In This Issue:

• Diversity Councils
• Profile
• Woman Talk
• Management Tip of the Month
• Book Nook
• Ethics Dilemma

PROFILE:
Judy L. Huch

Each month we will profile someone in the business, non-profit or government sector who has shown superior leadership or management skills. If you know someone who should be profiled, please send the person's name, title, organization and contact information to edgeline.

Name: Judy L. Huch
Title: Owner, Oro Valley Audiology, Inc. and Tanque Verde Audiology, Inc.
Tucson, AZ

What is your biggest challenge?

Patient care is my biggest challenge -- trying to help people who sometimes are in denial or depressed but who all would like to hear and communicate better. Retaining employees is also a challenge: health care has a high burnout rate. Finally, work-life balance is tricky: it is not uncommon to come into the office and find my boys there with me!

Briefly describe an experience that taught you a lot about leadership or management.

When opening my second practice, I struggled to have it included in insurance plans. Once this was accomplished, I wrote thank you notes to those who granted the contracts. To this day they still talk about it. Expressing gratitude and including the positive in any critiques is important in my relationships with employees.

Describe someone who is a hero to you, or mentor or role model.

My parents worked hard and followed through on all they did. My father worked on the UP Railroad for 48 years and did everything to the best of his ability. My mother raised five children, worked part time jobs and was instrumental in starting the soup kitchen in our hometown.

What two or three traits or qualities will leaders need to be successful in the future?

I find that using my humor and diligence have helped me. Sometimes it helps to have "blessed ignorance" —there are times when had I known what I was launching into, I may not have begun. Nonetheless, I am so glad of all that I have done.

Tell us about your outside community interests hobbies and activities.

Outside of work and educational pursuits (currently, I'm getting my doctorate) I enjoy raising my two boys (4 and 6), reading novels, and family travel.

What are three tips you would offer to aspiring managers and leaders?

Take responsibility. Don't blame yourself for everything but get involved to fix the problem. Use a sense of humor in all aspects of life. Finally, give people the benefit of the doubt and listen: we can always learn and grow!

JUDY HUCH

Born: Rawlins, WY on June 19, 1968

Education: Doctoral work in Audiology, Arizona School of Health Sciences; master's in audiology University of Central Missouri University; bachelor's in speech pathology, University of Wyoming

Also worked at: Two private practices in Missouri and Arizona

Family: Husband Rick; sons Sean and Ryan

Movie you found inspirational on the topic of leadership: "Finding Forrester"

Management Tip

Hiring a diverse staff doesn't mean your diversity work is completed. It is only beginning. Your next step is to create an environment where your employees can bring their different traits, perspectives and background to the table in a way that helps the organization. In meetings, the new employees might be shy – make a point of actively soliciting their input. Be conscious of who is chosen for perks, travel and training opportunities and meaty assignments. Think some about your own biases. What kinds of employees might be "invisible" to you, the kind of people who do their job but never pop into your consciousness? Engage those workers, set high expectations for them and make sure they are fully part of the team.

- Larry Olmstead

 

Diversity councils

that make a difference

By Rafael Gonzalez and Jacqui Love Marshall

Diversity councils are one component of a "best practice" diversity tool kit.
Effective diversity councils involve a broad spectrum of employees, identify important diversity issues and suggest initiatives to address those issues. They can be a powerful vehicle providing leadership and direction to a change effort.

"At AOL, our Diversity Leadership Action Team has been the foundation for the diversity work we have accomplished thus far," said Robby Gregg, director of diversity communications. "The group has helped us to integrate our diversity and inclusion initiatives into the DNA of our culture and it serves as a benchmark for excellence as we continue our work."

Here are some important guidelines from successful councils if your organization seeks to launch a new diversity council or to revitalize an existing one:

Leadership Role

Successful councils work to involve senior management from Day One – often as a sponsor or partner. Senior management is an important advocate lending credibility to any diversity effort. Human Resources can provide support, but it is critical for a council to engage all key departments. This includes employees at remote locations that are often overlooked.

Diversity councils can help companies work through broader business and organizational issues – not just employee relations issues. Empower the council to address broader organizational issues that intersect with diversity ones.

Councils that share their work with others in the organization enhance their ability to get support. Successful councils engage the workforce to support business initiatives.

Clarify Purpose

Successful diversity councils move with clarity of purpose. Why is the council being formed? What are the specific goals? Identify the group's central purpose so that the council understands their target goals. This leads to effective action and avoids spending unnecessary time brainstorming. Another key question is, "What are the boundaries or expectations of this group?" Separating personal vs. organizational issues is also critical. For example, the committee might be asked to review the performance of an ineffective supervisor. That is probably best handled elsewhere.

If the budget allows, engage a consultant to serve in the formation and development of your council. Besides bringing insight and expertise from work with other clients, employees and managers will often confide in a consultant about diversity history, personal work experiences, and hidden organizational obstacles. Consultants accelerate your diversity truth-telling and goal-setting processes.

Strengthen Relationships

Before a council can provide direction and guidance, it must bond. Establish mutual respect and trust and build both personal and professional rapport among council members. You may want to conduct diversity training for the group to establish diversity-sensitive interactions.

Identify "thought leaders" among your employees – especially among diversity sub-groups – and invite a select few to join. With some diversity education in hand and the chance to get their concerns heard, vocal naysayers can become staunch diversity champions.

Survey the landscape

Successful councils first gather data that identifies organizational readiness, strengths, needs, obstacles and possible solutions. This is a strong first step and highly useful activity for a council. Talking with other councils about best practices and lessons learned can be extremely helpful and save a council valuable time. Surveying the landscape can serve as the foundation for a plan that is strategic, action-oriented, and doable.

