JTC Newsletter Spotlight: Laura E. Knights, LCSW Leadership & Team Development Expert
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Each month we will continue to use our #IncreaseDiversity platform to spotlight small businesses who are who are helping companies to move the needle to increase diversity.
Today it brings me such joy to present to you all, Laura E. Knights, LCSW (she/her) who is an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, and licensed therapist with 18+ years of experience creating personal and professional development programs that have touched leaders all over the world. She is the creator of Black Woman Leading™ which is a 13-week virtual small group learning experience to help Black women leaders and managers strengthen key leadership competencies; share and process their mental wellness in relation to workplace experiences; and create individual development plans to meet professional goals.
Leaders like Laura are amplifying the value and benefits of organizations investing in their staff by developing useful training, fostering a productive and employee-focused workplace, and making sure each member is appropriately compensated, rewarded, and held accountable at the same time.
Let’s get right into our interview!
Question: How are you increasing representation? How does your organization help companies increase diversity?
Our work is all about making leadership development more equitable. Whether we are talking about increasing emotional intelligence and communication skills at the individual contributor level or helping C-suite level leaders increase their strategic thinking and ability to cast vision and communicate it throughout the organization--we consider all that leadership development. Everyone needs it, and the organization benefits when everyone gets it.
When providing targeted programming for Black women or other minority talent within an organization, we enhance experiences of inclusion and belonging. Our work is to cultivate psychological safety, so these employees can work on strengthening competencies that would help them advance in the company. There is often a safer learning environment for employees to be open and vulnerable about their challenges and focus areas when facilitated by trained externals. Additionally, by validating their experiences, giving them opportunities to caucus and process their real experiences with peers, and by attending to the mental wellness and self-care needed to overcome some of their challenges in the organization; we also create person-centered, holistic programs that speak to the complete development of the employee — head and heart.
Question: How was your company founded? Or how did you get started in DEI work and increasing diversity?
We’ve been providing leadership development and team development services within organizations for the last five years. Originally, our work did not sit in the DEI space, but purely the L&D space. A little over a year ago, we launched Black Woman Leading™, a leadership development program for Black women leaders and managers as a response to some of the unique challenges we saw Black women experiencing in corporate America. From this body of work, organizations started to reach out to us to sponsor their Black women leaders to participate in the program. From there, our relationships grew with organizations, and they started to ask us to help create bespoke leadership and career development program that spoke to the unique needs of their minority employees. We also collaborate with a lot of employee resource groups and DEI leaders within organizations to facilitate programming that supports the organization’s DEI strategy. So, being seen as an organization working in the DEI space is a newer identity for us as a company.
Question: Tell us a little bit about who you are and why you are in this work.
Simply put, our WHY as a company is to educate and empower people so that they can uncover their full potential, walk boldly in it, and create their own legacy. When doing this within organizations, it empowers organizations to activate their biggest and greatest resource—their people. We truly believe that transformation can come from investing in the development of people, providing safe spaces for them to contribute their highest gifts to the organization. This is why we like to partner with organizations over time so we can track and experience the transformation that happens from our partnership.
Specifically with regard to the Black Woman Leading program, we focus on three core pillars — leadership development, mental wellness and self-care, and relationship management in the workplace. Many of our participants are part of the “only” club…being one of the only Black women in their level of leadership. They are intentionally seeking community and a safe space to strategize their next steps while speaking truthfully about their experiences in the workplace. They want a space to “take the cape off,” be vulnerable, and put a pause on being highly on guard all the time with respect to their professional experiences. The intersectionality of Black women really creates unique challenges in the workplace, so a tailored response is required. And we take the responsibility seriously to provide these safe learning spaces for this population to do this personal and professional development work in community. Our ultimate aim with this initiative is to help Black women learn, heal, and grow in their leadership capacity.
Question: Who are you serving through your work?
In our broad scale leadership development work, we provide multi-tiered programs that support the leadership development of everyone from the individual contributor level to the C-suite. Our goal is to support the organization to create leadership programs that align with their values, organizational DNA, and that provides a shared “leadership language” to everyone in the organization.
Specifically, in our Black Woman Leading program, our target market is mid-career Black women leaders and managers who are either people managers or are responsible for guiding strategic initiatives in the organization. Although not a requirement, majority of our participants have a minimum of 8-10 years of professional work experiences and are seeking to enhance their visibility and influence as leaders in their organizations. Our participants come from all over the country and from a broad range of industries as well.
When we work with organizations to create enterprise-wide career development programs for their minority talent, we are generally working with employees who the organizations deem as “high potential” but who are still underrepresented in many areas of the company.
Question: What products/services are you selling to employers to help them do this work? How can people get in contact with you?
Our core services look like; designing, developing, and facilitating bespoke leadership training programs designing, developing, facilitating internal career development programs for minority talent behavioral assessments (DISC, Core Values, Leadership Effectiveness 360) team collaboration labs and team coaching to strengthen effectiveness coaching for leaders and "drop-in" coaching blocks for employees-at-large keynotes & workshops around topics related to leadership, mental wellness in the workplace, team collaboration, minority experience in corporate America, and other people skill topics (communication, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, etc.) talent development consulting and advisory.
Regarding our special initiative, Black Woman Leading™, we are currently enrolling for our January cohort. Interested candidates and organizations that would like to sponsor their employees to participate can learn more on our program site at http://blackwomanleading.com/
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We sure hope that you enjoyed today’s article as much as we enjoyed writing it. I admire Laura’s commitment and passion for increasing diversity. You can learn more about our work at Knights Consulting LLC at knightsconsultinggroup.com.
There are several key reasons why any forward-thinking C-level executive and leader would want to invest in themselves and as a result, invest in their staff. One reason would be to improve productivity, satisfaction, attract and retain talent. Another reason would be to increase emotional intelligence, communication skills at the individual contributor level and even help C-suite level leaders increase their strategic thinking and ability to cast vision and communicate it throughout the organization. Also, considered as leadership development.
But all this work can’t be accomplished alone or in one day. There are fantastic leaders out there moving the needle and helping organizations boost employee engagement, increase their ability to deal with gaps in the talent pipeline, and reduce the nightmare and costs associated with employee turnover. Great leaders attract, hire, and inspire other great leaders.
If you know anyone who should be featured in our Increase Diversity Spotlight Series, email Team JTC at info@jennifertardy.com or drop us a line in the comments section.
✅ We will use the weekly #IncreaseDiversity newsletter platform to do five things:
Challenge organizations to dig more deeply when it comes to diversity recruiting and retention programs
Clarify misconceptions or demystify complex topics related to diversity recruiting
Share best practices in diversity recruiting and retention
Answer frequently asked questions related to diversity recruiting and retention
Build a safe learning community for hiring professionals