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For All Summit 2022: Cisco Focus Session
- 1. Using proximity to drive deeper and more impactful leadership behavior Alex Allen Senior Director, Inclusion & Collaboration
- 2. Proximity: Develop Your Leadership Superpower Alex Allen Senior Director, Inclusion & Collaboration, Cisco Oct 12, 2022
- 3. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Key Takeaways Learn what proximity is Hear from leaders who have been impacted by the experience Best practices via case studies to help you begin the practice of proximity in your organization
- 4. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Introduction and Background Growing up Professional experience Professional reality and the question to myself
- 5. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential How it started September of 2019 courageous conversation Dynamics Business unit meeting with Executives Leadership Question Shift in mentality
- 6. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential The Proximity Initiative is born Our ultimate goal is to create solutions with underrepresented communities, instead of just for What is Proximity? Process Inclusive Communities Leadership development
- 7. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Mindset Toolset Skillset Coaching Approach
- 8. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
- 9. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
- 10. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Power of Proximity Outcomes and Impacts as of October 2022 3 Years worth of meetings 1700+ 1:1 Meetings across difference 100% Enterprise-Wide Engagement 230+ Executives opted in for FY23 A Pathway to Sponsorship Valuable Connections Formed New Perspectives Gained of participating leaders are doing something differently as a result of their learnings 69% of participating leaders are sponsoring across difference 1700+ =50 100% 95% of leaders and of participants found incredible value in their discussions 98% 84% 98% 84%
- 11. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Proximity The Evolution Proximity Getting proximate to those who are different than us. Changing the Narrative Finding opportunities to change false narratives fueled by bias. Hope as a Superpower Use hope and empathy as your superpowers. Transformational Work is Uncomfortable Work Embrace the discomfort that arises from transformational work.
- 12. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Participant “It was great. I felt that it was extremely authentic and [Leader Name] was truly interested in understanding more about cultural gaps and differences within his organization. In my opinion our conversation was a textbook conversation for why The Proximity Initiative was created. I am looking forward to having more conversations with him and others who are interested in becoming more proximate.” “ Participant
- 13. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Leader “I think sometimes we believe we face these challenges alone and the conversation and sharing of stories is very powerful in dispelling that feeling. In terms of my own behavior, it caused me to step back and bring the whole person into focus when discussing particular topics.” “
- 14. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential Call to action Commit to sponsoring someone from a different background or identity Have a conversation with someone different from you to understand their lived experience Work with your HR and DE&I professionals to embed inclusive behaviors into people processes Develop the foundations around DE&I in your organization
- 15. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Editor's Notes
- Hello Everyone I’m Alex Allen the Senior Director of People and Communities at Cisco. I could not be more excited to be here at the Great Places to Work Summit to share with you a piece of my soul. The Proximity Initiative! We’re going to focus today on Developing your Leadership Superpower through the Power of Proximity!
- We’ll explore on my life journey to discover, develop, and implement the program that I believe is the transformational activity all executives and organizations must do change the mindset towards DEI. Let’s learn about what that is…. The Proximity Initiative! And we’ll hear from leaders and employees about their experience. Let’s start Video made by our employee participants in the Proximity Initiative!
- My identity Where I grew up – Claymont DE, about 20 mins outside of Philadelphia How I grew up - Black Culture in my home and White Society outside of my home My professional experience as an HR person GE, THD, Nestle, UA Cisco’s Acquisition of BroadSoft Transitional employee What I believe to be the missing piece related to my own professional experience is – did leaders and executives understand me as a person?
- In Sept 2019 Chuck Robbins, our CEO, hosted a courageous conversation with Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director for Equal Justice Initiative Chuck’s quote “if we get close to a problem, we will be compelled to try to solve it.” Bryan’s quote “if we commit ourselves to getting proximate to the marginalized, excluded, to the poor, new insights will emerge, new understandings, new learnings, that we cannot obtain from afar.” In the room dynamic, my own feelings My conversation with my parents ONEx reviewing data Leadership Question – how can I take personal action to drive a more inclusive culture? – Coming from a leader, who wanted to commit to taking action towards social justice and change. Get proximate to people in your organization Met with other leadership stories, how they were proximate and how they learned Shift in mentality Moved from an HR conversation to a Leadership conversation People will transform when they build an intellectual understanding of inequity into a deeper understanding of the history and lived experience of underrepresented groups. (Our Proximity Initiative helps facilitate this understanding)
- The initiative is a 1:1 conversation with employees who are different from them to understand their lived experience - specifically employees from underrepresented groups This is not a career conversation nor mentorship, it’s simply a conversation to share, listen, learn and understand the lived experiences of our employees We ask participants to opt in through our Inclusive Communities and Leaders receive coaching to practice the mindsets and skills for conversations across difference And as Callie and I discuss …. our Ultimate goal, is to create solutions WITH underrepresented communities instead of just FOR The initiative is a 1:1 conversation with employees from underrepresented communities and who are different from them to understand their lived experience Not mentorship, not sponsorship, not coaching. A conversation to understand the lived experience of our employees, to support our full spectrum of diversity strategy. Inclusive Communities We ask our inclusive communities to opt in and share their lived experiences with leaders Leadership development Coaching All VPs+ asked to commit ( Our ultimate goal is to create solutions with underrepresented communities, instead of just for
- What is it? A 60-minute live session intended for Senior Leaders conducting Proximity meetings. Facilitated by Callie McKee (SME), this session offers concrete strategies on approaching Proximity conversations, valuing different perspectives, identities, and experiences of individuals. Why is it important? In order to create an atmosphere of trust and safety for our Proximity participants, it’s important that leaders feel confident navigating topics such as bias, identity, marginalization, etc. in a respectful and productive way. Mindset: Be curious and raise your awareness: Growing your personal awareness and learn about the experiences of employees who are different from you. Skillset: Expand by understanding dynamics of identity and culture Identity is a multifaceted concept that includes how we perceive ourselves and impacts our lens of the world It’s not just personality or style, it’s also group and community memberships that positively or negatively impact people’s experiences at work Toolset: Get close and lead with empathy and courage Get close and build relationships with those different from you who experience inequality and barriers When doing this, the more open and vulnerable about why you’re having the conversation, the more you can connect across difference. The meeting is just the beginning. The real work happens after when you to commit to reflect over time and make it a habit to reflect on meetings over and over again. Let your reflection drive your actions to lead with empathy and courage.
- Timestamps: Start 8:59 End 18:15
- Timestamps: Start 18:16 End 21:16
- - Check Cisco Live one (Sabrina might have)