Diversity Audit Shares Findings,
Mentoring Program to Begin

By Ann Sarna

What does it take to be successful in Financial Management? How should FM communicate these requirements? Can we level the playing field so everyone has opportunities for growth and advancement?

Driven by these questions, the Diversity Audit of late 2001 developed a number of recommendations to better explore and establish the future goals of diversity in Financial Management. Two separate teams sprung from these discussions, the Organizational Development and Communication Team and the Promotions, Rewards and Merit Team.

While the Organizational Development team continues to refine their diversity recommendation, the EIT has just approved the Promotions, Rewards, and Merit team's proposal for an Employee Mentoring Program and a fall 2002 launch.

The Promotion, Rewards and Merit Team based their mentoring program proposal on the following recommendations from the diversity audit:

" Communication of what it takes to get ahead, in varied modes with specific examples
" Internalize recognition process
" Honor tenure in a more formal way
" Encourage staff to informally recognize each other
" Redefine rewards, success and opportunities
" Think of how to deal with bitterness when there are talented people who don't have opportunities for promotions
" Create avenues for leadership for people of color

The goal is to get 10-15 pairs of mentors/mentorees to participate in a year long program. The program will include a kick-off training event where mentors and mentorees will work together to build their relationships and set goals.

This program is a wonderful opportunity for less experienced staff to gain knowledge and skills by partnering with a more experienced member of Financial Management.

For experienced staff, this program will help them become better mentors and communicators. It's clear that both the mentor and mentoree will gain from participating in this program.

Diversity awareness is an important element of this mentoring program. The kick-off training workshop will include material on diversity and there will be additional mentoring activities that will include diversity issues/topics. The team is currently collecting statistics on FM diversity and is looking for ways to measure success of the mentoring program.

The Promotions, Rewards and Merit Diversity team is comprised of: David Wright, Jaeson Albrighton, Heidi Anderson, Shawn Williams, Erick Winger, Evelyn Jagoring, and Ann Sarna. We will be working hard this summer to plan and implement this program. You will be hearing more about the program as we define the details. If you have questions or comments about this program or the work our team is doing, feel free to contact any one of the team members.

Success can be defined in many ways. The mentoring program, combined with the staff qualities and Employee Development Plan, will aid employees in finding their path to success in financial management.