Leadership

In the mid-eighties I was a young gay woman just beginning to navigate a corporate career. A notable event of the time was that the first gay woman came out live on television.  In that day there was no discussion about “bringing one’s whole self to work.” As well, there was no understanding of the direct link between an employee bringing their complete self to work and productivity, innovation and certainly not  about what it might mean for organizational success. 

Much has changed since that time. Talent-sensitive organizations who find themselves in a war for the best and brightest recognize the need to look beyond culture-fit to culture complement. To me, the direct route to innovation is through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion--it resides in creativity, imagination, and varying perspectives expressed when you bring together a diverse group of people to solve a single problem.

 Project Examples:

• Diversity and Inclusion (National Organization in the Trades) -- Organizational assessment, leadership D&I education, and design and deliver D&I Training to all employees. Key objective achieved: develop and implement a sustainable and integrated D&I effort. Partner firm: ECCO International
  
• Employee Experience (Multi-National Manufacturer) -- Evaluating Total Rewards effectiveness using the "EmployeeEXP 8 x 9 Box Analysis," organizational data analysis, and employee survey. Project scope: "How do we think differently to retain top talent?" "What are we, should we be doing with regard to digital and HR practice strategy?"
  
• Employee Experience (High Tech Firm) -- Project Scope: Develop a well organized structure/calendar that helps to illustrate the organization's EVP. Provide a document that helps to present a more complete picture of the organization's investment in creating Employee Experience -- is it most effectively allocated, what is working, what is not, what can use improvement? 
• Diversity and Inclusion (Multinational Manufacturer) -- Objective: get to a point of clarity for an L & D team who had been engaged in a lengthy struggle to align Learning and Development with the overall Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Mission and Vision. Outcome: Through interactive discussion, focus groups and a visual practitioner led the team in a process to establish and move towards implementing a strategic plan. Partner firm: ECCO International

Forum on Workplace Inclusion, 2020, Just before COVID-19 closed down live presentations...."Join us as the Ostrich rolls with five simple concepts for inclusive leadership found in the book “Reversing the Ostrich Approach to Diversity: Pulling Your Head out of the Sand.” In this fast-paced session, our friend the Ostrich introduces you to the Ostrich Wheel concepts that can easily be put to use for understanding inclusion from a personal, team, leader or organizational perspective."

MGMA, 2020 Winter Conference, Title: Leadership Development through a D&I Lens. Following the 5-Step Ostrich Wheel from our "Reversing the Ostrich Approach to Diversity: Pulling your head out of the sand" shared practical and easily applied models leaders, managers and individual contributors can use in creating inclusive cultures. www.ostrichwheel.com 

AVIXA, Twin Cities Women's Council, Power Communication Skills for Women in AV. Introduced tools featured in Reversing the Ostrich Approach to Diversity: pulling your head out of the sand. Communication is central to fixing the "broken rung" as featured in McKinsey and LEAN IN's 2019 report on women in the workplace.

FEI Twin Cities, Professional Development, Diversity & Inclusion: People and Financial Perspectives, A popular question, "What is the 'business case' for creating intentional engagement in Diversity & Inclusion efforts?" While numerous sources illustrate how D&I impacts organizational performance, implementing and embracing talent-centric practices, policies and procedures will ultimately drive sustainability and growth.  #cfo #businesscase

38th Annual ISCEBS Employee Benefits Symposium, New Orleans, LA. Title & Topic: The Intersection of Diversity & Inclusion and Total Rewards, the impact of EID on health outcomes, managing costs and attracting, retaining and engaging talent. (Evaluations:  Great presentation! | Good content and a different way of thinking about messaging | One of best presentations I’ve attended | Excellent and really made people think | This by far was the best lecture of the conference for me)  #19symp, #diversityequityandinclusion #totalrewards

Link to Presentation

IABC Convergence Summit, Minneapolis, MN. Title & Topic: What You Think Shapes What You Say. Is your bias showing? 

31st Annual Conference, The Forum on Workplace Inclusion, Minneapolis, MN. Title & Topic: No Staff. No Resources. No Problem, assisting middle market organizations create inclusive cultures.

JA Counter, Outside the Box, Employer Symposium, New Richmond, WI. Title & Topic: Culture and Total Rewards, Collaborators in Attracting Top Talent, exploring innovative strategies to engage employees and deliver creative benefit plan designs. 

McGough Women’s Initiative, Empowering to Lead, St. Paul, MN. Women Build Together, how to navigate and diminish implicit bias. 

MN Association of Health Underwriters, Mpls, MN., Benefits Advisor to Talent Partner

Reversing the Ostrich Approach to Diversity: Pulling your head out of the sand:  

"This is an invaluable resource. The book is based on an entertaining, easy to follow premise that too many people are burying their heads in the sand around dealing with our fast paced, increasingly diverse and evolving digitalized world. Reversing the Ostrich Approach to Diversity: Pulling your head out of the sand gives readers a fun, practical, easy to follow five-part model: The Ostrich Wheel." 

Check it out and get a copy: OstrichWheel

 Responses to TLNT Article

"Loved your message. One point that  was especially interesting was If you didn't know you had it, it can't be missed by me as the exiting employee. Yes, I know I'm not giving it justice but it is certainly an important point. It also made me chuckle. Keep up the good work. You are always amazing. " -- HR Practitioner

 "You had many great points in the piece - veery thought-provoking! The last point about a learning culture and sharing openly is one that I have thought about for many years as I have experienced cultures where this sharing was not common - quite the opposite." --  L & D practitioner