Diversity Executive - November 2008 - (Page 43)

including race, gender, ethnicity,” McCloskey said. “The critically important aspect of organizational culture is often overlooked. That is, how well does my business unit work with other groups in a collaborative manner? “Inclusion means to what degree a manager can make individual employees feel valued, respected and productive. This is predicated on a one-on-one trusting relationship between manager and employee.” The company’s strategy for success takes into account these multiple perspectives by focusing on ensuring fairness in compensation, hiring, selection and training and development; increasing representation through management ranks; and building a culture of trust and inclusion that drives higher performance. Georgia Power has seen direct results of this targeted diversity and inclusion strategy. The company has created and implemented 33 best-practice initiatives in the areas of compensation, hiring and selection, training and development, and work environment that have become the foundation of management and culture-change efforts. McCloskey said the company continues to build racial, gender and ethnic representation throughout its ranks; it also addresses standards of retaliation that negate employee engagement and performance, and growing supplier diversity. Georgia Power was among the ﬁrst electric utilities to begin a supplier diversity initiative in 1978, and the program continues to grow. McCloskey said total spending with minority- and female-owned businesses was $443 million in 2007, and from January 2006 through September 2008, that ﬁgure was more than $1 billion. – Mike Prokopeak Why Have Diversity Efforts Taken so Long to Show Results? Jerome Miller Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. Jerome Miller ofﬁcially entered the diversity ﬁeld 15 years ago in Jakarta, Indonesia, and has since traveled the globe on diversity-related assignments. Miller’s employer sent him and a team of colleagues to Jakarta to investigate what it would take to increase sales in that part of the country, leading him to strategically study another culture. Then, in the late 1980s Miller served as an equal opportunity and afﬁrmative action manager. He said it was during this time he learned to transition from doing what the law and regulations required to doing what made good business sense. “Many of us, including myself, [were] beginning to lead the transition from the law and regulations to being inclusive and utilizing all the talent available,” Miller said. In 1994, Miller began work as a human resources director in South Africa — the same year Nelson Mandela was elected president of the country — where he worked with a team to transition the ofﬁce into a more diverse and inclusive workforce. His journey later took him to London and the headquarters of the InterContinental Hotels Group to deliver a presentation on U.S. laws and regulations. However, Miller said he had a different agenda: to discuss managing diversity with an emphasis on self-imposed programs, initiatives and strategies to diversity and inclusion. See what diversity leaders are saying, and join the conversation on the Diversity Executive Network, a community dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion in today’s organizations. diversity-executive. com/network http://diversity-executive.com/network http://diversity-executive.com/network

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Diversity Executive - November 2008

Diversity Executive - November 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Leadership Connections Guest Editorial Diversity Executive Online Middle Management Roadblock ‘Hidden Winds’ Hinder Progress The Domino Effect Supplier Partnerships Unlock Economic Opportunities Measuring Diversity Special Section: Who’s Who in Diversity and Inclusion Dimensions of Difference Overcoming Language Diff erences Business Intelligence: Combating Subtle Discrimination Case Study: Shifting Diversity Into Overdrive Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Strategies

Diversity Executive - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.