We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiesha D. Douglas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiesha D. below.
Tiesha D. , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Any thoughts around creating more inclusive workplaces?
My number one piece of advice for creating an inclusive workplace is simple: Take care of who’s there — your current employees. To quote Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, “take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your business.” As a Leadership & Communication Coach, I’ve seen all too often where toxic workplace environments and conflict stem from employees not feeling seen nor heard. Trust is broken when folks who you’ve hired to do a job no longer feel valued. A breakdown in communication is usually the first symptom for broken trust which then leads to increased in-fighting and toxicity.
A tip that I give my leadership clients is to remember their “why”. I give them the following five questions to answer: 1) Why were you chosen to lead this team of competent people? 2) Why did you hire members of your team? 3) Do you trust them to do their jobs well? 4) Do you regularly engage with them to learn what challenges them and what motivates them? 5) How do you stand in the gaps for them when they need you (this is based on trust felt by the employee)?
Unfortunately, we see “inclusivity” or “Inclusive workplace” as something impossible to obtain — we make things much harder than what they should be. All we need to do is have the courage to be vulnerable with one another and have meaningful conversations with the very folks who we put in place to help our businesses thrive.
Tiesha D. , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Tiesha (Tie-E-Shah) Douglas, and I am the Founder and Principal Consultant of LEAD Culture Consulting. LEAD Culture is a boutique consultancy created in 2020 and officially launched in February 2021 with the goal of assisting leaders in developing Cultural Competence and Effective Communication skills.
I have over 14 years of professional experience in higher education and business management — and while serving as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for a prominent MBA program, I witnessed the absence of self-discovery and cultural acceptance among my students and colleagues. Because I am trained in both conflict management and specific components of DEI (such as bias and anti-racism), my graduate assistants and I decided to create monthly conversations for the staff, faculty and MBA students to learn how to effectively communicate toward a level of understanding, respect, and acceptance of different cultures within and outside the MBA program. These 1-hour conversations were impactful as they provided skills toward inclusive leadership and also allowed participants to be vulnerable in interrogating their own ways of thinking and being. Cultural Competence is not only understanding others but more importantly understanding yourself — it is self-work! Without self-discovery, we will be challenged to have empathy for others who have different experiences.
Since the MBA role, I have taught business communication at three (3) top business schools in the nation. I currently teach business communication at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business where I continue to witness how self-awareness and cultural competence are critical components for effective communication. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to educate future and current business leaders on why and how communication is a leading skill for inclusive excellence.
In my work as a Leadership Consultant & Communication Coach, I offer services focused on authentic communication. Speaking with confidence, courage, and honesty reflects how likely you are to be your ‘whole self’ at your own comfort level and effectively sharing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences at the workplace and around your team. My services include novice to advanced public speaking skills, business writing (emails, memos, reports), conflict management & effective communication (listening, understanding, respect), gaining cultural competence, and a plethora of DEI education workshops.
I am most proud of choosing to bet on myself during a time of so much uncertainty in my life. Because I leaned in and trusted myself, I’ve since partnered with top brands such as Red Bull, Snapchat, and Select Health — and met some amazing humans through these partnerships. I am a living witness for how great possibilities become an unbelievable reality when you show up authentically.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Although I launched my consultancy in 2021, I still taught full-time at the college level. Then, my brother died in January of 2022. I loved teaching, I really liked my students, and I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with my colleagues, but I was overcome with so much grief and overwhelmed with the amount of grading, class prep, and life-ing I had to do all at once. By the way, I’m a mom of two and if you know anything about parenting then you know the importance of keeping things as normal as possible — “business as usual”.
I thought that having the summer off would help me reset for the upcoming fall semester — I took trips with my family, relaxed by the pool, and even went to therapy! However, I was still exhausted and needed more time to grieve and heal. So, in October 2022, I made the decision that 2022 would be my last year teaching (turns out it was only my last year teaching FULL-TIME).
January 2023 was my first year consulting full-time, leaning into my passion work, and learning what it meant to be a full-time entrepreneur. It was an exciting, yet scary time. While on a business trip in February, my husband called to inform me that he was laid-off from his job. What a blow to the gut! I had his full support (and financial cushion) to resign from teaching and to focus on my business, and I was only one month in. So, I did what any other business-minded human would do — I pivoted. I ramped up the timing of my proposals and client follow-ups, made phone calls to my network about… you guessed it — teaching roles, and applied for part-time jobs at bakeries. Thankfully, I was saved from gaining an extra 20 lbs from the bakery because a former colleague of mine was looking for someone with business communication experience to teach a couple classes in her program at Duke University for the summer. Note: Your network is your net-worth, so keep building and maintaining those connections.
So, there I was… back in the classroom nine months after I said I was done with teaching (and especially grading). When I think back to that 2-year time frame, I am in awe of how everything happened in perfect timing. Yes, it was a very hard two years but we were never without. We had everything we needed, and I still had joy.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My business was birthed from the racial awakening in 2020 due to the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. As mentioned, LEAD Culture Consulting’s foundation is Cultural Competence, and I am a trained and experienced DEI practitioner. So, my work began with educating organizations’ leaders on the very experiences I was having and have had as a Black Woman. Fast-forward 4 years later (today), we are all witnessing the dismantling of DEI in every system that impacts our daily lives — education, from kindergarten to higher education, being the most politicized right now.
I’ve personally noticed the decline in DEI interest from organizations of all sectors over the past 4 years. As an estimate, my business and client interest was 100% DEI-focused in 2020. There was a gradual decline in 2021 to about 80%; 40% in 2022; and 20% in 2023. To date, I’ve had one (1) workshop solely focused on DEI in 2024 — ONE.
Workplace issues have not gotten better, in fact, they’re worse. And yet, I’ve been encouraged to just focus on Communication by mentors and friends who genuinely care about my well-being. Here’s the thing: Communication and Self-Identity go hand-in-hand. We communicate based on who we are, how we receive information, based on how we were raised, and what we believe. Guess what? That is DEI.
However, with the declining interest in DEI I’ve had to re-brand myself and my business to focus on Effective Leadership with authentic communication and self-discovery (identity) being the core components. Because of my experience teaching communication in business schools and listening to my clients about their workplace woes on the lack of inclusive language and practices, I knew I could seamlessly pivot to offering communication services with or without DEI components.
Earlier, I was asked about what it takes to build an inclusive workplace. Well, effective communication and leading with compassion are key traits for inclusivity and inclusion is the “I” in DEI — there’s simply no way around it. Even with the challenges and frustration of having to re-brand, I am grateful that pivoting to communication has allowed elements of DEI to come up in discussions with clients as it is evident that many workplace issues stem from not navigating DEI effectively. The longer we ignore it, the longer it will take for organizations to thrive… unless their employees are homogeneous, but who wants that?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leadcultureconsulting.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lead_culture_consulting/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LEADCultureConsulting/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tieshadouglas/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheLEADCulture
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadcultureconsulting8834
Image Credits
Photos Courtesy of Terrence F. Humphrey www.terrencehumphreyphotos.com
Brand Design Courtesy of Quenest Harrington www.quturemedia.com