DEI – Four Simple Words

Supporting Your Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Journey

Equity, respect and building spaces for brave conversations have been central to all our work at Pearl Street and Four Simple Words. Our commitment to learning and empowering Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) moves can be seen through the thousands of strategic planning, communication and facilitation projects we have had the honour of participating in.

Facilitating Conversations About Belonging

Our JEDI team is a dynamic duo that thrives on learning and building relationships. As men – one with more privilege than many and the other a textbook example of ‘the man’ – Lakhdeep and Curt know this work requires humility, grace and patience to invite individuals and groups to see and hear one another. The ability to laugh at ourselves does not hurt either.

We keep these values at the centre of all our work:

We are in service to the needs of your team and are willing to step into uncomfortable places to do so.
We are shepherds of process and do not own outcomes. Our role is to help you identify and work toward those outcomes through clear process, accountability metrics with regular (and honest) communication.
We do our best to model and encourage a curiosity mindset — and hope you will call us out when we don’t.

Lakhdeep Singh Dhaliwal

Lakhdeep has a passion for and proven success in front-line leadership around anti-racism, human rights, equity and inclusion. He has worked with school boards across North America in public and private settings. Lakhdeep has supported service providers to global corporations such as Shell Petroleum Global Solutions, YMCA Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations Northern Affairs Canada, Halton Regional Police Service, the City of Cambridge, Oregon Institute of Technology, and Parks Canada. All his work is focused on promoting dignity and respect for everyone.

Learn more about our VP of Equity & Belonging

Upon completion of a Master’s Degree in Education, Lakhdeep went on to become certified as an International Language Instructor and he has held various positions in academia such as Elementary School Teacher, Language Assessment Officer, LINC & ESL Teacher, College Instructor, and IELTS Invigilator.

After leading a community hate crime reporting project with Ottawa, Toronto, York and Peel Police Services, Lakhdeep became a program facilitator with the Mosaic Institute. While Vice President of Equity Education at unlearn, Lakhdeep worked with every school board in Ontario and many boards throughout Canada on anti-racist, culturally relevant and responsive practice, pedagogy, and perceived inclusion.

Lakheep is now the Chief Diversity Officer at Milton Public Library leading initiatives like Trans Storytime, Indigenous Garden programming, and recently a Holy Quran Exhibition. Lakhdeep’s leadership and compassion naturally inspires a collectivist and constructivist mindset.

Lakhdeep is a soccer fan, player and volunteer coach dedicated to the game and known to break barriers with his head and feet!

Curt Hammond

As a professional trainer and facilitator, Curt has been engaging large and small audiences for over 20 years. His speaking prowess has been described as everything from meh to average. When it comes to JEDI work, Curt knows that as a straight, white male, he has nothing but learning to do. And, while he is creating spaces for others, he has a role in modeling and sharing what his JEDI learning journey has looked like. He eagerly steps into conversations about belonging, race and identity with the goal of listening to learn how he can use his privilege to help other voices sign as loudly as his.

Learn more about our Chief Learning Officer

Curt is personally and professionally based in the beautiful village of Elora Ontario. He is the lucky husband of Melanie and a super proud dad to Sky and Jay. (Shameless plug: follow Sky and his #TeenyTinyStories on Facebook and Twitter and watch his TV series on TVOkids here).

Curt wears lots of hats and some of them even fit. At Four Simple Words he is the Chief Learning Officer, passionate about exploring how service can help heal ourselves, our organizations and our communities. When he’s not talking or thinking about Service Leadership, Curt is also the Chief Listening Officer at Pearl Street Communications, leading a team of marketing professionals passionate about change-making work.

Curt’s accountant often reminds him that he volunteers. A lot. That leadership has included starting and running the CW Men Who Care, helping launch Tree Trust and sharing his mediocre facilitation skills with dozens of community groups to help their strategic and communications planning. No matter the role, Curt has yet to encounter a whiteboard he did not feel an immediate and personal connection with.

You can see Curt in action as a speaker here, during his MoMondays Guelph talk in March 2020 and the many Forums we have run since.

Curt’s meeting acknowledgments which cover the land, his personal bias and our collective mental health have been called described as authentic, meaningful and foundational for building spaces of brave conversations. You can read them here.

Our commitment to JEDI values shows up in our volunteer community leadership

For Lakhdeep that includes:

Securing $500k for a community centre and Sikh temple.
Bringing attention to International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as a youth leader
Being invited to speak at A JOURNEY TOWARDS DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION – WINTER RECHARGE 2022 a panel discussion to explore Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the workforce
Building Relationships in Cultural Sports Groups to Strengthen Amateur Sports Across the Country
Facilitating race-based data conversations for Milton Now
A panellist on the Canadian Municipal Network panel on Crime Prevention

For Curt that includes:

Municipal Campaign School is an effort to empower women and other equity-seeking leaders to successfully run for office
The Hate Has No Home Here campaign which saw over lawn 650 signs distributed throughout Centre Wellington
Ongoing support of the Poverty Task Force of Guelph Wellington with strategic planning support for their Living Wage Movement and training for their lived experience volunteers
Starting up the Centre Wellington Men Who Care and leveraging that platform to introduce members to equity-seeking groups and individuals who are making an impact on the community.

JEDI Process That Works

We have facilitated thousands of meaningful moves of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (including affinity) working groups, half and full-day retreats, conferences, micro e-learnings and spontaneous courageous conversations. Regardless of where you are in your JEDI journey, we will make sure your time, energy and resources stay focused on your goals.

Keeping it Fun

We’re big fans of courageous conversations and know they are key to helping organizations identify opportunities to authentically step into JEDI conversations and action. When it comes to online or in-person meetings, we don’t like to sit for long and don’t ask our clients to do so either. Creativity, consensus and decision-making flow more naturally and result in better decisions when meetings involve a mix of individual, small and large group work.

Focused on Outcomes

Great facilitation requires two simple and powerful tools. The first is clarity. Clarity on why people are giving up their time and energy to come together. And equally important, clarity on what success for the process or meeting looks like.

The second trait of great facilitation is listening. As professional listeners, we create spaces where individuals, organizations and communities are comfortable so they can share what is important and truly hear one another. We also listen to what is being said and have the skills and courage to follow the energy and (real) needs of the group.

A Culture of Learning

We have been on a DEI learning journey for a long time. In addition to our own personal work, we have invited others into some of our learning through our Four Simple Words Forums. Thanks to our smart guests, we have gained insights and practical ideas to encourage leaders to build more equitable teams focused on impact, clarity and belonging. This learning has resulted in practical ways that we work with all our clients regardless of the topic includign our recognized and celebrated meeting acknowledgements that help us co-create authentic spaces of learning and curiosity.

How Can We Serve You?

Our JEDI team has worked with large and small businesses, government, community groups and faith communities. We have experience (and even some success!) with

Starting JEDI conversations with leadership teams worried or overwhelmed about where to begin
Responding to incidents of hate, discrimination or dispute
Creating employee resource groups that are empowered, competent and cohesive in the face of exclusion
Summer reading clubs
Developing processes with teams to build a baseline understanding of how to strategically and tactically build cultures that embrace belonging
Creating and delivering training content (and evaluation check ins) to help move JEDI policies forward

How can we be of service to your JEDI journey? Lets book a 30 min Zoom to chat.

Curt Hammond, Chief Learning Officer
519.580.9725 | [email protected]

Lakhdeep Dhaliwal, VP of Equity & Belonging
519.496.2212 | [email protected]