logo_conversantlogo_conversantlogo_conversantlogo_conversant
  • About
    • Team
    • Join Us
  • Expertise
    • Alignment
    • Performance
    • Leadership
  • Services
    • Engagements
    • Coaching
    • Digital Methods
    • Credibility, Influence and Impact
  • Clients
    • Case Studies
  • Resources
    • Podcast
    • Blog
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Tools
    • Community Gatherings
    • Presence Practice Library
  • Connect

Creating Cultures of Dignity & Belonging with Diego Navarro

Published by Emma Rose Connolly at October 30, 2020

Diego Navarro joined  Anne Murray Allen and Katie Mingo for a conversation about the power of dignity and belonging to build communities of engaged and empowered people, as Diego has seen firsthand in the academic sphere. The lessons he’s learned from helping students succeed offer some valuable insight into what it takes for organizations to build cultures of connection, performance and well-being.

Diego Navarro founded the Academy for College Excellence (ACE, formerly the Digital Bridge Academy) an accelerated education program that helps at-risk young adults prepare for community college and for careers in professional fields. Evidence of the program’s effectiveness has been shown in a number of longitudinal studies, offering a new way of teaching that values community, dignity and belonging as critical ingredients to self-actualization.

Diego first met Conversant during his time at Hewlett-Packard, and his deep familiarity with our tools and principles has served the development and success of the ACE programs. Throughout the conversation, he shares how the Conversant teachings apply in the academic context, particularly to building empathetic and respecting student-teacher relationships, developing greater emotional agility in faculty, and growing a sense of trust and safety in these learning environments.

There are clear connections between the relationship leaders have with those they lead and that of teachers and their students. Power dynamics and the presence of cultures of threat vs. dignity impact retention, engagement, transparency, and the likelihood that people will bring their full gifts and contribution to their work. Which culture are you consciously or unconsciously creating in your organization?

 

About Diego 

Diego Navarro has been training faculty in affective learning approaches since 2006 when he was funded by the James Irvine Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to replicate ACE. The experiential learning courses he developed have been taught both in classrooms and online. At WGU his affective course enrolls over 1,500 students per month and has served over 60,000 students. Navarro also developed the Five-day Experiential Learning Institute (FELI) to teach faculty how to employ non-cognitive learning exercises in their classrooms. Over 1,500 faculty and staff from more than 90 institutions have participated in these FELIs.

Navarro has served as a coach on the California Guided Pathways Project and received appointments as a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at Stanford and University of California, Santa Cruz. Diego received the prestigious American Association of Community College Trustees, William H. Meardy National Faculty Award in 2009 after receiving the Pacific Regional Award. Diego’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and other nationally-known funders. Diego earned a graduate degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business where he performed research with Rosabeth Moss Kanter and J Richard Hackman. He has led two high-tech start-up companies and his years of experience in social science research at Hewlett Packard Laboratories were utilized in the design of ACE.

Learn more about Diego and his work on his website: www.diegojamesnavarro.com.

 

Find information about all our upcoming and past webinars on our Community Gatherings page.

What’s important for you and the people you serve right now? We would love to hear from you.

We will continue to explore this question and many others related to how we stay connected and keep creating value in challenging circumstances. To stay up-to-date, sign up for our newsletter where we will share more resources and reflections over the coming weeks.

Share
Emma Rose Connolly
Emma Rose Connolly

Emma Rose has a diverse background in B2B marketing and sales, psychology, hospitality, and mental health and wellness. She is deeply passionate about what makes us […]

Read more

Related posts

February 21, 2023

What Inspires Engagement for Younger Generations


Read more
February 20, 2023

Decision Making | On Connection


Read more
February 14, 2023

Love: The Core Leadership Value and Organizing Principle for Business and Society


Read more

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Conversant

  • About Us
  • Expertise
  • Services
  • Clients
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Resources

  • Community Gatherings
  • Presence Practice Library
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Tools
  • Podcast

Books

  • The Vitality Imperative
  • The Communication Catalyst

Subscribe to our newsletter

Join

    Subscribe to our newsletter





    This form collects your information so we can add you to our newsletter list. Check out our privacy policy for details on how we protect and manage your submitted data.

    [recaptcha size:compact]

    © 2021 Conversant Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.
        We use cookies to personalize content and to provide you with an improved user experience. By continuing to browse this site you consent to the use of cookies. Please visit our Cookie Policy for further details. Accept
        Privacy & Cookies Policy

        Privacy Overview

        This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
        Necessary
        Always Enabled
        Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
        Non-necessary
        Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
        SAVE & ACCEPT