERG sponsorship action plans within 30 days.
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ERG membership grew 40% post-summit.
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Cross-location ERG collaborations increased 3x.
Qualitative Shifts:
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Leadership: Executives proactively advocated for ERG-led policy changes.
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ERG Effectiveness: Unified missions aligned with revenue goals (e.g., ERG-informed client diversity targets).
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Culture: Employees reported 35% higher psychological safety in feedback channels.
Participant Feedback:
"They pushed back on statements in ways that made us challenge our thinking while keeping us engaged. I walked away wanting to do more."
"The summit ignited energy I hadn’t felt since our ERGs launched. We’re now a unified force."
Lessons Learned
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Cross-Level Integration Is Key: Pairing executives with ERG chairs dismantled silos faster than top-down training.
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Co-Creation Drives Buy-In: Letting ERGs design their summit agenda fueled ownership.
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Action Tools Anchor Change: Frameworks like the "Conflict-to-Connection" guide saw 86% adoption.
Conclusion
Office Design Co.'s transformation proves that intentional structure turns ERGs from well-meaning groups into strategic assets. By investing in leadership capability and ERG agency simultaneously, Office Design Co. now models how scalable growth and deep inclusion reinforce each other.
Simetras’ Impact: We turned expansion from a DEI liability into a catalyst for equity—equipping Office Design Co. to build bridges, not borders.