<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Michael Lee StallardA More Effective DEI Alternative: Connection Culture &#8211; Michael Lee Stallard</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.michaelleestallard.com/effective-dei-alternative-connection-culture/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.michaelleestallard.com</link>
	<description>Helping Leaders Create Cultures that Connect</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 20:49:19 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	
		<item>
		<title>A More Effective DEI Alternative: Connection Culture</title>
		<link>http://www.michaelleestallard.com/effective-dei-alternative-connection-culture</link>
		<comments>http://www.michaelleestallard.com/effective-dei-alternative-connection-culture#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Apr 2025 20:22:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katie Russell</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Connection Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Employee Engagement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Value]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media Appearances]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelleestallard.com/?p=9147</guid>

				<description><![CDATA[SmartBrief on Leadership Article. <p>As many organizations move away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, they are left asking, &#8220;what&#8217;s next?&#8221;  My proposal is to replace DEI programs with something more effective: cultivating a culture of connection (also referred to as a “Connection Culture” or “Connected Culture”). This approach intentionally develops positive bonds among people, fostering collaboration, cooperation, employee [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.michaelleestallard.com/effective-dei-alternative-connection-culture">A More Effective DEI Alternative: Connection Culture</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.michaelleestallard.com">Michael Lee Stallard</a>.</p>
]]></description>
					<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em id="gnt_postsubtitle" style="color:#770005;font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:1.3em;line-height:1.2em;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;">SmartBrief on Leadership Article</em></p> <img width="760" height="389" src="http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-760x389.jpg" class="featured-image wp-post-image" alt="Group of happy, diverse people smiling" srcset="http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-760x389.jpg 760w, http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-300x153.jpg 300w, http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-768x393.jpg 768w, http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-518x265.jpg 518w, http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-82x42.jpg 82w, http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440-600x307.jpg 600w, http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-People_860x440.jpg 860w" sizes="(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px" /><p>As many organizations move away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, they are left asking, &#8220;what&#8217;s next?&#8221; <span id="more-9147"></span></p>
<p>My proposal is to replace DEI programs with something more effective: cultivating a culture of connection (also referred to as a “Connection Culture” or “Connected Culture”). This approach intentionally develops positive bonds among people, fostering collaboration, cooperation, employee engagement, strategic alignment, innovation, better decision-making, agility, adaptability and overall superior performance.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.smartbrief.com/original/from-dei-to-human-connection-a-better-way-to-unlock-human-potential" target="_blank">recent article published by SmartBrief on Leadership,</a> I explain the challenge of many DEI programs and how Connection Culture addresses those challenges, why Connection Culture is a proven model for uniting teams, and how to implement Connection Culture in a way that avoids the pitfalls of DEI.</p>
<p>If you need help cultivating a culture of connection in your organization, <a href="https://www.michaelleestallard.com/contact" target="_blank">reach out to me</a>. From workshops to help train your team to books and resources, I can help your team get off to a strong start.</p>
<!-- Start Sociable --><div class="sociable"><div class="sociable_tagline">Be Sociable, Share!</div><ul class='clearfix'><li><a title="Twitter" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-288px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture%20  "></a></li><li><a title="Facebook" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-96px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;t=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture"></a></li><li><a title="LinkedIn" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-288px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;source=Michael+Lee+Stallard+Helping+Leaders+Create+Cultures+that+Connect&amp;summary=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li><li><a title="email" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-160px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&to&su=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&ui=2&tf=1&shva=1"></a></li><li><a class="option1_32" style="cursor:pointer;background-position:-128px 0px" rel="nofollow" title="Add to favorites - doesn't work in Chrome"  onClick="javascript:AddToFavorites();"></a></li><li><a title="StumbleUpon" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-224px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture"></a></li><li><a title="Delicious" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-32px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://delicious.com/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;notes=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li><li><a title="Google Reader" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-224px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;srcURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;srcTitle=Michael+Lee+Stallard+Helping+Leaders+Create+Cultures+that+Connect"></a></li><li><a onClick="javascript:var ipinsite='Good%20Vibes.%20Vuible.com',ipinsiteurl='http://vuible.com/';(function(){if(window.ipinit!==undefined){ipinit();}else{document.body.appendChild(document.createElement('script')).src='http://vuible.com/wp-content/themes/ipinpro/js/ipinit.js';}})();" style="cursor:pointer" rel="nofollow" title="Vuible.com | Share positive messages (images and videos only)"><img style='' src='http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/option1/32/vuible.png'></a></li><li><a title="Digg" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-64px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;bodytext=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li><li><a style="cursor:pointer" rel="nofollow" onMouseOut="fixOnMouseOut(document.getElementById('sociable-post-9147'), event, 'post-9147')" onMouseOver="more(this,'post-9147')"><img style='margin-top:9px' src='http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/more.png'></a></li></ul><div onMouseout="fixOnMouseOut(this,event,'post-9147')" id="sociable-post-9147" style="display:none;">   

    <div style="top: auto; left: auto; display: block;" id="sociable">



		<div class="popup">

			<div class="content">

				<ul><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="Myspace" class="option1_32" style="background-position:0px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.myspace.com/Modules/PostTo/Pages/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;t=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="Reddit" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-128px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="Google Bookmarks" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-192px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&amp;bkmk=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;annotation=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="HackerNews" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-256px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;t=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="MSNReporter" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-352px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://reporter.es.msn.com/?fn=contribute&amp;Title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;cat_id=6&amp;tag_id=31&amp;Remark=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="BlinkList" class="option1_32" style="background-position:0px 0px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.blinklist.com/index.php?Action=Blink/addblink.php&amp;Url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;Title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="Sphinn" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-192px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://sphinn.com/index.php?c=post&amp;m=submit&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="Posterous" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-64px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://posterous.com/share?linkto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;title=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;selection=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li><li style="heigth:32px;width:32px"><a title="Tumblr" class="option1_32" style="background-position:-256px -32px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.tumblr.com/share?v=3&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelleestallard.com%2Feffective-dei-alternative-connection-culture&amp;t=A%20More%20Effective%20DEI%20Alternative%3A%20Connection%20Culture&amp;s=As%20many%20organizations%20move%20away%20from%20diversity%2C%20equity%2C%20and%20inclusion%20%28DEI%29%20initiatives%2C%20they%20are%20left%20asking%2C%20%22what%27s%20next%3F%22%C2%A0%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20proposal%20is%20to%20replace%20DEI%20programs%20with%C2%A0something%20more%20effective%3A%20cultivating%20a%20culture%20of%20connection%20%28also%20referr"></a></li></ul>			

			</div>        

		  <a style="cursor:pointer" onclick="hide_sociable('post-9147',true)" class="close">

		  <img onclick="hide_sociable('post-9147',true)" title="close" src="http://www.michaelleestallard.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/closelabel.png">

		  </a>

		</div>

	</div> 

  </div></div><div class='sociable' style='float:none'><ul class='clearfix'></ul></div><!-- End Sociable --><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.michaelleestallard.com/effective-dei-alternative-connection-culture">A More Effective DEI Alternative: Connection Culture</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.michaelleestallard.com">Michael Lee Stallard</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			

		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.michaelleestallard.com/effective-dei-alternative-connection-culture/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					</item>
	</channel>
</rss>