Multicultural Diversity

Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP is an internationally recognized speaker, performance improvement consultant, and author with more than twenty five years experience in the public and private sectors. As a workforce diversity specialist, and performance improvement consultant, Lenora has developed a unique way of presenting sensitive topics in a high-energy, fun-filled, yet thought-provoking way. Her interactive style, and immediately applicable "how to’s" have caused clients to invite her back again and again. She works with Fortune 500 companies as well as several professional associations, and non-profit organizations. She also served as an adjunct professor for Arizona State University. Lenora has presented to audiences in South Africa, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, and Mexico and Canada.

Diversity in the Workplace
Today's most challenging topics require a speaker who is thought provoking, appealing, informative and compelling. Lenora Billings-Harris possesses these abilities, resulting in powerful and effective events.

Whether through keynotes, half-day workshops, or multi-day seminars, Lenora Billings-Harris’ thought provoking presentations are lively, positive, and non-judgmental. Using marbles and other fun techniques as metaphors, she will have your group discover how to:

> Create a respectful workplace that values differences
> S.T.O.P., inappropriate behavior and preserve the relationship
> Counteract stereotypical information affecting productivity
> Measure diversity success against business goals

Lenora is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her business successes as well as her civic activities. A few include being listed in International Who’s Who of Professionals, Who's Who in the West, Outstanding Young Women of America, and she has won the Outstanding Marketing Awards - Carlson Learning Company (now Inscape Publishing) eight times.

Programs

MOST POPULAR KEYNOTE
THE DIVERSITY ADVANTAGE: A WIZARD OF OZ PERSPECTIVE

Using the characters of the Wizard of Oz as a metaphor to help you understand how you can use your brain, heart and courage to make a real difference in today's multi-cultural world. This fun, yet thought-provoking message will inspire you to embrace the gifts you have and to value the gifts of others to increase your options for success. By realizing the power to make a difference is within each individual, and the first step is possible, you will discover ways to create and sustain a environment that supports high productivity while celebrating differences.

Lenora uses life-size stand ups of the characters and music from The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz to create a non-threatening learning environment. This highly interactive, program provides an opportunity for you to discover your own level of knowledge and understanding of people who are different.

PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PRESENTATIONS

Capturing Today’s Multicultural Market
Are your sales representatives losing opportunities to close sales because they are pre-judging the client or customer? Are they only prospecting and selling to people who are "just like them?" If so, this program is for them. Included are customized exercises, and the Sales Action Planner to help participants identify their own biases, and how those perceptions kill sales. This program is for people who know the basic steps of selling, and are looking for ways to increase sales results through effective relationship-building techniques with a diverse market.

From Adversaries to Allies: Gender Communication in the Workplace
This fun presentation will help you improve your communication skills with the opposite gender. You will explore ways to say what you mean in the way the other gender will understand. This insightful session will help both men and women learn how to express themselves in a way that improves results. By practicing techniques that recognize communication differences without value judging, you will discover your own hidden communication strengths.

The Leadership Advantage: Building Emotional Intelligence
In today’s multicultural workplace, effective leaders use a variety of skills to increase their organizations’ return on investment (ROI) of their human capital. By developing emotional intelligence (EI) competencies coupled with reducing unconscious biased behaviors, you will discover the ingredients needed to transform your vision of creating a highly productive, respectful, inclusive environment into reality. This presentation is tailored to your business objectives to enable you to develop a specific plan of action.

MOST POPULAR SEMINAR
THE DIVERSITY ADVANTAGE: TURNING BARRIERS INTO BRIDGES

This highly interactive, thought-provoking yet fun program provides an opportunity for participants to explore the biases of our society's "isms", such as racism, sexism, ableism, and ageism, as well as homophobia and other prejudices that impede productivity in the workplace, participants of this program will be better equipped to improve their cultural competencies to enhance performance, when they return to their organization.

This information-packed program includes the Discovering Diversity Profile®, which provides confidential individual feedback to participants, regarding their views about people who are different from themselves, enabling them to develop a specific plan of action to change behaviors.

What People Are Saying

" This approach has been very effective in helping to keep our team members focused on diversity, in the broadest sense, not just gender and race issues."
-- J. Betts
Director- Employee Relations - Domino’s Pizza

"The information provided was very practical and easy-to-implement immediately—what a pleasant change!"
-- B. Doran
Director- Human Resources - American Heart Association

"Your session...had a powerful impact on our group as evidenced by the standing ovation they gave you. You truly have a gift for presenting a sensitive topic in a manner that makes people feel comfortable and open to learning."
-- F. Lopez
Senior Vice President - Comcast Cable Communications

"Lenora Billings-Harris, is an expert in the field of diversity. This innovative approach does a great job of elevating the awareness of our employees to the changes taking place, not only in our workplace, but in "real life" as well."
-- J. Hine, Jr.
President, John Hine Chrysler-Plymouth

"Clearly the employees appreciated the content of the program as well as your character and credibility as a speaker. It was also clear from the animated interaction of the participants, as well as the way many of them lingered to speak with you after class, that you touched many our staff in a personal way."
-- P. Bailey
Vice President - WESCOM Credit Union

"Thank you once again for the great training you gave our leaders. I had a few of them approach me to comment on the training as well as your book. For me, it was truly inspirational!"
-- A. S. Villapol
Training and Development Manager - The Ritz Carlton

"Thank you for your contribution to the New Horizons program. You have had a tremendous impact upon the success of our lecture series."
-- D. Nygaard
Program Manager - Seattle Management Association

"The most frequent comments made were, ‘how soon can she return to give us more information’, ‘ the information was pertinent and informative’, ‘thank you for bringing us a truly important workshop with an excellent presenter’."
-- J. Leinenwever
Director of Human Resources - Pendergast School District #92

Partial Client List

Corporate

American Express
AT&T
ATHENA Foundation
Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Chrysler Corporation
CIGNA Corporation
Domino's Pizza
Ford Motor Coporation
General Motors
Hewlett Packard
Mitsubishi
Motorola
Nissan USA
Northwest Federal Credit Union
Publix Super Markets
The Ritz-Carlton
Texaco/Shell
Toyota
Volvo

Government

Bureau of Land Management
City of Farmington
City of Phoenix
City of Seattle
City of Tempe
City of Winston-Salem
Environmental Protection Agency
Roane County Medical Center
Social Security Administration
US Army Staff College
US Department of Agriculture
US Postal Service
Wake County Government

Educational Institutions

Arizona State University
Brookstone College
Clemson University
Cornell University
Deer Valley High School
Fort Valley State University
Greensboro Day School
Indiana University
Maine Technical College System
Pendergrast School District
Phoenix College
Primedia Workplace Learning
North Carolina A&T State University
University of North Carolina

Professional Associations

American Heart Association
American Physical Therapists Association
American Society of Military Comptrollers
Carlson Marketing Group
Case Management Society
Dallas Chamber of Commerce
Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers
International Personnel management Association
Lenawee County Chamber of Commerce
National Assoc. of Temporary Staff Services
National Assoc. of Women Business Owners
National Education Association
North Carolina Quality Leadership
Society of Human Resource Management
Wescom Credit Union