Fault Lines®: Sessions

The Maynard Institute offers in-person and virtual diversity training sessions for newsrooms of all sizes across the country. Our program is based on addressing personal bias “Fault Lines” of race, gender, sexual orientation, generation, geography and class, as they apply to journalists, newsroom collaboration and coverage.

Fundamental Fault Lines Question:
How can you be a dismantler of systemic racism in your organization?

Download: Fault Lines Phased Process and Scope of Work

Fault Lines® Training Options and Fees

OPTION 1: OPENING THE WAY FOR LEADERS AND MANAGERS (10 HOURS)

Leadership and management training often have a “diversity” component, but the Maynard Institute believes this should be an integral part of all training, not a one oﬀ. Maynard has built a training curriculum around its Fault Lines® concept to deepen understanding and help managers and those not in leadership develop work cultures that move beyond inclusiveness to instead help promote a sense of belonging for all.

Format: This option involves ﬁve phases. Each module is a two-hour, interactive session that builds on the Fault Lines® framework for management and workplace culture. Breakout groups and homework assignments are determined through the intake process.

Phase 1. Understanding Fault Lines®

This workshop will set the tone for the weeks to come. We’ll discuss trust and conﬁdentiality and the importance of both when it comes to discussing sensitive topics. Then we’ll discuss Fault Lines® and their role in coverage and culture.

Phase 2. Communication

“How we talk and listen are deeply inﬂuenced by cultural experience.” It’s been 25 years since Deborah Tannen made this observation about communication styles and how they play out in the workplace. This module discusses the importance of communication and how it can be inﬂuenced by bias because we ﬁlter through personal Fault Lines.

Phase 3. Managing Diﬀerence

The days of a homogeneous workplace are gone. Four generations - Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z - make up the workforce. There are also differences along every Fault Line that can influence work culture.This module focuses on how managers can navigate the Fault Lines in the workplace and in the audience.

Phase 4. Collaboration

Managers are the “straw that stirs the drink.” They are charged with bringing together disparate groups of people to achieve a common goal. This module considers the pitfalls and challenges that get in the way of successful collaboration. One of those ways is through understanding how our Fault Lines inﬂuence our perceptions and result in behaviors such as microaggressions and various forms of biases, such as performance, aﬃnity and unconscious.

Phase 5. Managing Me

It’s not enough to manage others, good managers also have to understand what motivates them and how they can do their best work. This module examines what gets in the way of personal success and satisfaction and considers strategies that help managers develop themselves.

OPTION 2: BREAKING IT DOWN FROM BIAS TO BELONGING (7 HOURS)

Phase 1. Equity and Belonging

In this three hour session, Maynard Institute experts will outline the history of social justice movements within journalism and how the calls have shifted the conversation about diversity to dismantling systemic racism in news and building institutions of belonging. Learn how diversity equates to trust in the eyes of news consumers.

Get an overview of the institute’s trademarked Fault Lines® framework, which reveals how we all see the world through the prism of race, class, gender, generation, geography and sexual orientation. Learn how these factors inﬂuence coverage, community engagement and working relationships.

Format: Group breakouts and homework. To be determined based on intake and session shaping conversation. Includes an open discussion of the survey results, submitted by training participants in advance, prior to the session.

Phase 2. Buckets of Bias

This 2 hour session unpacks how biases are formed and how to be conscious of your own. Maynard trainers get into the weeds about the diﬀerent forms of bias, such as unconscious, implicit and performance. Learn how these inﬂuence coverage and story framing.

Format: Workshop and homework. During the session, attendees break into groups to discuss what they learned about their own biases. They will begin to formulate a plan to account for their biases in coverage and source selection.

Phase 3. Microaggressions and Organizational Culture

This 2 hour session explores microaggressions - what they are, who commits them, how they erode morale and what you can do to stop them and hold colleagues accountable. Journalists must learn how the Fault Lines®, biases and microaggressions all come together to create untenable relationships with colleagues, community and work environments. Attendees will gain an understanding of how to improve their news organization’s culture through interactions with colleagues, sources and members of the community.

OPTION 3. SINGLE SESSION (3 HOURS)

Equity and Belonging
In this three hour session, Maynard Institute experts will outline the history of social justice movements within journalism and how the calls have shifted the conversation about diversity to dismantling systemic racism in news and building institutions of belonging. Learn how diversity equates to trust in the eyes of news consumers.

OPTION COMBO. SUSTAINED ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT (10 HOURS+)

Add-on Working Action Groups
CSelect Option 1 “Opening the way for leaders and managers” or Option 2 “Breaking it down from bias to belonging” and add a working group phase. Convene up to ﬁve working groups using change-tools that focus on key areas of the enterprise. Guided and supported by two Maynard Institute coaches, working group members will be given frameworks to identify actionable items and move toward outcomes. Each group will identify an area of interest, conduct research and then develop an initial plan and presentation that would be presented to senior management. All Action Group plans are compiled into one uniform presentation branded for your organization at the conclusion of the phase.

Examples of Action Group topics:

Coverage
Audience development
Aligning DEIB with mission
Organizational culture
Community engagement
Pay equity
Length of Action Group Phase - eight to 12 weeks

Our Approach

The sessions are upbeat, interactive and engaging. This isn’t about ﬁnger pointing. It’s about understanding ourselves in service of more nuanced and inclusive journalism and workplaces. All options listed above include the following learning and evaluation framework:

Surveys. Pre- and post-training surveys of attendees to assess level of cultural competence and eﬀectiveness of each session.
Intake Session. One 45 minute pre-training call with leadership for each phase to help shape and adjust each session.
Debrief Session. One 60 minute ﬁnal call with organization leadership to discuss takeaways and next steps.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maynard Institute pivoted to Zoom as the primary training delivery method. In-person training sessions are a potential option in 2022. Hybrid iterations of both virtual Zoom and in-person instruction are also available.

Consulting Fees

The Maynard Institute provides varying rates to best ﬁt a corporate or nonproﬁt newsroom. These fees are inclusive of all Zoom sessions, surveys, conference calls, meetings, and project management. For in-person training sessions, the travel expenses such as Business Class airfare, hotel, ground transportation and per diem are not included in the consulting free structure and are negotiated as an additional expense.