Situation Thirteen years ago, ProGroup was contracted to save a dying Diversity Task Force. At that time, the Task Force was the only visible sign of a diversity initiative at Abbott HPD. Within a year, the Task Force gained strength and energy and requested action from the organization's leadership. ProGroup worked with the CEO and his staff to help them recognize diversity as a business issue and tackle some organizational issues that blocked their momentum. Through one-on-one interviews, strategic planning sessions, and straightforward coaching, Abbott's leadership began to communicate their commitment. They also reviewed policies and other structures that interfered with their ability to create a multicultural workplace.
ProGroup and Abbott HPD's ongoing consulting relationship has taken Abbott HPD through many activities supportive of inclusion including assisting in the design of an organizational strategic plan, executive sessions, manager/employee training, the successful formation of other Diversity Councils and Action Teams, and establishing of Abbott's current co-mentoring program.
When the HPD's business was spun off from Abbott, ProGroup was asked to help incorporate diversity into their new business strategy.
Process We've worked with Abbott Labs for years on various projects. For example, ProGroup's President Myrna Marofsky started working with the company's Diversity Task Force in 1995 to help it be a successful, viable team. Several years ago, she was asked to help the team jolt the organization to action around diversity issues. The team expected its results-oriented company to do something fast, something meaningful, something explosive!
Myrna and the team decided to tackle the often sensitive issues of race and gender, as well as "white privilege." ProGroup created a program called C4 (which is the name of an explosive) to reflect the explosive nature of the program. The primary objectives of C4 were:
to increase awareness of the real and varied experiences that people of color and women have in the workplace;
to encourage people to have meaningful dialogues across differences;
to teach the C4 skill set by pairing up diverse people for six months;
to track the results.
Solution Within the first year of our relationship, their Diversity Task Force requested action from the organization. ProGroup worked with the CEO and his staff to help them recognize diversity as a business issue and tackle organizational issues blocking their momentum.
Together we embarked on one-on-one interviews, strategic planning sessions and coaching. Their leadership started to communicate their commitment to diversity and began reviewing policies and structures that blocked their ability to create a diverse workplace.
ProGroup reviewed articles published in their internal newsletter, supported the formation of a diversity task force at an off-site plant location, conducted a retention study for the corporation and, ultimately, was asked to put together a strategic plan for the organization.
We also conducted Diversity Change Agent sessions for self-selected individuals in the organization and partnered with the Diversity Task Force to create the first Diversity Calendar. ProGroup's partnership with the company is stronger than ever and with their internal support system in place, they are ready to conduct their assessments and roll out a manager/supervisor training program.
Results The company now has cutting-edge practices and continually builds on their success toward long-range diversity goals.
Participants praised the strengths of the program -
"I really believe that dialogue is how you get yourself around some of these issues. It is a taboo topic with some people so being able to talk about it is so beneficial. It is really good to sit back and put yourself in someone else's shoes to understand where they are coming from. My relationship is making me think and observe things more closely. We are honest with each other and bounce things off the other."
The C4 program is still doing great. It's part of Abbott Laboratories' HPD (Hospital Products Division) Diversity Action Team. The team handles new diversity challenges and leverages diversity opportunities as they arise.
Print This Page