Announcing New Paradigm REACH Modules: Inclusive Hiring and Inclusive Performance Management

Today, I am excited to share that we’re expanding Paradigm REACH, our self-paced eLearning solution, with two new modules focused on inclusive hiring and performance management. With these new offerings—which complement existing modules around managing unconscious bias and fostering inclusion at work—organizations can upskill their workforce on inclusive practices as specific stages of the employee lifecycle.

We began building these modules earlier this year, based on feedback from clients about the need to scale engaging training on inclusive decision-making practices to managers in their organizations. Of course, at the time we had no idea that organizations would be facing a very different set of challenges today. Obviously, the coronavirus pandemic and rapid shift to remote work has upended the plans of companies around the world, and the use of virtual and online learning has skyrocketed. For example, Cornerstone OnDemand shared that many of its clients saw a 135% increase in logins to online learning platforms from February to March, and there has been a 50% increase in moving training to online or virtual formats. At Paradigm, we’ve seen a 40% increase in interest for REACH since early March, when the pandemic began.

While I wish we could be spending more time working with our clients in person, I am glad we’re able to help organizations continue to advance their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with impactful learning and development offerings.  

What’s New: Inclusive Hiring and Performance Management Modules

The latest REACH modules focus on two people practices that are critical to building diverse, inclusive workforces, and where we often see bias or other inequitable behaviors emerge: hiring and performance management.

These modules help learners understand what inclusive hiring and performance management entail, identify where barriers to inclusion can come into play in these processes, and build actionable strategies to foster inclusion in their own decisions and practices. The modules use the same research-backed, interactive approach that earned rave reviews for our first REACH modules—videos, activities, self-guided reflections, and tools for sustained learning—and we’ve added new activities that help learners turn intention to action. For example:

• In the inclusive hiring course, learners review sample resumes to see where unconscious bias can emerge, then create their own resume review checklist to help them evaluate resumes more objectively and inclusively in the future. 
• In the inclusive performance management course, learners review how unconscious bias can impact performance feedback, and then create their own rubrics to mitigate those biases effect.

I’m super excited that that learners not only have the opportunity to build new skills with these modules, they’ll also come away with new resources they can use immediately to make better decisions. At a time when organizations are likely to be making important people decisions under unique levels of stress, having actionable strategies and tools to ensure these decisions are inclusive is more important than ever.

REACH’s Impact 

In the six months since its launch, more than 90,000 learners have already taken REACH. Organizations across industries—including retail, financial services, technology, and healthcare—are using REACH to drive impact in a variety of different ways. Some are using REACH as a foundational training to upskill employees organization-wide, others are embedding it into onboarding, and others are using the modules for timely nudges in advance of key people processes (you can learn more about each of these use cases here). 

After taking REACH:

• More than 90% of learners felt equipped to manage unconscious bias
• More than 96% of learners were committed to creating an inclusive environment
• More than 88% of learners felt confident in their employer’s commitment to diversity and inclusion

Bringing Paradigm REACH to Your Organization

Learners can take Paradigm REACH modules individually, in tailored learning journeys customized for your organization, or in pre-built courses designed by Paradigm’s experts.

REACH can be deployed on your learning management system of choice, and it is priced based on the number of learners.

 

April 30, 2020

If you’d like to explore bringing Paradigm REACH to your organization, contact us today!