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Moving Stories, the workshop that challenges prejudices and fosters real inclusion

Esade Alumni Social is reaffirming its commitment to building more diverse and inclusive work environments with an enriching new edition of the Moving Stories workshop.
Moving Stories

This innovative initiative, spearheaded by Esade professor Dominique Steinebach, offers alumni an immersive, transformative experience which aims to develop key diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) skills specifically at work and in life in general.

Stories that inspire

Far from being just a theoretical debate, the Moving Stories workshop is an experiential space where the participants can experience diversity firsthand.

The workshop creates a safe, trusting environment where alumni, divided into small groups, analyze real cases that address DEI challenges at work.

It is a space of dialogue that allows the participants to share perspectives and ask questions people who belong to some spectrum within diversity, based on different professional experiences.

The heart of the workshop is each group’s direct encounter with the person featured in their practical case study for an intimate 40-minute conversation.

 

The cases presented at the workshop come thanks to the generous participation of those who share their moving stories of stigma, discrimination, and exclusion for the most varied reasons, such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, mental health, or traumatic experiences (rape, sudden death of a close family member, marital violence, etc.) and tell how these stories affect them in their professional life, at the company, offering an incredibly rich perspective on the reality of diversity.

One example is the experience shared by Ingrid, a bald woman who challenges perceptions of weakness and vulnerability to foster a deeper understanding beyond superficial prejudices. As Ingrid said, “when you meet me, the first thing you probably notice is my baldness. If you think I’m sick, you may see me as weak and vulnerable, but I’m not.”

Moving Stories

From empathy to action

After the small-group conversations, the alumni meet all together for a rich exchange of what they have learned.

This Moving Stories workshop for Esade Alumni Social gives participants the chance to not only talk about diversity and inclusion but also experience it, understand it from the perspective of those who need it and find a new definition from within its vast spectrum.

The participants walk away with a deeper understanding of how their own identities and experiences influence their interactions and their ability to identify and mitigate their unconscious biases. Most importantly, it gives them the inspiration and tools to go from awareness to action in order to build more equitable organizations where every individual feels valued and a sense of belonging.

Professor Dominique Steinebach highlights the importance of experiential learning: “The goal is to talk with people you don’t know about a topic that doesn’t closely affect you, to feel discomfort, to feel vulnerable, to learn to see beyond what strikes us as different, because we all carry a ‘moving story’ inside us; we all wear a mask to avoid being judged. We have to create safer spaces so we can share ourselves at work, too, because we all have this power.”

It is a frankly wonderful workshop that provides a unique opportunity. We recommend that nobody miss the next Esade Alumni Moving Stories workshop.

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