Individual Assignment

Diversity Plan
Evelyn Parker
Medaille College

Author Note
This paper was prepared on January 26, 2016 MOL 630, taught by Professor Sullivan

Individual Diversity Plan

For my individual project I would like to develop a Diversity and Inclusion plan for my
organization that I currently work for which is Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield. As per the
required assignment entails I will be leading the Diversity and Inclusion program. Just a little
background of myself: I have been with the company for 13years and I work in the Diversity and
Inclusion department at the administrator of the department. I handle all the back information
for the department as far as: scheduling interviews, departmental budgets, screenings and all
other administrative duties.
I have found that this subject is one that I find interesting because whenever someone is
placed in a situation they must follow some set of rules to alleviate the problem and one problem
that I have seen that is rising within my organization is promoting diverse talent. Diversity is no
longer an idealized notion, but a complex reality offering its own challenges to any modern
business firm. As demographic trends change, and the United States becomes more diverse, the
importance of research in this area is rising.
Introduction
I enjoy working in this department as the atmosphere is so full of many changes and I am
able to meet new faces every day. The crowd of individuals and employees that work at Excellus
Health Plan are very diverse which makes for an interesting work day.
There is only one issue at hand that I have noticed throughout my 13 years of working
with the company, is the issue of promoting diverse individuals to higher up positions, recruiting
diverse talents in general. Not to say there are not any, but during my time and transitions at the

Individual Diversity Plan

health plan I have not seen many. This organization is full of talented diverse people, so why not
expect to see any of the diverse cultured individuals in those positions.
First, we address the ethical decision-making literature demonstrating the need for
multiple perspectives when faced with an ethical dilemma. Second, we review the current
diversity research, identifying both the positive and negative outcomes of increasing diversity.
Third, we propose a model suggesting that group diversity leads to more ethical decisionmaking, and the strength of this relationship increases over time.
Valuing Diversity Mission
Our mission is to integrate diversity in all aspects of business with a focus on our
workforce, members, suppliers and communities.
Our commitment is to build an inclusive culture that recognizes and values the
uniqueness of each of our employees and all of their contributions and leverages its diverse
workforce maximizing our competitive advantage, thereby enhancing company performance and
profitability.
Our corporate diversity philosophy is based on embracing every human being's
uniqueness. We respect, recognize, and value the contribution each one makes. We promote,
model, and reward attitudes and behaviors that demonstrate inclusiveness.

So here is my proposed Diversity and Inclusion Program Plan creating a diverse

workforce and promoting a Lifetime Way approach for the better good of the employees.
General Information

Individual Diversity Plan

Course duration: half-day / 4.0 hours
Target number of participants: 25-35
Course materials:
Pre-work: none
Post-work: none

Power Point will includes slides that are imperative to discussion with key notes

Development team: Evelyn Parker, Lakesha Carter, Ruth Crehan, Joseph Searles

Diversity and Inclusion Plan

Welcome
Slides 1-5
TIME: 5 min
DO: Welcome the participants and introduce yourself
SAY: As you prepare to spend a day talking about diversity and inclusion, what are
you thinking about? What thoughts, questions, or concerns come to mind, what are your
expectations of this session?
DO: Solicit some responses and thank people for sharing.
SAY: Diversity and inclusion are big and complex topics and people associate a lot of
different things, positive and negative, with them. We are going to spend our time together
examining information and practices that can help each of us be better leaders and better deliver
on the promises of the Lifetime Way. We will be examining how a deliberate and well-informed
approach to issues related to diversity and inclusion is integral to the Lifetime Way, and in fact is

Individual Diversity Plan

woven into the Lifetime Leadership Competencies which we will be referring back to several
times today.
Talking about Authenticity
Slides 6-18
TIME: 10 minutes
SAY: We are going to start by spending some time talking about authenticity and
unfortunately, authenticity seems to have taken on some workplace rushes recently. You can hear
and see the word tossed around very casually today as if it were a simple, easy or automatic
thing. Let us consider some evidence that authenticity is actually kind of hard work and maybe
not terribly common in the workplace.
If authenticity were a simple and easy and common, I do not think that these would be
some of our most common regrets at the end of our lives. Being true to who you are is actually
hard work. There are a lot of opportunities for us to just go with the flow. Another reminder
that authenticity can be kind of hard at work is there are often real or perceived costs associated
with it. And this is something that does have consequences in performance. It appears that while
we are doing a better job of hiring people that look different, we still have a lot of work to do in
making it safe for people to think and act different at work.
The pursuit of Greater Authenticity
Slides 19-35
TIME: 35 minutes
SAY: A lot of what we do in the name of diversity and inclusion is about making it easier
for other folks to be authentic at work, and that is important, but we too often overlook ourselves.
Our first and one of our more important contributions to this effort is to contribute our difference,

