Diversity Interventions
Listen to Tim Mulvaney tell the story of the origins of Courageous Conversations as a Diversity Intervention and how it helped to reduce minority employee attrition by over 50%. (03:30)
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Watch and listen to Tanya Snyder, Director, Management and Organizational Development, Altria Corporate Services, talk about her experience with Courageous Conversations, the roleplays, and how it helped her managers "personalize" the process.
Courageous Conversations as a Diversity Intervention:
Minority employee attrition was twice that of majority employees. The organization's leadership didn't know why or what to do about it. So, we brought a group of about 60 folks together - whole cross-section, CEO on down - to talk about what to do.
In the last minutes of the strategy session an African-American female manager stood up and said, "All I really want is to get the same thing my white guy counterparts get." She continues, "He screws up in a meeting and his boss gives him a call saying 'Man, what are you doing!' "But when I screw up, it becomes a 'team issue' to solve."
Then she told us want she wants. "I want people to take risks with me, call me up, make mistakes, be willing to engage me in conversation about my performance, about my being black, about my being a woman, about my experience. Don't avoid engaging with me because I maybe different than you."
And Courageous Conversations was born. The result: A culture shift that produced a 50% reduction in minority employee attrition.
The Lesson: the only way to get good at having Courageous Conversations...is to have Courageous Conversations.
Download Courageous Conversations Fact Sheets
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Tim's Story in Flash Player:
