A Passion for Diversity

Kaiser Permanente - A Passion for Diversity

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Some habitancy work at their jobs because they have to make a living, and they get to express themselves after work. Some habitancy have careers that they love, and have a hard time not taking home their work with them when they go home. And then there are thriving habitancy in the diversity field. They have a passion for diversity and they live their work. Either or not they take their work home with them, their work is all the time driven by the values they live every day, and their lives are driven by the values they promote at work.

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When organizations began to embrace diversity in the 1980s, many of them concept that diversity training was the answer. They concept that if every laborer attended a diversity training class, biases, complaints and lawsuits would disappear and everyone would work together in harmony forever. There were two kinds of habitancy engaged in diversity training, education and organizational development. There were those who concept of it as agenda or a trend. These habitancy read a few books, took a train-the-trainer class or bought one in the mail and called themselves experts. The second group knew that it was a process, not a one day agenda and that in order to originate change they needed to live it, learn it and continually fabricate their passion for it. They were cognizant of the need to merge diversity into the company strategy of any organization and the rest of their lives. They also knew there were no quick fixes--that it took patience, and time--but change was possible.

The first group lost interest and went on to something else but habitancy in the second group are still here helping to originate change They're working to originate inclusive environments where all habitancy can do their best work and have their private skills and talents, recognized, appreciated and utilized.

I wanted to know more about this passion for diversity and where it came from. What drives some individuals to pronounce their personal mission, vision and values despite resistance, challenges and nay sayers. I interviewed four habitancy whose passion for diversity is so great it's like a magnetic force that continues to get stronger and attract all things in its path. These four habitancy are Terry Howard, Director of Diversity for Texas Instruments; Michele Atlas from Workforce Diversity Network; Deb Dagit, menagerial Diversity Director at Merck; and, Edgar Quiroz, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at Kaiser Permanente.

I asked all of them, Why did you get involved in diversity? Here are their stories:

Terry Howard, Director of Diversity at Texas Instruments, has a long-standing and personal association with diversity. "As an African-American male, I've been involved in and experienced diversity my entire life. From a work standpoint, I indeed got involved in this work by 'default.' while the mid 1980s, I managed a group charged with delivering employment and Eeo service for At&T. Our client base was very diverse and that itself heightened my interest in this work. The challenge of fostering awareness of that growing diversity and leveraging it was most involving to me. In 1986, I read the Hudson fabricate narrative Workforce 2000. This ignited me and I knew I wanted to help break new ground."

Terry's passion and his involvement in diversity continue to grow. He now supports 15 diversity affinity groups at Texas Instruments, as well as the many company level diversity committees and their yearly diversity conferences. "In between, I write a monthly internal diversity column and issue periodic diversity tips on the full range of diversity topics, and I speak on diversity and inclusion at meetings and retreats internally and externally ." Recently he founded the Diversity association Symposium for Texas Diversity Professionals, a group consisting of representatives from Shell Oil, Price Waterhouse, First American, Intel, Intuit, Jc Penny, Delotte and others and delivered talks in France and China. He takes his passion for diversity and inclusion to the community, having participated in a community march against hate. "One of the things I'm most proud of is my role in the thriving integration of religion and faith in the workplace amid lots of skepticism." He said that habitancy were still talking about the standing room only session "When original Religion Meets Sexual Orientation". When asked what drives him his reply was, "My passion is driven by my curiosity about the far-reaching implications of diversity and getting organizations to see that connection. It never stops."

Deb Dagit, menagerial Director of Diversity for Merck, told me that she had lived months at a time from when she was 11 to 16 in the Shriners Hospital to receive rehabilitation for a bone condition that resulted in fractures and bone deformities. She was there with other children who had bone and burn disabilities from all over the world. "I became close to kids from all over the world who were also living in the hospital for months at a time, cut off from families and "normal" life . I learned what we had in base was more significant than what was different, regardless of our cultural differences."

During the time she spent in communal school she was separated from the rest of her class as schools were not required to merge children with disabilities and therefore there were many restrictions on how she was allowed to attend. She had to sit right next to the teacher's desk and was not allowed to go to recess or lunch with the other kids. In describing her experiences she says, "Because of how I was treated, I linked to other kids who were also seen as needing extra attention from the teacher, Either for behavioral issues or studying challenges . Issues of fairness, respect and inclusion became very prominent to me as I observed who was singled out and how this caused them to be treated by other members of the class ." After graduation, Dagit tutored habitancy who immigrated from Vietnam after the war. She saw how they struggled to learn the language, culture, and to fit in with other kids.

She explained that there is a disproportionate number of habitancy with disabilities who are veterans and who are from minority backgrounds for a variety of reasons , and that along with diversity issues surrounded by habitancy with disabilities who come from different backgrounds, there are diversity issues colse to different types of disabilities. "Some disabilities are more stigmatized than others," she noted.

Her experiences inspired her to come to be a diversity leader. She traveled to Washington Dc and spoke to lawmakers about the significance of passing the Ada and fought against weakening amendments . "During that time I concept about struggles and victories like Brown vs. The Board of education and the Voting proprietary Act, and the significance of civil proprietary for all people. This taste also caused her to realize the significance of 'reasonable accommodation' for all employees as a foundation for what are now called 'work environment' initiatives."

"In my first corporate job out of college I was told very matter of factly that I would never get beyond an 8 or 9 dollar and hour entry level job. After about 5-6 years I began to realize that they were serious about this low ceiling, so l left the corporate world for four years and I worked in the non-profit sector primarily on disability issues . As comfortable and involving as it was to be with my "tribe," I knew that to follow real systemic changes more broadly. It needed to be from the inside out, clubs nee d to see diversity and inclusion as prominent to the success of their company and consistent with the workplace ethics and corporate communal responsibility values the espouse. When I re-entered the underground sector it was as an menagerial with senior level responsibility and salary.

Deb says her passion for diversity only continues to grow. She was a founding member of the seminar Board Workforce Council on Diversity 13 years ago . "I have never been colse to whatever else that keeps me stimulated 24 hours a day. I rarely read whatever that is not in the field. I have a global vision and I want to help originate the kind of world that does not just tolerate differences, but one where habitancy are truly respectful and inclusive of other s, the kind of world that is healthy for our children."

Edgar Quiroz is the Director of Workforce Diversity at Kaiser Permanente's National Diversity Department. He told me, "I indeed never sought to get involved with diversity work, diversity work got involved with me." He grew up in San Francisco in a diverse neighborhood with African-Americans, Asians, Caucasians and Latinos like himself. While attending high school in the 1970s he was active in community student leadership. "I organized youth in under served communities city wide to help them with jobs, careers, and educational enhancement. Not one of my past job descriptions ever included diversity as a duty, but I all the time managed to weave diversity work into my functions. As a boy, my father and I walked the picket lines with Cesar Chavez in hold of the Ufw." He began working at Sf general Hospital as a youth outreach worker. "I worked with young habitancy who were homeless, drug and alcohol addicted, prostitutes, battered and abused.

Today Edgar says he is privileged to be the Director of Workforce Diversity for Kaiser Permanente where he has worked for 20 years. while this time he was a founding board member and past president of the Kaiser Permanente Latino Association. "I chose Kaiser Permanente because their communal mission on community wellnes, diversity and cultural competency are aligned with my own. My original three areas of involvement are: 1) improve the diversity, cultural competence, skill and execution of our workforce; 2) contribute culturally competent healing care and culturally thorough service to improve the condition and satisfaction of our addition diversity membership; 3) Grow our membership through productive market segmentation approaches that target exact populations which are the fastest growing segments of our society".

Diversity impacts his personal life every day. His family is bi-racial, and it is prominent to him that they all know, embrace and celebrate both his Latino culture and the African-American culture. "My passion for diversity has increased to a point that far exceeded any of my expectations. It's only gotten great and I pronounce my lifetime relationships with mentors and colleagues. I love my work, and there is a lot more work to do. As a country we have to pay more attention to populations that have been ignored so more habitancy have passage to ability condition care. I remain optimistic and hopeful. I am inspired by all others who are also working for change."

Michelle Atlas began her work in Vocational recovery in Rochester, New York over 13 years ago. Seven years ago, she was hired by the Rochester company Alliance to originate a new agenda to contribute employment services to habitancy with disabilities. After the first year, she was asked to describe the Rochester company Alliance at the Workforce Diversity Network, an organization whose mission is to originate a nationwide studying network to hold organizations in studying more about the benefits of diversity in the workplace, and is addition to other areas in the Usa "I didn't know a lot about other areas of diversity beyond disability, but as I began to learn about all the other dimensions, diversity and inclusion became so prominent to me and I kept studying and addition my knowledge base about every component." As a representative, Michele got to meet diversity leadership in assorted kinds of organizations. She learned more about diversity initiatives and issues that organizations were dealing with. "I felt a very strong affinity for this work. I went from being a representative to the Diversity Workforce Network to serving on the board and becoming a part time staff member; working with the menagerial director, and coordinating membership and organizing our national conference. I love the spirit of the other habitancy who do this kind of work. My passion comes from being a part of something that is so good for the world at so many levels. I'm excited by other cultures, and I am part of an anticipated agenda called the Mosaic Partnership where leaders in our region are partnered with someone from a different race and share in group coaching sessions."

Michelle talked about how crucial it is for habitancy in the condition care field to be culturally competent. Also her part time work with Wdn, she consults, coaches and trains habitancy who employ habitancy with disabilities to be more culturally competent. "My studying points have been to indeed assess my own biases and to then be able to help other habitancy assess their own and feel safe. studying about my own biases has been very liberating and other habitancy I work with have said that it is true for them. If we want to move transmit from diversity to inclusion we have to recognize our subtle biases and work through them. I hope I never stop learning."

Although these four individuals are from different industries and came to diversity work from different experiences and backgrounds, they share clear qualities and experiences that conduce to their passion for diversity. From Deb's voracious reading of diversity books to Michele's personal involvement with the Mosaic Partnership, we see that these four superior individuals have all cultivated lifestyles that hold their passion for diversity. They live and breathe diversity--both advent from diverse backgrounds and seeking out diverse interactions and experiences. They have all adopted studying orientations so they can continue to fabricate their own cultural competence and help others to do the same. Moreover, as we saw with Edgar's work with underserved communities and Terry's work with "Traditional Religion Meets Sexual Orientation" in the workplace, the passion of these four diversity leaders is driven by a lot of 'Cs': courage, concern, and commitment to diversity initiatives. Be it Terry's commitment to helping organizations understand the implications of diversity, Deb's global goals for a great world, Edgar's views on what this country needs to great meet the condition needs of its diverse population, or Michele's emphasis on breaking down barriers through helping habitancy safely address their own biases, this is truly a visionary group of professionals. Most importantly, their visions are long-term, powerful, and prominent ones that they consistently move transmit a day at a time. These are the kinds of diversity leaders that we need working in rganizations of all kinds.

For an organization to successfully leverage the diversity of its organization to improve its execution three concurrent imperatives must be in place. First, diversity must be part of your ample company strategy and, secondly, your organization must move from representation and numbers to inclusion at every level. Finally, you will only be thriving if you bring in diversity leaders who not only have knowledge of but a passion for diversity.

I hope you have new knowledge about Kaiser Permanente. Where you possibly can put to easy use in your daily life. And most significantly, your reaction is passed about Kaiser Permanente.