I’ve now completed my ninth year of evaluating company initiatives for the Catalyst Award through site visit - intensive interviews with roughly 100 employees per company about their experiences. There’s much more work still to do - convening with my teammates, writing our evaluation summary, and deciding the winners - but the site visits themselves are over.
I have evaluated initiatives in more industries than I can count and across four continents (adding in places my teammates visited, it becomes six continents). I have seen all manner of programs, processes, and systems used to enact inclusion. I have seen wild successes and powerful learning from failures.
I could probably write a treatise on best practices and common missteps, but that's far too much for a LinkedIn post. What I can say in fewer words, and with crystal-clear certainty, is that there are experiences common across all winners that you can feel, palpably, when you talk to employees. They are trusted. They are valued. They care deeply for one another as unique individuals. They are vulnerable with each other, and are safe to be that way.
One day perhaps I will write everything down - nothing confidential of course, but all the lessons I’ve learned. In the meantime, I celebrate the progress champions are making across the world, and am grateful for all the incredible work I’ve been witness to.
Principal Consultant and Owner Primary: Wentz Sales and Design Solutions
7 个月Congratulations on your dedication to hard work and excellence.