Article: Stories from the Front Line

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Stories from the Front Line

As 2006 drew to a close last week, I found myself reflecting on the past year and the many people we, the ProGroup team, encountered in our travels across the country and around the globe. I'm always impressed by how hard our team and others in the diversity field work year after year without getting discouraged. I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago with several of our facilitators and asked them, "What keeps you going? There are easier ways to make a living." They said such things as, "It's because we're changing cultures so more people will want to get up in the morning and go to work." "I love seeing the light bulbs go off." "I see people who never acknowledged each other's existence before having a real dialogue." "I want to create a better world for my children." Going into 2007, I am grateful for them and all of you who are working to create a better world for all of us one person or class or organization at a time.

Every Monday morning, we have a check-in meeting at ProGroup. At these meetings, the facilitators and consultants who are present share what we call "Stories from the Front Line" with the staff people who make it all possible. Here are a few from 2006 that I think you and our consulting team will enjoy:

At a leadership session, the participants were having a lively dialogue about the appropriate approach, in terms of policies and practices, to gays and lesbians in their organization. After a challenging discussion, one of the leaders declared that all their talk was just an intellectual exercise. He said, "We don't have to make any real changes since we have no gay or lesbian employees." After a slight pause, one of the vice presidents stood up and said, "Yes we do. I work here. Let's keep talking."
During one of our train-the-trainer programs, a participant from France said, "I fought coming here. I thought this training was an American program that we didn't need. After all, people from all over work and live side by side here. Now I get it. It's not about how diverse you are but what your employees do every day when dealing with others from all over the world. We've got to teach every one of our employees to embrace differences and honor each other."
A Mexican man who works on the line in a factory said to our consultant, "It's changing around here. For the first time in my 15 years on the job, I'm being asked my opinion. I think I have a chance to be one of the guys in the ties."
A white male executive who participated in a co-mentoring pairing with a female African American colleague for the last six months said, "Now, when I'm in a decision-making meeting, I'm more aware of the voices that are missing from the room and I seek them out."
A student who went through our Flash Judgments training at her school said, "Isn't all of this just common sense? Why wouldn't we treat each other with respect? The way I see it, there's no downside to doing this."

Let's carry these stories and the lessons learned into the New Year. I am grateful for all of you who are involved in creating more respectful organizations. I thank you for your commitment and courage. I thank all of the individuals you interacted with in 2006 and will touch in 2007 for being open to sharing and learning.

We at ProGroup wish you all health, happiness, and wisdom in 2007.

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