Individual Diversity Plan

by being true to who we are at work. Authenticity is rooted in self-awareness. If you are going to
do a better job of being true to who you are, its kind of important to have some real clarity on
who you are.
Exercise
Our first exercise is good for reminding us of what is really important. If we are not
careful we can work really hard towards making progress without making sure that we are
moving in the right direction, we work hard to climb the ladder without making sure the ladder is
against the right wall.
DO: Give participants 2-3 minutes to write, and then have them share in pairs, and then solicit a
few examples to share with the large group.
SAY: Greater authenticity begins with awareness, and that work gives us something to hold
ourselves accountable to. The next step is adventure continuing to go out in the world and try
new things, to continue learning about ourselves and what we are capable of. If I am only
committed to my own authenticity, I run the risk of taking up someone elses space. So what are
some things that you can do to invite, promote and reward authenticity for the folks around you?
DO: After giving them some time to discuss, invite some sharing from 2-3 small groups

Can we benefit from greater authenticity in the workplace that we share, is this an

opportunity for us?

What can I do (regardless of my title or role or tenure) to help make that happen?
What are some things that we can do on the group and organizational level to
make that happen?

And now I would like to discuss Inclusion as part of my program:

Individual Diversity Plan

DO: Start the session by referring to Lifetime Way Leadership Competencies and talking
about the linkage to inclusion.
As we did with Authenticity and Diversity, lets start with some clarity. There are two
things to keep in mind when we are using the word inclusion, one being the work of inclusion or
the actions that we take to include additional difference in a process or group. Additionally there
is the experience of being includedand when I talk to people that believe that live or work in
places that are inclusive, these are the kinds of things that they say about that experience, with
this idea of bringing my whole self to work, showing up a lot.
The fact that diversity does not automatically make things better or worse, but it does
push a social group in one direction or the other and the work of inclusion is really about being
intentional about how we interact around difference so that we are able to realize those positive
outcomes as a result the model is based on the idea that two of the most powerful drives found
among humans are the drive to belong and the drive to be unique. We want to be accepted, but
we do not want to be a carbon copy.
Plan of Action
In order to really understand and incorporate this Diversity and Inclusion program, we
have to stay committed to actively fostering diversity, inclusion and cultural competency
throughout our programmatic, research, development, and operational efforts. So my plan of
action and how we can ethically put in place a strategic plan will include a small survey of
promoting diverse individuals in the workplace.
Action

Increase awareness of Diversity and Inclusion in the organization

Individual Diversity Plan

Improve relationships with diverse cultures

Decrease the bias within departments

Increase diversity of staff and leadership population

Develop and implement education and program initiatives for individuals and their care
partners

Facilitate the hiring, development and promotion of qualified employees, including

underrepresented minorities

Promote and develop an inclusive, respectful work environment

Initiatives

Research best practices for locating and recruiting qualified candidates for the organizations
diverse jobs and career paths and establish a recruitment plan
Discover and connect with qualified applicants in the minority community in an effort to widen
and diversify the applicant pool.
Employee Diversity Training
Promote understanding and equip employees to create a work environment that is respectful,
inclusive and diverse

Promote diversity training across all areas of the company

Employee Development & Job Promotions

Individual Diversity Plan

Promote employees based on jobrelated abilities

Continue to provide employees with opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills and
abilities with a goal of being promoted into positions with more responsibility

Improve retention by helping employees remain engaged in their work by providing

workshops and seminars and mentoring opportunities

A Diverse Workforce
Build a diverse, high-performing workforce that reflects all segments of society and promotions
Objective 1: Eliminate barriers at all levels and in all occupations
Strategy: Implement the Diversity and Inclusion plan to monitor the status of Excellus
Health Plan diversity initiatives and provide quarterly workforce diversity reports for promotion
within leadership roles.
Objective 2: Achieve diversity in the organization throughout the Diversity and Inclusion
workforce
Strategy: Implement diversity-focused promotions and fellowship programs, including
centralized Workforce Recruitment Programs, Diversity Internship Programs and Career
Pathways Programs

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Individual Diversity Plan

By providing an Inclusive Workplace by promoting a flexible, collaborative, and inclusive work
environment that leverages diversity and empowers all contributors, it will promote a diverse
population that will enhance for a successful work atmosphere.
Goal
Increase awareness; build mutually rewarding relationships and foster collaboration with a broad
range of business, community, and foundation leaders and other individuals from diverse
backgrounds, perspectives and experiences.

