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If you have ever been to TMB’s offices at 100M Street, you may have noticed that our CEO, Tom Dority, has a small blue sofa in his office. This sofa has followed Tom as he has moved offices, office locations, etc. Whenever you come into Tom’s office to talk about something important, you are invited to ‘have a seat on the sofa.’ Even now, in this remote environment, when I have something important to talk to Tom about, one of us will undoubtedly refer to ‘having a seat on the sofa’. At the end of the day, I know if I’m sitting on Tom’s sofa, I am about to get some very useful advice. In late May, Tom sent me a Teams invite and after we both joined, he asked me to ‘have a seat on the sofa.’ We proceeded to talk for the next 30+ minutes about ideas for a Diversity office at TMB. I was very excited about the idea and honored when Tom offered me the position of Chief Diversity Officer. Starting on July 1, 2020, my role at TMB transitioned from Division General Manager to Chief Diversity Officer (CDO).

So Now What?

Many of you may be familiar with the term DE&I – it is a popular term in today’s business lexicon and a Google search will result in page upon page of links to articles, videos, etc. DE&I stands for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and in Corporate America, it outlines the efforts that an organization can take or is taking to create a more welcoming environment for people of less-privileged identities.

• Diversity is acknowledging that people are different – and includes markers such as race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, etc.
• Equity focuses on fair treatment – eliminating barriers, unconscious biases and promoting access and opportunities for advancement, etc.
• Inclusion is the act of creating an environment where everyone within an organization feels welcome, respected and supported.

In the chart below, I have outlined the four major functions that flow from DE&I and serve as the guiding principles for the CDO role.

• Culture and Strategy: My role on the executive team is to drive and shape a DE&I culture. This includes leading initiatives throughout the company and all of my company/position goals will support this effort.
• Recruitment and Retention: Refers to our ability to attract, recruit, hire and retain a diverse employee base.
  • Being able to ATTRACT a diverse set of employees involves our company reputation and internal environment.
  • RECRUITING centers around the channels that we are using to connect with a diverse group of talented individuals.
  • HIRE is getting offer letters signed, but also includes TMB benefits and our ability to win new work.
  • It isn’t enough to put the work in to attract, recruit and hire if we have a leaky bucket – so we also need to focus on RETAINING our current employee base. Therefore, a large part of the CDO role is to focus not only on our ability to recruit and hire, but our ability to retain and motivate the employees that we have on board.
• Mentoring: Is focused on developing employees. This helps with retention and is focused on more of a one on one relationship – coaching – at a more personal level.
• Professional Development and Training: Focused on ‘soft skill’ topics like:
  • Relationship development
  • Time management
  • Communication skills
  • Conflict resolution