A growing collection of tips from our subscribers, updated monthly!
Maximizing Engagement Through Mind, Heart & Hands Approach
American Family Insurance ensures high visibility of the Diversity Calendar by displaying the calendar on internal TV monitors, dining areas, hallways, and other key touchpoints.
To drive engagement, they use a “Mind, Heart, and Hands” approach:
🧠 Mind – Educating employees on how the calendar fosters inclusion
💙 Heart – Sharing employee stories about its impact
🤲 Hands – Encouraging action by making it easy for employees to engage with it
They’ve also integrated the calendar into internal presentations, reinforcing its value as a workplace culture tool – not just a DEI initiative, but a resource that strengthens team connection and company culture.
They also shared their Diversity Calendar at the OPAL Group’s Culture & Engagement Conference, highlighting how it fosters inclusion. Conference leaders expressed interest in learning more.
Shared by Dr. Gregory Stinyard, Director of Diversity and Inclusion
📌 Boosting Engagement Through Newsletters & Employee Spotlights
Innovista keeps employees engaged with the Diversity Calendar by featuring key events in a monthly e-newsletter. This helps capture attention and encourages employees to explore the full calendar.
To further bring cultural awareness to life, Innovista hosts monthly employee-led speaker sessions, where team members share their:
✨ Career journeys
✨ Backgrounds & cultures
✨ Favorite cultural recipes
These recipes are then added to the Diversity Calendar’s recipe section and promoted in the next newsletter, creating an ongoing cycle of engagement.
By combining regular communication with opportunities for employees to share their personal stories, this approach makes the calendar a dynamic part of company culture and a resource employees look forward to engaging with.
Shared by Jaclyn Weitzenfeld, DEI Leader, Innovista
📌 Turning Staff Meetings into Cultural Learning Moments
Independence First incorporates the Diversity Calendar into monthly all-staff meetings through a segment now called “Cultural Connections”. Each month, they dedicate 10-15 minutes to spotlight what’s happening on the calendar, using it as the foundation for cultural education and engagement.
To make access simple, an icon to the Diversity Calendar was created by their IT team and placed directly on every employee’s desktop. It’s also linked in Microsoft Teams, including both the Diversity Committee channel and the general staff channel.
Every month, Eric builds a custom resource package titled “[Month] Diversity Resources,” featuring curated links to:
✨ YouTube videos
✨ Educational content (museums, libraries, .gov resources)
✨ Cultural event listings
✨ Recipe sites
They also plan to start showing the Religious Beliefs video series from the calendar in future meetings.
Within the calendar itself, they’ve added year-round local resource links, like VisitMilwaukee.com, to keep staff informed about community events. New hires are regularly reintroduced to the calendar to explore all its features—including the podcast, Belonging Assistant, and the Media & Resources section.
This approach not only keeps the calendar central to company culture but also encourages ongoing exploration and use across teams. Staff have even used it to support other work projects, showing how integrated and valuable it’s become.
Shared by Eric Edwards, Human Resources Training Supervisor