Building Momentum

Diversity councils need a plan that can produce momentum and results. Initial successes help to generate enthusiasm and credibility in an organization that is taking a wait and see or cynical perspective. Working for many months without any signs of success can be exhausting and de-motivating. Establishing milestones and working on short and long term goals can make a big difference in attitude and reputation. A key question is: "Are we making a difference?"

Communicating Progress

When sharing goals, activities, and achievements of the diversity council, include concrete ways that individual employees can support the council's efforts and recognize employees who contribute to diversity successes.

For example, you can ask diversity council members to collect companywide anecdotes that illustrate the power of diversity in your company. Examples might include how diversity made a difference in marketing to a unique customer niche or creating a new product or strategy for a sub-group of clients. Sharing these anecdotes broadly with employees and top management helps to "bring home" the positive impact diversity can play within the business and community.

Measurements

Real business results are measured in dollars and cents. Measure your diversity work in revenue generated, savings, productivity or public relations. Prove that your work makes a real difference to the business.

The way we do business

One goal of many diversity efforts is to integrate diversity into the business strategies, functions and norms of an organization. Effective diversity councils can help identify and facilitate those opportunities. Human resources, marketing, product development, community relations and interdepartmental efficiency are just a few of the common areas where diversity can make a difference.

WOMAN TALK: In pursuit of balance

By Dinah Eng

Jennifer Carroll knows well the work-life balance issues that women executives face.

Carroll, vice president of new media content for the Gannett Co., recently celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary, along with her 25th anniversary as a Gannett employee.

"My first job was writing a freelance column for The Times Herald in Port Huron, Mich., and I instantly loved it," says Carroll, who was hired full-time for the paper shortly after that. "Anyone who's curious about the world thrives in this industry."

Carroll, the mother of two daughters, says it's important to have a strong, well-developed personal life, as well as a fulfilling professional life.
"Whether we're talking family or not, you become a better journalist by becoming engaged in life," she says. "For women who become full-time working mothers, the world changes because you're juggling those challenges."

Women who want to move up the corporate ladder face the significant issues of childcare and relocation. Carroll, who moved her family four times before taking a position at Gannett corporate headquarters, says her husband's support was key to her success.

"My husband chose to work part-time, or stay home full-time, which was never in the script when we married," Carroll says. "I was editor of the Burlington (VT) Free Press, and opportunities he'd had before didn't present themselves. Our children were 9 and 12, and we decided the best thing was for one of us not to work full-time. It turned out to be the best decision we ever made."

She says the hardest times she faced as a mother were when her children got sick. "Every mother who works has had a moment being in an important meeting, and getting a note saying, ‘Your daughter's sick. Come home immediately,' '' Carroll says. "You just have to leave the office behind when that happens. There's also guilt involved when you walk out the door, and your daughter has a 102 degree fever, but that comes with the choices you make."

Carroll says sometimes the decisions you make can be painful, but they do come around in satisfying ways. "I was proud that I could talk to my kids' classes about journalism as a career," Carroll says, "and my daughters knew that whenever the phone rang at home, it might be an important news event, and they were proud of that.

"Do the hours, the demands of the job, affect things at home? Yes. We've been able to work it out, whether it was weekend travel, or the hours. The hardest thing for me was moving my family. Your family's entire emotional and physical well-being is on your shoulders during those moves."

Carroll says it's important for women to feel free to be who they are, and talk about their personal goals and personal lives with their bosses.

Even if you don't have children, everybody has things that are important in their lives that should not be shut off at work," Carroll says. "The more you can be true to yourself, the better you'll be in business. There are different ways to survive and thrive at work. There's no one right way."

BOOK NOOK

- Rebecca Kuiken

ETHICS DILEMMA: Backdating options OK? Think again

Jerry Ceppos will answer questions about ethical issues every month. Along with two others, he received the first Ethics in Journalism Award of the Society of Professional Journalists. Write Jerry at jceppos@aol.com. Tell him if you don't want your name used.

Q. What's the big deal about backdating stock options? If you do it right, it's legal.

A. First, rarely has it been done legally, which means that a company's books have been charged correctly and taxes have been paid correctly. But that's not the point.

Ask 100 shareholders how options work and here's what 99 will say: "Employees and directors are given shares at a certain price. Their incentive is to push the price of the stock up through good business practices. They then get to keep the difference in the price. If the stock goes down, they get nothing."

Note that shareholders don't say, "If the price of the stock doesn't go up, it's OK to backdate the options secretly so that employees and directors make free money anyway."

Those who defend backdating options to a favorable price regardless of reality—and their number seems to drop after each new criminal investigation—prefer to think that the rest of us are taking drugs based on our simplistic, honest views. For example, a blog called "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs" , which does seem to be written by the Silicon Valley legend, argues that Wall Street Journal reporters are jealous of the valley's success:

"The Journal hates the Valley. They think we're all crooks. They think we're playing a rigged game. Forget that we're out here building companies and making products and taking risks and creating magical devices that restore a sense of childlike wonder to people's lives. No, that's not important. The reporters on this one (an investigation of the wealth of Stanford President John Hennessy) are the same frigtards who are hoping to win a Pulitzer with their big back-dating ‘scandal' which wasn't a scandal until they decided to try to whip it up into one."

The blog is right on one point. The Journal reporters are likely to win a Pulitzer--because they look at options as normal people do, not as thieves do.

Edgeline is published the second Tuesday of every month by Leading Edge Associates, a consulting firm engaged in management training, organizational change, succession planning, executive coaching, diversity and media.