PROUDLY
CANADIAN
It’s been a particularly challenging time for so many people as we individually and collectively grieve unfolding hostilities and humanitarian catastrophes in the Middle East and around the world. Some people’s perspectives are being painfully and dramatically redrawn by current media. For others, conflict is felt even close to home through hate speech and targeted crime.
In this climate, you may be wondering “Is it okay to celebrate?” or “Should my workplace plan holiday festivities?”
While there is no universal answer to this question, this week we’re going to share the perspective of Brian Carwana, the Founder and Director of Encounter World Religions, an organization dedicated to religious literacy, pluralism, and inclusion.
According to Brian, yes, we should celebrate:
“Festivals like Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa give us opportunities to connect with our loved ones, to think about our own worlds of family, friends, and community, and what we can do to support one another. […T]hey bond us to one another and fill our cups to face the adversities that will come and to help others when adversities come their way.”
He also notes that canceling religious traditions for fear of “inflaming tensions” or “taking sides” is a mistake because it assigns group guilt and punishes religious communities and individuals for things they don’t control.
If you’re looking for straightforward, no nonsense advice about how to celebrate the holidays inclusively, check out this article by Best of HR. They asked CEOs and people managers for their best recommendations and came up with clear and actionable strategies. From creating collaborative holiday calendars to centering the holidays more on meal-sharing, there are several best practices that you may follow to foster inclusive holiday celebrations in your workplace.
As we enter the holiday season, many of our colleagues are celebrating or observing holy days, festivals and observances. On this replay of Just One Q, Melissa Horne, PhD talks with Brian Carwana about building our religious literacy. Being intentional about incorporating religious inclusion in DEI efforts is essential to creating a welcoming space where religious and spiritual people can bring their whole selves to work.
Creating a psychologically safe workplace is essential for fostering trust, innovation, and collaboration among team members. This intermediate-level program based on the work of Dr. David Rock of the NeuroLeadership Institute explores how leaders can promote psychological safety and belonging on their teams by mitigating threats to status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.
“They’re great at their job, but they struggle with ‘professional norms.’” We frequently hear this critique leveled at three groups: Early-career talent (Gen Z) entering
https://dialectic.solutions/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Undercutting-credibility.mp4 We often notice two polar opposite communication habits in emerging talent: Over-apologizing (“Sorry to bother you,” “Sorry, dumb question…”), which shrinks authority and confidence.
We hear this regularly from managers attempting to coach early-career talent. The knee-jerk reaction to feedback is often defensiveness, interrupting, or making excuses, which halts
See how easy it is to activate soft skills in your organization. Soft skills training on 3 key topics: Leadership, Belonging and Collaboration.
