Staffing & Culture | 02.28.24
Transform Your Culture: BISA Convention Workshop Preview
by: BISA Staff and Cynthia Hoes, MBA
With the BISA 2024 Convention only a week away, presenters are putting the finishing touches on their sessions and preparing to share resources to shape our industry’s evolving landscape. Below, Associate Vice President of Nationwide Financial Cynthia Hoes, MBA, gives attendees a sneak peek at the upcoming DE&I workshop “Transform Your Culture Through Authentic and Purpose-Driven Employee Communities” happening Wednesday, March 6.
Who is the target audience for this session and why do you encourage convention attendees to participate?
Cynthia Hoes, MBA (CH): The target audience is HR, business executives and leaders who are passionate about fostering inclusive and outcome-driven cultures.
In your session description, you share that inclusive cultures are more likely to meet/exceed financial targets. How do you define inclusive cultures?
CH: A quote from Liz Fosslien sums this up well — “Diversity is having a seat at the table. Inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.”
When a company authentically invests in its employees by fostering inclusion and belonging, employees invest back into that company with higher level of engagement and buy-in. This results in increased innovation, performance and retention.
If you had to share just one tip for success with our readers, what would your advice be for those looking to improve their employee communities?
CH: Leverage your employee resource groups in new and innovative ways including advocacy, product and market testing and tackling emerging environmental trends that impact today’s workforce.
What is your advice for employees who wish to be allies to these types of employee communities?
CH: Show up, listen up and speak up. Seek to learn about people’s unique attributes, challenges, barriers and needs. Then demonstrate care through support and advocacy. Allyship is about being empathetic and recognizing shared humanity then taking action to drive equity.
What are you looking forward to sharing most at this session?
CH: Innovative ways to ensure strong mutual benefit between employees and business leaders to drive higher levels of engagement and stronger business outcomes — a true win-win.
This session is a workshop — how will participants have opportunities to engage?
CH: Workshop participants will have the opportunity to put research, best practices and considerations into action. Hands-on group learning and idea sharing is where the magic happens.
Learn more about this DE&I workshop and the full BISA 2024 Convention educational program on the BISA website.