Diving Deeper into Differences

Attuned In is a cultural listening series based on conversations that began internally at Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics North America after George Floyd’s murder. I hope these vulnerable conversations teach everyone as much as they’ve taught me.

As I reflect on 2021, I’m grateful to?Stacy Fields,?Ritika Kalia?and?Rennisha Wickham?who took the time to share their perspectives and be a part of my learning process. They were instrumental in teaching me about the struggles they face and providing solutions for how we might all learn from each other moving forward. Furthermore, they bravely allowed me to share our conversation on LinkedIn, in the form of my Attuned In series. I started this series to give employees in my organization a platform to share the challenges they face every day of their life and voice thoughts about how we can best educate ourselves, learn and help bring about change in our organization and our entire world.??

Over the last year and a half, I’ve been on a journey to learn about racial and cultural differences, create an environment of open and honest conversation where everyone in my organization could learn and grow and ultimately help us all embrace diversity of thought and perspective. Through this journey, I’ve learned that at the core of it all, we’re all really more alike than different. Some of us, unfortunately, face preconceived notions and prejudices based on our visible or self-declared differences – the color of our skin and race, gender, religious differences, nationalities, sexuality and many others.??By sharing their truth, my hope is that others can also learn and, hopefully, act to bring about the change we need.

I wanted to recall and highlight key learnings from last year’s conversations in one place to ensure I continue my journey in 2022, referring back to them and holding myself accountable for continued change this year. These include:

• Learn from the past.?None of us are perfect. I will work to take missteps in the past and my experiences, along with our colleagues’ and learn from those.
• Challenge myself to think differently.?I endeavor to educate myself and learn from those who are different from me, step outside my homogenous circle and connect with people individually.
• Create a better environment for all employees.?Differences are what fuel innovation and makes the sum greater than all the parts. This includes all employees – not just those who “fit the mold.” We should not have a traditional mold for employees and roles. Working with HR and recruiting, as well as leaders, I will approach recruiting and our employee development program (EDP) very differently moving forward.?
• Drive action/engagement at every level.?I am working with the leadership team to ensure we set expectations for our leaders related to cultural differences. We are also setting expectations for employees at every level of the organization. Awareness, support, bias training and education are critical, going beyond lunch and learns we’ve been having.??

What are you learning? How are you taking action?

I also want to hear from you and I’d love your feedback. Is there something that I can do differently with the Attuned In series for 2022? Are there specific ideas you have about – Topics, guests, changes, takeaways and ultimately, what you would like to see to help you take action in your own circles??

In the spirit of continually listening and taking feedback to heart, I welcome all ideas. Please comment below or feel free to message or email me directly.

I wish everyone the best start to this new year. It’s never too late to begin something new.?