Sonali D’silva is the Founder of Equality Consulting – a leadership and diversity & inclusion training, consulting and coaching practice based out of Adelaide, South Australia. Sonali’s is a ‘Certified Professional in Inclusive Leadership’ from Catalyst Inc., and tailors actionable learning and coaching solutions to develop inclusive leaders and team cultures.
She is the author of the “Leading with Inclusion Self-assessment” and the “Psychological Safety Self-assessment” for Leaders’. In addition to numerous online courses.
In her consulting capacity, Sonali delivers projects through her unique 5-stage advisory process, and offers structured, consultative and informed support to organisations.
Sonali is a valued facilitator and coach in navigating the challenges and demands of a modern and diverse workplace. She has been described as an inclusivity expert, a heart-centred leader and engaging storyteller who deeply connects with her clients.
Sonali has widely travelled for work, delivering 500+ workshops across 13 countries, helping bring a wide range of culturally diverse perspectives on leadership.
Over her two decades plus career, Sonali has served in management roles in learning and leadership development in the Information Technology and Healthcare industries, including steering leadership development for Asia Pacific for a Fortune 500 Company.
Sonali is a passionate writer, and her articles are published in reputed management publications. She also volunteers her time as an industry mentor for business schools.
Sonali is a Certified Inclusive Leadership Professional from Catalyst Inc. and has an MBA in Human Resource Management . She is credentialed in ‘Inclusive Leadership & Workplace Diversity’ from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is an administrator for Inclusive Behaviours Inventory (IBI) through Aperial Global. Please head over to Sonali’s LinkedIn profile to view her certifications in diversity & inclusion, developing empathetic leaders, leading diverse teams and advancing leadership for women.
Sonali is an astute and experienced coach who helps senior leaders navigate diverse and challenging work environments. Her coaching process helps leaders feel more resourceful through gaining perspectives and expanding their leadership options.
Sonali delivers Masterclasses and longer workshops on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, bias interruption and women at work. She offers a safe learning environment that helps participants challenge assumptions and raise inclusion.
Sonali is a valued advisor and consultant to organisations on D&I and people projects that help shape strategic direction and gain traction. Sonali has her own unique five-phase framework for consulting assignments that deliver tangible outcomes.
Sonali is an energising and engaging speaker who deeply connects with her audiences. She does this through framing complex ideas as stories and practical insights. Her presentations help raise inclusion, leadership awareness and belonging.
Somewhere in my mid-20s, I found a book by the legendary leadership thinker and writer, Warren Bennis. That day, I discovered leadership! He made a big impact on my mind. I knew, sitting in a hot and towering library back in India that leadership was going to be my thing. I didn’t know how, but it was.
That didn’t mean I became an effective leader myself. That would take many more years – and the journey continues. What helped was taking on leadership responsibilities at work and teaching leadership as part of my work. That proved the training ground to listen to the many leadership challenges experienced by leaders. And what they thought they needed to get through those challenges. I had found my passion in leadership development.
Two decades ago, I began travelling extensively around the world to US, Europe and Asia, teaching team leaders what I knew of leadership and what could enable them to become better leaders.
Those enlightening first-hand cultural experience started my diversity and inclusion journey! It wasn’t possible to teach leadership without also talking about who was being led, what they needed from leaders and what could help people experience inclusion at work.
My biggest leadership test was when I became a team leader myself. That raised my awareness, challenged hidden assumptions and elevated my understanding of inclusive leadership. I can safely say that when I chose to improve my own leadership, I also became a better facilitator and person.
I am continually inspired by the transformational and career-changing impact inclusive and effective leadership can have on teams. I am a firm believer that without leaders working on themselves first, putting pressure on teams to do any better is mostly unproductive. Most leaders are capable of difficult change – if it serves a purpose bigger than hiding from our insecurities and flaws.
The process of unlearning and relearning continues. I feel energised about going further along on this path through my dedicated work in leading with inclusion and creating safe, respectful and caring work cultures where people can belong and do their best work.
I make a daily effort to be learning agile, stay open to new influences and deal with some of the discomfort that comes with it. I can tell you from repeated experience, the discomfort of raising your leadership awareness is temporary, and gives way to renewed leadership fairly quickly.
Through my work in leadership and inclusion for over two decades now, I have been on a journey to interrupt biases, challenge assumptions and undo unhelpful conditioning, so we can ask ourselves tough and important questions as leaders. When a small voice inside nudges you to rationalise and move on, keep persisting and do what aligns with your chosen leadership values and not your borrowed beliefs from the past.
I am passionate and inspired about helping leaders and businesses navigate the modern workplace, so everyone can benefit and create a more fulfilling, inclusive, safer, equitable and respectful work environment. You may agree, everyone deserves and needs that at work.
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