Resource Spotlight

New Diversity Tools Available: May the odds be ever in your favor

By Gina Hathorn

New versions of two well-known diversity games are now available. Originally released in 1991, the US Diversity Game, which won an award for Best New Training Product from the publication Human Resource Executive, has been updated using new data from the 2010 Census. This game can be customized for your particular company and provides thought provoking questions that will carry beyond the training room.

Also updated is the Global Diversity Game that considers the topics of demographics, jobs, legislation, and society on a global rather than national scale. Both the Global and the US Diversity games can be used as icebreakers, awareness-raising modules, and for learning development. For sample questions from both games, see below.

In addition, another global tool has just been produced by a collaboration between QED Consulting and Barbara Annis & Associates, the online Global Gender Intelligence Assessment (GGIA). The goal of this online tool is to increase productivity in mixed gender groups. Barbara Annis projects that, “this tool will raise the bar in helping the workplace become more gender inclusive. It provides gender intelligent strategies for improving effectiveness in key aspects of work… and life.”

In support of this new global gender tool, Dr. Alan Richter of QED Consulting adds that, “the tool will significantly help mixed gender teams work better together. It can be used across all levels and is suitable for use in the for-profit, non-profit, government and academic worlds. Furthermore, the GGIA is signed for global use, across all cultures.”

With the increased connectivity and globalization of our world, tools like those updated by QED Consulting and Barbara Annis & Associates are essential for the workplace. All the tools aim at promoting awareness, inclusion, conversation and productivity. For further information visit http://qedconsulting.com/ and http://www.baainc.com/.

Sample questions from QED Consulting Global and U.S. Diversity Games:

1. Agriculture was the source of 32% of global employment in 2010. Which region had the largest share of its workforce in agriculture?
1. South Asia
2. Latin America and the Caribbean
3. Sub-Saharan Africa
   ANSWER: C. Sub-Saharan Africa, where about 6 out of 10 people worked in agriculture. In South Asia it was between 4 and 5 out of 10, in Latin American and the Caribbean about 2 out of 10. In high income economies agriculture provided about 4% of employment
2. What percent of people who were single-job holders in 2011 worked on weekend days?
1. 13%
2. 33%
3. 53%
   ANSWER: B. 33% of single-job holders worked on weekend days, compared with 57% of multiple-job holders. Multiple jobholders were also more likely to work at home than single jobholders—31% compared with 20%.
3. Which country had the highest female life expectancy in the world in 2010?
1. France
2. Qatar
3. Japan
   ANSWER: C. Japan, at 86.5 years old in 2010, had the highest female life expectancy for the 25th straight year. France was just behind Japan with a life expectancy of 84.5 years old. Qatar topped the men’s longevity rankings at 81 years old.

Sources: Barbara Annis & Associates, http://www.baainc.com/. QED Consulting, http://qedconsulting.com/.