In the last decade or so, I have progressively noticed, studied and discovered that diversity in groups/organisations/social systems and dealing with the complexity of it as well as channelizing its potential is one of the greatest challenges of our times. My work over the years in he field shows that the emotional competence and skills to deal with this challenge is far behind intellectual and philosophical understanding of this reality. And what we often find are experiences of exclusion, marginalisation, disempowerment, underutilisation of potential of people and loss of productivity. I am offering a new programme “Leveraging Diversity for Building powerful Organisations: Utilising People’s Fullest Potential’’. This programme is specially designed to develop the capabilities for the same amongst mangers, leaders, Human Resource professionals and other critical people who can make a difference. It is planned to fill the gap between the reality, concepts, values and emotional readiness. Please write to me at umajain53@gmail.com or saharth@gmail.com for a brochure with more details.

1. Leveraging Diversity
Building Powerful Organisations
by
Realising People’s Fullest Potential
The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice and because we fail to notice that we fail
to notice, there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts
and deeds - R D Laing
Globally, organisations started paying more attention to diversity after a series of high-profile lawsuits rocked the
financial industry.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Morgan Stanley shelled out $54 million—and Smith Barney and
Merrill Lynch more than $100 million each—to settle sex discrimination claims.
In 2007, Morgan was back at the table, facing a new class action, which cost the company $46
million.
In 2013, Bank of America Merrill Lynch settled a race discrimination suit for $160 million. Cases
like these brought Merrill’s total 15-year payout to nearly half a billion dollars.
Diversity in organisations is happening whether as an inevitable environmental change or intentionally. It has the
potential of building more equitable, creative, effective and exciting work places. Often however, the intentions do
not translate into actions leading to processes of marginalisation, power struggles, conflicts and disempowerment.
Diversity - Making headlines
Here are some recent instances of leading global companies facing diversity challenges:
“Women say they quit Google because of racial discrimination: I was invisible”. By Sam Levin,
The Guardian – Aug 18, 2017
“Top journalist sues Time magazine for sex and age discrimination”. By Emma Graham-Harrison,
The Guardian – Aug 5, 2017
“As Uber Grew Hastily, Diversity Took a Backseat: Under pressure from harassment and sexism
allegations, the ride-hailing giant is rethinking its approach to hiring.” By Olivia Zaleski and Eric
Newcomer, Bloomberg - March 24, 2017
The Indian Scenario
India is a diverse country with many languages, cultures and other differences based on gender, caste, class,
regions etc. In the current Globalised world, with people from different parts of the world joining organisations
further adds to diversity and complexity. The following extract is an illustration of the state of affairs regarding one
aspect of diversity in India:
“The Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia says that India has the smallest percentage of women in the total work-
force (between China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore) and the largest pipeline leak occurring earliest
in womens’ careers—between middle and senior-level positions (48% decrease)”. Report, Catalyst Information
Center - January 2012
Implementation of Vishakha guidelines in India is one glaring evidence of the issues in Indian organisations.
Why does this happen? The limited ability to notice and understand the diversity-related
processes does not allow realization of the full potential of the teams and organisations.

2. What the programme offers
This programme has been conceptualized with the belief that diversity is no longer just inevitable happening or a
politically correct workplace initiative: it’s about having a belief in the value it brings and the competence to translate
the intention into reality.This is specially designed for building capabilities in participants to:
1. Notice diversity and related processes and how they impact the group climate and productivity
2. Recognise and explore one’s own values related to diversity and their practice
3. Understand one’s own attitudes and behavior in diverse groups/teams/systems
4. Enhance competence in valuing and leveraging diversity
The programme will have a mix of experiential semi-structured exercises, group work, reflection and sharing as well
as powerful conceptual frameworks on diversity to provide new lenses to look at diversity dynamics in a group and
organisations as well as shift the paradigm from seeing diversity as a challenge to valuing it as a resource.
Who may attend: Leaders, managers, facilitators and other interested people who would like to learn
more about diversity processes and develop skills to manage and facilitate diversity dynamics for building
empowered equitable groups, organisations and any other social systems.
When and Where: Nov 2-3 starting 9.30 am at The Learning Galaxy | 8th floor, Urmi Estate | Lower Parel |
Mumbai-13 | Tel: 8080505514
Investment: Rs. 21,500 + 18% GST. Some concessions available to NGOs & self-sponsored participants.
Contact: Uma Jain | saharth@gmail.com | 98240 98103
Payment details: Pay using cheque or NEFT
A/c Name: Saharth.org | A/c No. 10307641874 | SBI, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad
| Branch code: 02653 | IFSC Code: SBIN0002653 | MICR Code: 380002019
Workshop Leader and Facilitator: Dr. Uma Jain
Uma Jain, Fellow–IIM, Ahmedabad is the founder CEO and Principal Consultant of Saharth,
and works with the mission to be a catalyst in building values-based, collaborative, effective
and prosperous organisations.
Dr. Uma Jain combines the experience of being a corporate HRD and OD Manager, an
inter-nal and external Organization Development consultant, an organizational leader and a
teacher of organizational behavior over the last three decades. She has conducted training
and OD work in a wide variety of organizations in private, public, NGO and Government
sectors. She has trained in several countries including USA, Austria, Dubai, Iran and Mauri-
tius. With this diverse experience, she designs her programmes and facilitates them with a
new, broad and path-breaking perspective building values and skills to apply.
Uma Jain has made significant contributions in the field of applied behavioral science over the last three decades in
diverse roles including as the President of ISABS. She has been the Vice-chair of the board of the NTL, USA, Director of
the Academy of HRD, Ahmedabad and the Director of the Organisation Development Certificate Programme of ISABS.
She has over 35 publications in national and international journals including three books to her credit.
Her areas of special interest & expertise include: Values and Culture building, Diversity, Interpersonal Relationships,
Group Dynamics, Team Building, Leadership Development, Organization Development, and HRD Systems.
Uma Jain has been a co-steward of the Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice community of practice at the NTL
Institute, USA and has designed and facilitated many workshops on diversity over the last decade in various forums
including NTL, ISABS and other organisations.