Date: April 11^th to May 16^th (6-week course)
Location: Online
Time: Noon – 1:30pm (ET), every Thursday

Early-Bird Price:  CAD$ 2,495.95 (ends on March 28^th) 
Full price: CAD$ 2,995.95

Welcome to our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Board Certification Program – a transformative experience designed for board members, governance professionals, and senior leaders.

Build Your Legacy

Ensure that you lead well in the boardroom: Learn the essentials, become equipped with the latest EDI tools and strategies and elevate the effectiveness and impact of your organization’s EDI initiatives and investments.

Why an EDI Certification?

This program is not just about doing the right thing; it's about legal compliance, meeting the expectations set by governments and regulators, and understanding the business case for fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Yet achieving EDI excellence is no simple feat; it requires education, understanding, and an unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive culture. Successful implementation demands leaders equipped with EDI education, training, determination, patience, perseverance, and a touch of grit.

Program Highlights:

Lead Well in the Boardroom

• Philosophy, Purpose, and Design: Develop a deep understanding of EDI philosophy and purpose to drive impactful design.
• Wiser Decision-Making: Transform board functioning and decision-making through EDI principles.
• Fulfill Fiduciary Duty: Learn how to fulfill your fiduciary duty by acting in the best interests of the organization with EDI principles.
• Role Clarity: Gain clarity on your unique role in EDI as a board member and leader.
• Building Trust and Cohesion: Create a culture of trust, respect, and team cohesion.

Learn The Essentials and the Latest

• Effective Strategies: Discover what works and what doesn’t in EDI and understand the reasoning behind it.
• Real-Life Engagement: Engage with other senior corporate leaders, discussing real-life examples, challenges, and solutions.
• Role Distinction: Learn to distinguish the line between the Board’s roles in EDI and staff’s roles.
• Making the Case: Master making the case for EDI to potential skeptics among stakeholders.
• Comprehensive Understanding: Grasp the moral, legal, and business case for EDI.

 
Lift Your Leadership Level

• Enhance Performance: Improve organizational performance and overall effectiveness.
• Impact Employees and Community: Increase the results and impact on employees, the organization, and the community.
• Optimize Your Effectiveness: Challenge and optimize your own effectiveness in understanding bias, discrimination, harassment, and micro-aggressive behaviors.
• Confidence in Adoption: Build confidence in EDI adoption, outcomes, and impact without getting mired in operations and tactics.
• Empowerment: Empower the CEO, leadership team, and employees toward enhanced outcomes.

Leverage Your Impact and Influence

• Employee Engagement: Enhance engagement and client satisfaction to improve financial and non-financial performance.
• Exclusive Tools: Gain access to exclusive tools and assessments.
• Board Certification: Receive board-level certification from the Professional Director Institute.

Schedule (and content):

April 11^th | Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: The Why of EDI

• Why Does EDI Matter? Equality and the “Why”
• EDI vs. DEI – Why lead with Equity?
• Beyond the “Why” of EDI? An Overview of the How, the Who and the What
  Takeaway: EDI General Corporate Assessment

April 18^th | Equity: The How of EDI

• Learn the Hard Lessons of Equity
• Understand How Giving Advantage is the Most Equitable Step You Can Take
• Take Steps that Enable Equity to Work in Practice
  Takeaway: Equity Corporate Assessment

April 25^th | Diversity: The Who of EDI

• See Beyond the Surface
• Avoid Cookie Cutter Diversity
• Force Deferral of Judgment
• Build Deep, Broad Diversity
  Takeaway:  Diversity Corporate Assessment

May 2^nd | Inclusion: The What of EDI

• Achieve EDI Success and Reach Business Imperatives through Fostering Inclusion
• Reduce Prejudice and Check Stereotypes
• Explore Pathways to Strategically Foster Belonging, Value Uniqueness and Ensuring Fairness
• Examine the Impact of Leadership on Inclusion
  Takeaway: Inclusion Corporate Assessment

May 9^th | EDI and Me

• Hold up the Mirror! What Do You See?
• Recognize the Impacts of Bias
• Overcome Conscious and Unconscious Bias
• Commit to Your Next Best Steps
  Takeaway:  Personal EDI and Bias Assessment

May 16^th | Understand, Impact and Measure EDI in the Boardroom

• The Role of the Board in EDI
• How Boards Impact EDI
• How Boards Measure EDI
• Your Board’s Next Best Step
  Takeaway: Baseline Assessment for Boards

Every Thursday, Noon – 1:30pm (ET)


Prepare Weekly:  Get ready for each week with valuable pre-module assessments, and dive deeper into the material with optional reading assignments.

Examination:  Demonstrate your understanding through a comprehensive online examination after all 6 sessions.

Why EDI Matters

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion are not just moral imperatives; they are essential for sustainable success. Organizations that fail to embrace EDI risk not only their reputation but also becoming obsolete. Our program is your opportunity to lead the change and ensure your organization thrives in an inclusive environment.

Continuing Education Credits: 9 hours

Worried you’ll miss a session?
Replay videos, as well as supplemental handouts and presentations, are available via your materials page for a minimum of one year!

Looking to participate with peers?
Group discount available for 5 or more students from the same organization.
Contact Rafael Mazotine – at mazotine@governancesolutions.ca – and ask for a code or invoice.

Career Investment!
The Professional Director Institute^® is able to issue students a Tuition and Enrolment Certificate and Summary form for tax purposes.

Cancellation Policy: The registration fee is non-refundable for cancellations made less than 30 days prior to the program’s first live session. In this case, you may either transfer your registration fee, once, to a similarly priced seminar future training course, or arrange for a substitute person to attend. Those who do not cancel and do not attend are responsible for the full registration fee. Governance Solutions reserves the right to cancel or reschedule and will give notice in advance.