Gender Equity Program
The Gender Inequity Simulator from Gild Collective
Motivate bias interruption at work with this interactive empathy-building activity.
“The simulator was a clear and convincing experience which was easy to get engaged with emotionally.”
JUMP TO: PROGRAM GOALS | SIMULATOR DETAILS | RESULTS | WORKING TOGETHER | FAQs
When we allow ourselves the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes, and look at career progression through the eyes of someone who identifies differently than we do, we not only build understanding, we also build empathy.
Empathy is the spark that ignites individuals’ fires to drive change – a component often missing from traditional bias training experiences.
Run Your Own Program
We provide all of the supplies and support for you to self-moderate your own Gender Inequity Simulator.
Program Goals
The Gender Inequity Simulator from Gild Collective puts participants in the shoes of a unique persona to better understand the varied experiences of diverse individuals in the workplace.
During the self-moderated interactive program, participants will experience varied workplace scenarios: getting feedback from their manager, receiving or witnessing microaggressions, client meetings and performance reviews. In debriefing on the simulator, participants tie their experiences to broader workplace data and types of bias, creating a foundational understanding of unconscious bias and its impact.
This session will leave participants motivated to mitigate bias in your organizational culture, creating a great launching off point to pick up programming focused on changing bias behaviors.
Objectives
Participants will:
Develop understanding of unconscious bias and its impact.
Discover new empathy for gender-based bias impact at work through experiential interaction.
Expand personal worldviews to be inclusive of others’ experiences.
Leave the session asking, “okay, now what do we do about it?” and in a position to receive further training on bias interruption, allyship, and equitable work practices.
““I found that I was thinking about bias much differently, largely because the training—and the simulator specifically—forced me to consider experiences that I am not familiar with.””
Simulator Details
-
Simulator participants will align to one of six high-level personas or will be selected to serve as an interaction leader. Within each persona, there will be slight variations based on diversity dimensions to represent an intersectional audience and provide nuance to each experience.
Persona A - Female individual contributor, seeking promotion after 4 years with company
Persona B - Male individual contributor, seeking promotion after 2 years with company
Persona C - Female individual contributor, seeking salary increase after 2 years with company
Persona D - Female manager, seeking new role in organization after 5 years with company
Persona E - Female manager, seeking promotion after 7 years with company
Persona F - Male manager, seeking promotion after 7 years with company
-
Participants will cycle through 6 interactions during their simulator experience. Each interaction will be set up differently to best demonstrate real-workplace interactions that are supported by data from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace report, plus optional additional data collection conducted by Gild Collective and the pre-simulator assessment.
Feedback session with manager
Internal company meeting with multiple persona participation
Discussion surrounding mentorship
Unique experience of microaggressions for each persona
External client meeting with multiple persona participation
Performance review
Between interactions, participants will also receive micro-interactions that further enhance their experience (ex. a phone call from the school about a sick child or notice of an expedited deadline at work). Following the interactions, participants will receive a final outcome indicating if they have achieved the goal they are seeking.
What We Provide
36 Unique Persona Folders, including:
Persona Script
Persona Nametag
Persona “Break” and “Outcome” Envelopes
6 Unique Interaction Leader Folders, including:
Interaction Leader Script
Interaction Leader Nametag
6 Interaction Table Tents
Debrief Materials, including:
Letter and Number Table Tents
Debrief Guides
42 Participant Workbooks
2 Primary Moderator Guides
Regular Live or Asynchronous Moderator Trainings
2 Live Pre-Program Preparation Sessions with a Gild Collective founder
What You Need
4 Total Program Hours, which can be delivered in one session or divided into three segments:
Session 1, 1 hour: Unconscious Bias Foundations (virtual option)
Session 2, 2.5 hours: Gender Inequity Simulator (90 minutes) and Debrief (60 minutes) (must be in-person)
Session 3, .5 hours: Concept Reinforcement and Next Steps (virtual option)
1-2 Primary Moderators
Up to 42 Participants, including:
Up to 6 Interaction Leaders (can include Primary Moderators)
Up to 36 Persona Participants
You will need 1 Interaction Leader for each set of 6 Persona Participants
Dedicated Program Space, including:
Up to 6 tables accommodating up to 7 people
Technical setup to allow for display of slides in ppt, pdf or keynote format
Microphone is recommended for moderators to accommodate individuals with hearing loss
We are here to support you with additional details for preparing for your Gender Inequity Simulator program and will provide additional guidance along the way.
““It was better than most role-playing situations. The facilitators did a good job of creating the persona and making it resonate with the individual participants. I think it can help open eyes to the perspectives of others in a positive way.””
Results
Through pre- and post-Simulator surveys, we have seen an average increase of 44% in action and frequency-based benchmarks. 96% of participants also agreed with the following statements:
I have discovered new empathy for gender-based bias impact at work.
