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Action Step – Assess, Articulate, Activate & Align: The Culture Transformation Process

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies to humanize the workplace, empower people, and foster innovation. Members can access full versions the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

Culture is the heartbeat of an organization. Gallup’s research shows just how powerful it can be: people who feel connected to their company’s culture are four times as likely to be engaged at work, 4.5 times more likely to be high performers, 62% less likely to feel burned out, and 47% less likely to be actively looking for another job. That is not coincidence; that is culture at work.

Many organizations put real effort into defining and communicating culture, yet gaps still remain between the words and the daily experience. Even executive teams can describe culture in different ways, creating misalignment that leads to disengagement, confusion, and turnover…

The Culture Transformation Process

Assess

Start by understanding your current reality…

Articulate

Define the culture you aspire to create…

Activate

Bringing culture to life starts with connection. When people feel culture every day in the way they work, collaborate, and lead, it becomes a source of pride and clarity…

Align

Embedding culture into systems is what makes it last. When hiring, onboarding, performance management, recognition, and advancement are all aligned with cultural values, people experience culture as something they actively live every day…

Members: Read the full version of this Action Step in the Member Resource Center.

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. 

The Secret to Making Flexible Work Actually Work | Learn-It-All

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2025 DFA Annual Conference – November 5, 2025

Registration is now open for the 2025 DFA Annual Conference! Here are 5 reasons you won’t want to miss it.

We’re thrilled to invite you to the 2025 DFA Annual Conference, a day designed for leaders who are ready to meet this moment of change with clarity, courage, and connection.

Work is evolving at a rapid pace. From AI and automation to rising expectations around flexibility and return-to-office policies, the future demands a new kind of leadership: bold, human-centered, and prepared for what’s next.

That’s exactly what this year’s conference delivers.

Held in Washington, DC on November 5th, this high-impact event brings together trailblazers and thought leaders for a full day of learning, insight, and action.

Here are five reasons you’ll want to be in the room:

  1. Learn from bold, future-focused leaders: Hear how top organizations are navigating change, driving innovation, and building cultures that work for both people and performance.
  2. Get tools you can use right away: Walk away with practical resources, compelling data, and strategies that can immediately strengthen your talent, culture, change management, and flexibility efforts.
  3. Make the business case for change: Access new research and real-world examples to help you advocate for high-impact policies inside your organization.
  4. Build your network: Connect with senior peers across industries who share your challenges and your commitment to leading with purpose.
  5. Be part of something energizing: Past attendees consistently call the conference inspiring, strategic, and refreshingly real. This is the room where ideas spark and momentum builds.

DFA members receive two complimentary tickets. Be sure to reserve yours by September 19 to ensure availability.

View full conference details and register here.

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2025 Leadership Symposium – September – December 2025

The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance’s Leadership Symposium is a series of virtual seminars for individuals at member organizations looking to expand their personal leadership style and business acumen. The 2025 curriculum includes:

Session 1:

Living Your All™: Empowering Individuals to Lead Well, Live Well and Stay Well

Featuring Manar Morales, Founder & CEO, DFA

September 30 | 1:00 pm ET

Living Your All™: Empowering individuals to Lead Well, Live Well and Stay Well will introduce a new way of thinking about success, one where personal well-being and professional excellence work together. You’ll explore how to support your own energy and purpose while creating the conditions for your team and organization to thrive. We’ll also walk through the PRISM™ framework, a practical tool to help you apply these ideas in your daily leadership.

Session 2:

Becoming A More Conflict-Intelligent Leader

Featuring Dr. Jeanine W. Turner, Professor, Georgetown University

October 22 | 1:00 pm ET

Successful conflict can be a necessary and integral part of innovative and creative organizations. However, leaders can find it difficult to create a space where constructive disagreement can lead to breakthrough opportunities. The first step towards this environment involves gaining self-awareness about your own conflict style and developing a curiosity about how the rest of your team approaches conflict. This seminar will explore the five conflict styles that individuals bring to a conversation and provide strategies for addressing these styles and communicating about them in your team.

Session 3:

HumaAIn – Empowering Inclusion with Technology

Featuring: Noelle Russell, CEO, AI Leadership Institute

September 11 | 1:00 pm ET

AI innovator Noelle Russell has dedicated her career to helping organizations understand AI’s capabilities, as well as how it can be implemented to create revenue-generating opportunities while maintaining the human element within their teams. Russell will discuss the real, tangible ways artificial intelligence can be utilized every day to improve businesses and the world. She will also walk participants through what it takes to build solutions that spark growth within organizations and serve more people by creating inclusive teams that are empathetic, courageous, and leverage varying perspectives as the foundation of innovation. She will also address the implications of building AI solutions that augment human ingenuity in business — thus improving the employee and customer experience.

Organization-wide registration is included with DFA Leader and Champion memberships. Champion & Leader Members: Register in the Member Resource Center.

Not a member? Contact us for more information. 

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Action Step – The Business Case for Sabbaticals: A Talent Strategy for Retention, Resilience & Results

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies to humanize the workplace, empower people, and foster innovation. Members can access full versions the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

In today’s high-burnout, high-expectation work cultures, innovative organizations are looking for strategies to nurture their talent and foster sustainable success. Sabbaticals offer a powerful opportunity—intentional, structured time away that replenishes energy, sparks fresh thinking, and deepens the connection between employees and their work.

At DFA, we’ve been studying the evolving needs of modern talent, and what it really takes to build organizations that are both high-performing and human-centered. Through multi-source research and conversations with member organizations, one insight has become increasingly clear: sabbaticals are one of the most underused yet high-impact strategies available today. They support individual well-being, strengthen teams, improve succession planning, and help drive critical business outcomes such as retention, innovation, and long-term engagement.

And yet, most organizations don’t have a formal sabbatical program in place.

As pressures mount on professionals at every level, particularly those in demanding client service or high-responsibility roles, traditional talent strategies are falling short. Top performers are looking for more than promotions and compensation. They’re looking for organizations that see them holistically, and are willing to invest in their long-term vitality (not just their quarterly output).

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Key Components of a Well-Drafted Sabbatical Policy

We strongly recommend that all sabbatical programs be codified in a formal, written policy. As with other forms of leave or flexibility, a clearly documented policy ensures consistency, transparency, and equitable application. It also raises awareness and reduces confusion about eligibility and expectations. Even for organizations that offer unlimited vacation, it’s important to create a distinct sabbatical policy that communicates this benefit as separate, intentional, and supported.

Drawing from our research and extensive experience in organizational consulting, we offer the following recommendations for developing or refining a sabbatical policy:

1. Define the Purpose

Clarity of purpose is essential. Too often, organizations implement policies without articulating what they are trying to achieve or why it is important. A clearly stated purpose—whether improving retention, reducing burnout, supporting long-term growth, or recognizing tenure—anchors the program in business strategy, builds internal support, and brings skeptics on board. This purpose should be stated upfront in the policy and reinforced throughout internal communications.

2. Set Eligibility Criteria…

Members: Continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center.

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.