Get to know Booz Allen's DEI Team. In this episode, we'll explore what the DEI Team is most proud of achieving in 2023, and what they think are the biggest DEI issues we'll be dealing with in 2024 and beyond. You'll be hearing from, Behavioral Science Lead, Baris Yakin; DEI Program Managers Kira Schifano & Erin Prah; DEI Content Strategist, Enrico E. Manalo; DEI Strategist, Anna Sebastian; DEI Project Managers Najiyah Khan & Julia S. Chen; DEI Strategic Communications Specialist, Kevin Craft; and DEI Director, Alexé J. Weymouth. For more info on the individual members of Booz Allen's DEI Team, check out the Meet the DEI Team feature in Issue 10 of Unstoppable Together Magazine here: https://BAH.dcatalog.com/v/Issue-10-Unstoppable-Together-Magazine/
Get to know Booz Allen's DEI Team. In this episode, we'll explore what the DEI Team is most proud of achieving in 2023, and what they think are the biggest DEI issues we'll be dealing with in 2024 and beyond. You'll be hearing from, Behavioral Science Lead, Baris Yakin; DEI Program Managers Kira Schifano & Erin Prah; DEI Content Strategist, Enrico E. Manalo; DEI Strategist, Anna Sebastian; DEI Project Managers Najiyah Khan & Julia S. Chen; DEI Strategic Communications Specialist, Kevin Craft; and DEI Director, Alexé J. Weymouth.
For more info on the individual members of Booz Allen's DEI Team, check out the Meet the DEI Team feature in Issue 10 of Unstoppable Together Magazine here: https://BAH.dcatalog.com/v/Issue-10-Unstoppable-Together-Magazine/
Jennie Brooks:
Welcome to Booz Allen Hamilton's Unstoppable Together Podcast. A series of stories that unite us and empower each of us to change the world. I'm Jennie Brooks with Booz Allen Hamilton, and I'm passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please join me in conversation with the diverse group of thought leaders to explore what makes them and all of us unstoppable.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Unstoppable Together Podcast. I'm Jennie Brooks. And today, I'm excited to share the perspectives of Booz Allen's diversity, equity, and inclusion team. As we enter 2024, we wanted to take some time to share our DE&I team's reflections on 2023, as well as their perspectives on what 2024 holds for DE&I. Our team recorded their responses to the following questions.
First, what are you most proud of achieving in the past year? And second, reflecting on the past year, in your opinion, what are the biggest DE&I issues on our collective horizon? Our team members chose which question they wanted to address and recorded their responses alongside other colleagues. In this episode, you'll be hearing from Baris Yakin, Kira Schifano, Erin Prah, Enrico Manalo, Anna Sebastian, Najiyah Khan, Julia Chen, Kevin Craft, and Alexé Weymouth.
Baris Yakin:
This is Baris Yakin. When I think back on what I'm most proud of from this past year is our work with the Belonging initiative. And what that is, is an initiative that uses behavioral science in the form of essentially reminders. They're called nudges in the more technical term. But reminders that go from a senior leader, let's say a vice president to all their employees that remind them to take actions that they already know how to take. So, there's no learning curve. But the act of the reminder itself is the mechanism which we're scaling up across the company now. And what I'm most proud of is how we got to this point because we started from nothing. We discovered this technique in the behavioral science literature, scalable. It's no cost, it's customizable.
And when we use the form of emails, which sounds very simple on the surface, it actually gives senior leaders an opportunity to engage their pyramids, engage their people in a way that is meaningful. And was actually a surprise effect that we saw is that people... We didn't design for it, but people really liked the engagement side of it too. And the part that I'm proud of is that we started with a couple pilots across two of our sectors. And so we tested the proof of concept. We did pre and post surveys. We did some pre thorough data analysis and saw that we actually were achieving a significant effect, an increase in belonging for those employees who actively participated.
And so, we got from that point, at the beginning of the year to now, scaling across two of our largest sectors, which brings us close to reaching almost 80% of the company. And we're going to continue to measure the approach and see how we do, of course. But it's great achievement to do this large-scale initiative with a very small crew and a lot of support from senior leaders. So, I'm really proud of that.