My personal world view has been expanded to be more inclusive of others’ experiences.
I left the session questioning what I can do to better interrupt gender bias at work.
““This was the best unconscious bias training I’ve participated in. I loved the interactive nature and the discussions that came out of being in the moment in some of these experiences.””
Working Together
We work closely with our clients to tailor the Gender Inequity Simulator to your organization’s needs. Gild Collective’s founders work with your internal champions to execute an action-inspiring experience for your intentionally selected employees.
Get in touch to discuss how you can stop “checking the box” on bias training and motivate real change in your organization.
““I thought it was great. The examples were very realistic and actually things I’ve seen happening at our company. Some of them I didn’t recognize in the past as potentially biased situations, so it certainly created more awareness.””
““A really great exercise to becoming much more fully aware of gender bias in the workplace. I got so mad! But that was part of the point and not something I had experienced before.””
FAQs
-
The total program requires 4 hours. While we recommend delivering the full program in one day, it can be divided into three segments:
Session 1, 1 hour: Unconscious Bias Foundations (virtual option)
Session 2, 2.5 hours: Gender Inequity Simulator (90 minutes) and Debrief (60 minutes) (must be in-person)
Session 3, .5 hours: Concept Reinforcement and Next Steps (virtual option)
-
The Gender Inequity Simulator portion of the program must be delivered in-person as it relies on in-person interaction and movement throughout the room. However, if you choose to divide the program into segments, the first session (1 hour) and third session (.5 hours) can be delivered virtually.
-
We recommend having 2 moderators to work together to collaborate on preparation and facilitation of the session. However, only 1 is required.
-
The Gender Inequity Simulator can accommodate 42 total participants, 36 in Persona roles and 6 in Interaction Leader roles. As you roll out the program to your organization, we suggest including past participants as Interaction Leaders in future sessions.
If you’d like to deliver the program to a smaller group, you’ll need 1 Interaction Leader for every set of 6 or fewer Persona participants (ex. For 18 Persona participants, you’ll need 3 Interaction Leaders, for 23 Persona participants, you’ll need 4 Interaction Leaders). We will work with you to design the ideal assignments based on your group size, including anticipating last-minute no-shows.
If you’d like to deliver the program to a larger audience, we recommend running the program multiple times, which also allows for greater participation if there are schedule conflicts.
-
Yes, the majority of supplies you receive can be used to run the program within your organization multiple times. Those that cannot be reused will also be provided digitally to allow you to make additional copies.
If you would like to run the program for different organizations, we ask that you purchase an additional program. If you’re a facilitator looking to incorporate into your trainings, please reach out to info@gildcollective.com to discuss licensing options.
-
$1,800 includes all of the following:
36 Unique Persona Folders, including:
Persona Script
Persona Nametag
Persona “Break” and “Outcome” Envelopes
6 Unique Interaction Leader Folders, including:
Interaction Leader Script
Interaction Leader Nametag
6 Interaction Table Tents
Debrief Materials, including:
Letter and Number Table Tents
Debrief Guides
42 Participant Workbooks
2 Primary Moderator Guides
Regular Live or Asynchronous Moderator Trainings
2 Live Pre-Program Preparation Sessions with a Gild Collective founder
-
You! Or someone in your organization. We provide everything you need to feel confident self-moderating your own Gender Inequity Simulator, including:
Primary Moderator Guides
Regular Live or Asynchronous Moderator Trainings
Live Pre-Program Preparation Session with a Gild Collective founder
-
You decide when to deliver the program, but we will work with you to recommend the best timing for your organization. Generally, we recommend Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays in the morning.
-
We recommend purchasing 4-6 weeks before you plan to deliver your first Gender Inequity Simulator program.
Week 1: First Pre-Program Preparation Session
Gild Collective provides recommendations for planning and logistics and learns more about any unique organizational needs
Weeks 2-4: Logistics and Preparation
Gild Collective prepares and ships all materials
You schedule your training and begin moderator preparation, attending our live or asynchronous Moderator Training
Weeks 5-6: Second Pre-Program Preparation Session
Gild Collective answers any content or logistics questions
You send training reminders and prepare your Interaction Leaders for their role in the Gender Inequity Simulator
-
Once you purchase your Gender Inequity Simulator, you’ll have access to our schedule of upcoming live Moderator Trainings. If you can’t make it, we also have an asynchronous training that you can attend at any time.
-
The short answer is, everyone in your organization! We do recommend rolling out the program to participants from the top-down, beginning with leadership, to managers, then individual contributors.
By following this approach, leadership can model participation and demonstrate clear buy-in which is critical for allowing individual contributors to fully engage.
We also suggest having leaders and managers serve as Interaction Leaders on future programs to further demonstrate their commitment to the work.