Awards of Excellence
Profiles in Diversity Journal is proud to honor the following companies with our Award of Excellence for their innovations in diversity. They are presented here in alphabetical order.
Award of Excellence The Power of ERGs In late 2009, American Airlines announced it would begin service to Beijing, China from its Chicago O’Hare airport. The company’s Asian Pacific-Islander Employee Resource Group (APIERG) approached the company to help out in positioning the new route for established success in the market. With the assistance of Tom Del Valle, Sr. V.P. Airport Services and executive sponsor for APIERG, they teamed up with various departments at the company to determine where they could focus their efforts and help with strategy. With having an established employee resource group (ERG) familiar with both the market being served and the product serving the market, the food and beverage department tapped into the knowledge of APIERG to create a menu which would appeal to the customer demographic. After reviewing marketing collateral for cultural relevance and sensitivity, APIERG helped position American Airlines by: • Participating in the 2010 NYC China Town Parade and 2010 Lunar New Year Celebration to provide visibility and promote the market; • Meeting with the Beijing sales team to provide insight on strategy and help define focus areas; • Obtaining sponsorship from American Airlines to the United States of America-China Chamber of Commerce (USCCC)—a not-for-profit, bi-national membership organization dedicated to developing increased U.S.China trade and investment activities; and • Developing training guides/resources and Chinese phrases for frontline employees to educate and assist them with our Chinese-speaking customers. Utilizing a communication strategy, APIERG leveraged the media by developing short videos for YouTube and a Facebook page to promote the route. In addition, at least three APIERG ambassadors will fly the inaugural flight to create high-level engagement, and each ambassador will video blog their experience. PDJ 34
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Award of Excellence Unmatched Teams Initiative One of Aon Consulting Employee Benefit Outsourcing’s (EBO) three strategic imperatives is to “Engage [their] diverse workforce—recognize talent, nurture it, and promote it.” Essential to this effort is creating a culture that does not simply accept diversity, but values it. Executive Vice President and Practice Director Ken Haderer and his leadership team partnered with Novations, a leading provider of employee engagement and diversity training, to develop a learning curriculum to build awareness of the need for and power of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. To ensure an integrated approach, Aon merged Novations’ Appreciating Differences program with Aon’s own performance management tools and their Leadership Model. When the need for continued reinforcement and further engagement became clear, Aon Consulting EBO selected a team of Diversity Champions from across the business to develop and drive continued education and learning. The programs they developed included half-day follow-up sessions, continuing education for managers, and a two-hour program for non-managers and new colleagues. Today, Aon’s Diversity Champions are developing a continuing education program that requires every manager to deliver their own on diversity and inclusion to colleagues through team meetings, monthly management calls, brown bag lunches, and newsletters. To symbolize and publicly declare this commitment, teams of managers drew images of their commitment to diversity and inclusion, and Aon Consulting has them on display throughout their offices. Haderer stated that due to these programs “the Aon journey has resulted in higher levels of performance across the organization as measured by individual and team key perforPDJ mance indicators of productivity and service quality.”