Gloria Cotton
Principal Consultant
Gloria Cotton is a Principal Consultant at Iris Inclusion. With a corporate background in Human Resources and Organizational Development and educational foundation of Psychology and Education, for more than 25 years Gloria has worked with people and teams in organizations of all sizes (6 to more than 100K) located in national and global locations. Whether the teams and companies are for profit, not-for- profit, non-profit, union/non-union and government entities, Gloria works to help them create and sustain practices, procedures, processes, policies and systems that help people be and do their best. She believes and helps prove that when people feel welcomed, valued, respected and heard that goal can be a robust reality that benefits people, promotes organizationally-focused innovation to deliver transformative products and services.
Her bottom-line, keeping it real, calling out situations and behaviors while calling-people-in to build understanding, respect and trust and holding ourselves and each other accountable approach has helped shape her brand. She is known for shaping and leading environments where it’s safe enough for people to learn and confirm, succeed and fail, agree and disagree together in ways that they willingly extend trust and demonstrate they are worthy of trust; where diversity of experience, motivation, education, ability, etc., are appropriately, intentionally and purposely shared and leveraged in ways that build both relational and task performance.
She says, “If we agree or disagree, when the answer is yes and when it’s no, if we like it or if we don’t, it’s important that we all feel welcomed, valued, respected, heard, understood and supported.”
Gloria is highly respected and much sought after for her work as an instructional designer and master facilitator. She has covered a wide array of topics including leadership, diversity & inclusion, unconscious bias, privilege, multiculturalism, harassment and discrimination, EEO and AA laws, team building, communications and giving performance feedback across lines of difference (e.g., style, generations, gender, sexual orientation, religion and spirituality, chronic illness and disabilities) the development of Development, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Strategies and the establishment of DEI Councils and Business Resource Groups.
Gloria has experience working with professional organizations such as the American Bar Association, John Marshall Law School, Point Made Films, Eli Lilly, University of Chicago Hospitals, Family Christian Health Center, CN Railroad, the Regional Transit Authority of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education, FedEx Ground, Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association, Federal Reserve Bank, Societé Generale and The Walt Disney Company.
