Training Overview

The national reckoning about diversity, equity and inclusion since the #MeToo movement caused media leaders to redouble their efforts to address these issues inside their organizations and create spaces where people feel they belong and can flourish.

The Workplace Integrity: Train the Trainers curriculum is designed to support and strengthen those initiatives in news organizations and colleges and universities where journalists are trained. The goal is to produce environments free of harassment, discrimination and incivility and filled with opportunity, especially for those who have been traditionally denied it.

The curriculum was designed by Jill Geisler, the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago, in consultation with Cathy Trost, Chief Engagement Officer/Senior Vice President of the Freedom Forum. Geisler is a renowned expert in leadership and management and a former TV news director. The curriculum is tailored for media organizations and is not intended for use in other industries. While the material was designed with newsrooms in mind, it also has application in classrooms and other departments of a news organization including human resources and sales.

The Workplace Integrity: Train the Trainers curriculum is designed to support and strengthen those initiatives in news organizations and colleges and universities where journalists are trained.

The training has four modules that are taught over two consecutive days in 2 ½ -hour sessions via Zoom. At the end of the training, participants receive a kit with all the materials needed to teach all four modules of the curriculum.

About the modules:

Critical Thinking teaches someone how to analyze common workplace scenarios related to harassment, discrimination and incivility. You learn how to check facts, provide context, identify bias, surface assumptions and challenge logic.

Courageous Conversations helps you better understand conflict and how to manage it. You learn how to introduce difficult subjects and respond to words and actions – both critical to ensuring workplace integrity.

Do You Qualify As An Ally gives practical insights to leaders, including men who want to be allies to women, people of privilege who want to do more to fight inequity and powerful individuals who want to be better advocates for change.

Cultures of Respect and Trust teaches you how to assess and improve your workplace culture.