Let’s Get Real

As a leader, I want to create workplaces where people feel safe and valued for who they are. Employees in organizations with a culture of trust are more productive, high-energy, collaborate better, and are less likely to leave (Zak, 2017). Committing to belonging, integrity, and authenticity goes a long way in creating positive working environments. Recent research is driving a range of practices meant to “cultivate inclusive organizational environments where employees from diverse backgrounds can thrive” (Perales et al., 2021, p. 1). Many organizations are creating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, if not departments, to advance these values. 

For organizations struggling with DEI concepts, a gap analysis can be approached in many ways. I’d like to present just one piece of the puzzle that offers a candid explanation and strategies modeled for adult learning as part of the solution. 

Do you remember the first time you attended a meeting where someone shared their preferred pronouns or you saw pronouns shared next to someone’s name in an email signature? For many of us, we had to do a quick internet search to be in the know. Conversely, my 11 year old daughter introduced a friend to me with their preferred pronouns. Why does my 11 year old "get it" and those in my generation or older don't? The root of that question might be in the type of sex education we experienced.

There are many ideas about what sex education is, especially from people who graduated high school a while ago. Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), the current standard in education, is about communication, boundaries, healthy relationships, and making informed, safe decisions. The lack of CSE as part of the pre-employment education for a large part of the workforce has created an inequity between older and younger adult workers with these interpersonal skills at a time when gender-diversity awareness, the Me Too movement, and personal boundaries are critical. Issues gaining more attention during “The Great Resignation” include moral injury, burnout, and a lack of belonging. Many managers are struggling, desperate to retain a frustrated workforce that is asking for better. There is a great opportunity here to make our organizations more resilient and our staff more invested, team-oriented, and excited to come to work. You may not realize that a strategy to solving these problems is within CSE, likely because it was not part of your education.

CSE Topics at Work 

In 2012, the modern era of CSE manifested with National Sexuality Education Standards (NSES). The 2020 NSES update includes the following topics: “Consent and Healthy Relationships, Anatomy and Physiology, Sexual Development, Gender Identity and Expression, Sexual Orientation and Identity, Sexual Health, and Interpersonal Violence” (Goldfarb & Lieberman, 2020). These are issues of identity, connection, boundaries, language, and expression–and they’re relevant to your workplace. 

Employers can address the gaps in prior sex education, not as taboo topics, but as an occasion to integrate decades of research that can improve culture, communication, and include all adults within the organization. Experiential learning theory offers a practical framework for successful implementation. 

Let’s Get Theoretical 

Experiential learning is as simple to see and as complex to define as each adult life. We integrate what we encounter, enjoy, endure–that is, what happens when we live–into our sense of meaning and understanding of what we’ve learned before and what we will learn in future.

Dr. David Kolb describes learning as the “process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Merriam & Bierema, 2013, p. 108). His Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) describes four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Merriam & Bierema, 2013). Ideally, adults learn most effectively when they engage in each stage of the model. Let’s dive deeper into each stage while considering how the model facilitates topics from sex education in the workplace.

• Abstract Conceptualization/Thinking: While integrating the information, learners can create concepts from what they observe into new or expanded ideas that are more inclusive of diversity. For example, explore the concept that a person we may assume to be female may identify with pronouns they/them. This could disrupt assumptions that someone who identifies as gender neutral, gender queer, or non-binary, would not look overtly feminine or masculine. 

• Active Experimentation/Doing: Employees in this stage could start introducing themselves with their gender pronouns, sexual orientation, or including LGBTQIA+ references. If a person on the team identifies as anything other than CIS-gendered and heterosexual, the interactions between team members may shift to be more approachable and positive. It’s important to allow staff to choose whether to use their pronouns or not and acknowledge that people are all at a different stage of learning and experimenting.

• Repeat the learning cycle within training with more topics from CSE Curriculum: I recommend the 3Rs (Rights, Respect, Responsibility) curriculum, but there are many CSE that align to the NSES. Take a look at some topics 3Rs covers and consider how much they could support your workforce:  

  • Consent: it goes with everything

  • Harassment prevention

  • Unhealthy relationships: plan for safety

  • What’s racism got to do with it?

  • Power and privilege 

  • Making the unconscious conscious: stigma and bias

Let’s Get Talking

As leaders interested in maintaining a culture of trust and belonging at work, it’s worth it to learn these principles. We are responsible for following up on any discrimination and doing what we can to create environments that are safe to work in, both emotionally and physically. As pointed out by culture journalist Alyssa Rosenberg, “[b]eing clear about what behavior is criminal, what behavior is legal but intolerable in a workplace, and what private intimate behavior is worthy of condemnation helps focus where the work of a movement has to take place” (Rosenberg, 2018, para. 4). Kolb’s ELC is especially well-suited for approaching learning projects with people who are all starting with different prior knowledge and various preferences for learning. None of us are done learning and as we know more, we will learn from that growth and have different insights as we have new experiences. We still have a lot to do to create a world that is safe, kind, and welcoming for all. I'm here to help.

References

Advocates for Youth. (2022). Rights, Respect, Responsibility. https://www.3rs.org/ 

Castillo, H. L., Lockhart, E. A., Oberne, A. B., & Daley, E. M. (2017). Contraceptives Scavenger Hunt: An Example of Experiential Learning in a Sexual and Reproductive Health College Class. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 3(2), 82–89. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26652614

Goldfarb, E.S. & Lieberman, L.D. (2020) Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(1), 13-27. https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(20)30456-0/fulltext  

Meeker, C., O’Brien, M. & Sprott, R.A. (2019). Kink Community Education: Experiential Learning and Communities of Practice. Journal of Positive Sexuality, 5(1), 48-58. https://journalofpositivesexuality.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Kink-Community-Education-Experiential-Learning-and-Communities-of-Practice-Sprott-Meeker-OBrien.pdf 

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com 

Naar, J.J., Weaver, R.H., & Sonnier-Netto, N. (2019). Teaching Sex and Aging to Pre-Professionals: Experiential Learning of a Taboo Topic. Innovation in Aging, 3(1), 538. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1977 

Perales, F., Ablaza, C., Tomaszewski, W., & Emsen-Hough, D. (2022). You, Me, and Them: Understanding Employees’ Use of Trans-Affirming Language within the Workplace. Sexuality Research Social Policy, 19, 760–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00592-9 

Rosenberg, A. (2018, January 17). Opinion: The #MeToo movement is at a dangerous tipping point. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2018/01/17/the-metoo-movement-is-at-a-dangerous-tipping-point/

Zak, P.J. (2017, January-February). The Neuroscience of Trust. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust