Organizational leaders in today’s world must be equipped with enhanced skills and traits than had may have been considered as required twenty or more years ago. Leading in today’s world requires leaders to understand concepts such as empathy, equity, diversity in the workforce as well as diversity in policy and execution, generational and cultural aspects of inclusion, societal expectations and social media influences. These are a few of the attributes that will be a portion of an effective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program. Leaders must learn to enact processes that help shift mindsets, individual and team behaviors, and processes that build equitable and inclusive leadership.
Every leader is different. but no matter your style, industry, role or personality; part of leading with DEI includes effectively communicating across all areas of your organizations. Leaders must build and strengthen their coaching and discussion skills with a view of committing to building a more equitable, diverse and inclusive culture.
This session will focus on direct actions leaders can take to gain acceptance and buy-in for their DEI programs and ensure they are embedding the concepts effectively. Ensuring organizational practices are equitable is critical to maintaining a sustainable DEI program and retain top talent.
Publication Date: July 2022
Designed For
Chief Executive Officers, Senior Executive Management, Board Members, Compliance Professionals, Legal Professionals, and Audit professionals.
Topics Covered
- Review Meaning of DEI
- Skill Requirements
- Priorities for Assignment to Leaders
- Scale your DEI Program
- Elevate and Celebrate Diversity
- Supporting a DEI Culture
Learning Objectives
- Recognize skill requirements of today's DEI program leaders
- Identify priorities within your DEI program for assignment to leaders
- Describe how to scale your DEI program to present a culture of transparent feedback focused on increasing equity and inclusion
- Recognize actions to take to elevate and celebrate diversity and opportunities
- Recognize actions to take to create and maintain a culture that supports direction and commitment from everyone in the organization
- Identify what strong DEI leaders will take responsibility for
- Describe what DEI priorities should always be aligned with
- Recognize what is included in expanding a DEI culture within an organization
- Describe true statements regarding DEI programs
- Recognize who a DEI governance body should be led by
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Personnel/HR (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Lynn Fountain
Lynn Fountain has over 38 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 20 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing and risk management. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Lynn has held two Chief Audit Executive (CAE) positions for international companies. In one of her roles as CAE, she assisted in the investigation of a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme perpetrated by a vendor that spanned 7 years and implicated 20 employees. The fraud was formally investigation by the FBI and resulted in 5 indictments estimating a $13M fraud loss.
Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own consulting and training practice. She is a highly sought-after trainer and international speaker. In addition, Ms. Fountain has assisted numerous companies with enterprise risk management frameworks, internal audit processes and financial accounting. She also serves as a discussion leader for the AICPA for numerous classes finance, accounting and risk management topics.
Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. Her first book released in 2015 by the Institute of Internal Auditors Foundation is entitled “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations”. Her second book “Leading the Internal Audit Function” was released in October 2015 by Taylor & Francis Publications. This book serves as the initial launch for a series of leading practice internal audit and information technology publications. Her third book “Ethics and the Internal Auditor’s Dilemma” was released in December 2016.
Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CPA, CGMA, CRMA credentials.