Employees faced with an ethical dilemma can often choose from a wide range of possible
solutions, in an employment context, the term diversity refers to characteristics that a person
possesses that lead to a perception that he or she is different from other individuals, and generally
refers to members of underrepresented groups. Regarding ethics and diversity, there is a gap in
literature in understanding the demographic background of people who frequently make these
ethical decisions.

Diversity and Inclusion Plan

Survey 2015

For each statement, employees were asked to rate Importance:

1= Strongly Agree

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Individual Diversity Plan

2= Strongly Disagree
3= Agree
4= Moderately Agree
5= Moderately Disagree

Survey Questions:
1. Does the Office of Inclusion deliver communications in a culturally sensitive
manner?

56% 1

0% 2

34% 3

8% 4

2% 5

2. Does Excellus foster an environment in which students and employees embrace and
promote inclusion and understanding of the value of diversity as demonstrated
through interactions with one another?

25% 1 0% 2

45%

3 28% 4 2% 5

3. Does Excellus integrate diversity into business strategies, decisions, and business
processes that promote diverse talents?

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Individual Diversity Plan

62% 1

0% 2 20% 3 15% 4 3% 5

4. Does Excellus produce results that Increase effectiveness and accountability of efforts
by developing measureable goals?

24% 1

26% 2

17% 3

7% 4 26 %

5. Managing diversity is incorporated into other organizational change initiatives,

such as restructuring, communications, education, and partnerships?

64 % 1

1% 2

24% 3

10% 4 1% 5

6. Do you feel that all Excellus supervisors, managers, and employees receive diversity
and inclusion training each year to help promote diverse talent?
33% 1

15% 2 22% 3

20%

4 10% 5

By reading all the results I feel as thou Excellus does an ample amount of promoting
diversity within the workplace with the exception of leadership promoting diversity in which I
believe needs a stronger grasp on catching the attention of the employees. The Office of
Inclusion does a great job with promoting diversity but we need more individuals who are from a
diverse pool to be recognized. There is so much talent within the organization that is not seen nor
made visible to the whole company. I believe that with incorporating my diversity plan and my

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Individual Diversity Plan

own personal assessment of our Diversity and Inclusion office will be a great start to enhance the
visibility of the office while scouting for diverse talents within the company.
This diversity plan includes feedback from leadership, interns, and full/part time
employees from different cultures and backgrounds. I ensured that the numbers are to be accurate
and effective as possible. Promoting diverse within the company is about getting the right
number of people with the right skills in the right positions at the right time.
Diversity naturally falls within the workforce planning umbrella within a company; it is a
key component of workforce planning and goes beyond the traditional concept of equal
employment opportunity (EEO) management planning.
Again a recap of everything that has been mentioned throughout the paper:
Explain why this program is being developed.
Explain who is involved with the development and decision making of the
program.
Evelyn Parker, Lakesha Carter, Ruth Crehan and Joseph Searles
A detailed timeline
For this program we are going to pilot an Diversity think tank meeting, and a
3-day series of Diversity Training workshops
1 Month

Explain what research you will do to make sure that it is an excellent program
Research has been done by compiling surveys throughout the
organization, speaking to employees, managers and external people
Research has been done online from reading articles and reading from
the class
Outreach community based fairs are good resources as well
Explain what is needed to make sure that it remains an integral part of your
company/organization even after you leave
Upon leaving this company I would by then have this training diversity
program lifted and piloted for a small number of employees and they
would be able to give testament what their thoughts are on it.
This Diversity program will be introduced and facilitated by myself
having the only right to distribute
Explain how you will effectively communicate this program.

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Individual Diversity Plan

I will be effectively communicate this program by first running it by
upper management and then a survey to employees if this training is
needed
If training is needed and wanted, workshops will be set up and a class
will then follow to roll out the Diversity Program

Provide the obstacles that you may encounter and explain what you will do to
avoid these and how you will deal with these obstacles
The obstacles that I may face are prejudice to the implementing of this
new initiative to have everyone work together as a unit
Their will be bias and stereotypes and
Provide an organizational chart that shows who are directly involved with this
program. Also, explain in detail the organizational chart and how the
stakeholders and users involved in the program.
Explain why diversity and inclusion programs are so beneficial to
companies/organizations.

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Individual Diversity Plan

Works Cited
Excellus BCBS . (2015, May 25). Retrieved from Excellus BCBS :
https://www.excellusbcbs.com/wps/portal/xl/our/compinfo/diversity
Fingertips . (2015, May 25). Retrieved from Fingertips :
http://fingertips/hr/Diversity/diversity_homepage.htm
Greenberg, J. (2015, May 25). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges and
Solutions. Retrieved from Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges
and Solutions:
http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/recruit/diversity/diversity-in-theworkplace-benefits-challenges-solutions.asp