Kira Schifano:
This is Kira Schifano. One thing that I'm really proud of is the Unstoppable Together Program. We are about to close out our fifth year of this program, and we really started from grassroots with nothing. And here we are with a firm-wide signature program that we keep pushing out and we're able to have the support of our leaders and our people to build these storytelling mechanisms. To get these really important topics and really difficult conversations out there.
And I love that the program is so adaptable depending on what's going on inside the firm, outside the firm, in the world. And developing these contents and these sessions and bringing in people from various backgrounds and even outside of the firm to tell their stories and really get different viewpoints out there. And I think it's something really special that we do at Booz Allen that you don't see a lot of places. To give opportunities that aren't just leaderships talking down about things that they have done. But we are really making an impact and making sure we have visibility at all levels to tell their stories and get that out there. So I'm incredibly proud of Unstoppable Together where we've been, and where we are going. And I'm excited to see what this next year brings.
Erin Prah:
Yeah, this is Erin Prah. And when you're talking about visibility, makes me think about the High Visibility Opportunity initiative that we started this year. And Unstoppable is five years old. The HVO initiative is not even a year old, but we're really proud to have established what's a pretty simple blueprint at this point.
So, one of the things we learned before we started the firm's DEI strategy in 2021 was how important key assignments are and how critical those are to being able to have the career that you want at the firm. And so, what we've tried to do with the High Visibility Opportunity initiative is create a way to put more sunlight on those opportunities. Have folks, have the transparency around what opportunities are available, what are the skills needed, what's the time commitment. And getting really specific on the roles and responsibilities, and then socializing them.
And have people apply for them so that it is more of a diverse slate of options before the leader has to make a decision. So, we've seen some really exciting progress with it in our small people services team cohort. And we're excited to see how we can expand on that and scale it across the sectors with the help of our integrated talent leads in years to come.
Enrico Manalo:
Hey, this is Enrico Manalo. I'm relatively new to the team, but I have done DEI podcasting in the past. And honestly, one of the hardest things about DEI podcasting is just getting people to tune in and listen in the first place. So as Kira mentioned, Booz Allen has some great storytelling mechanisms. And really excitingly to me, people are actually tuning in. Just shortly after I joined, I was informed that the podcast crossed the 14,000 downloads mark, which is in the scope of things, it doesn't sound huge. But trust me, for a DEI podcast, that is enormous. So, I'm very, very pleased to be joining you all.
Anna Sebastian:
Hi, this is Anna. So, when I think about what the biggest DEI issues on my mind as we look ahead, especially into the next fiscal year. I think really about building trust, especially across the collective organization. I think something that gets lost sometimes is that we all very much have the same goals in mind, especially when we think about DEI. That we want to advance an equitable and inclusive organization that all feel welcome and feel like they belong.
And I think within our team, outside of our team, with our business resource groups and networks. With our DEI sector councils, with our executive leadership, with our job leaders and career managers. There's a lot of building of belief that we want to make sure is happening, that we're all actually truly in this together. And we have shared collective goals that will positively impact us all. So, easy work.
Najiyah Khan:
And I'll piggyback on Anna. This is Najiyah. One tangent of that multifaceted approach is to ensure that our internal team, that we hear each other. And we have such a collaborative open space to express the ups and the downs, the good and the bad. DEI work is extremely hard. It is extremely rewarding, but it comes with a lot of collaboration, a lot of open-mindedness, a lot of trust.
And so, to ensure that our team can still continue and grow our trust within ourselves, within our team to ensure we can bounce ideas off, vent if we need to. Collaborate on a positive approach coming up on the horizon. But ensuring that our team of 11 can continue to grow that truth and the strategy to have those great positive impacts on the firm that we've continued to see. And as we grow, continue to that growth of trust, empathy, and passion for this amazing work that we do.
Julia Chen:
Thanks, Najiyah. This is Julia. To add on building that trust, I think it's just still really important to continue to ensure that our employees across the firm feel heard and cared for. Especially against the backdrop of mass shootings, war, racism, sexism, every-ism you can imagine. And especially with the political atmosphere that's happening right now where we're striking down a lot of legislation that's built in to protect those historically excluded groups.
I think we need to continue to make that space and maybe even through our business resource groups and networks to make sure that these populations are heard and cared for. And as somebody who has been in that volunteer role out of local office, it's so important to make sure that our volunteers are continually being recognized and appreciated and supported by our team.
Kevin Craft:
Absolutely. This is Kevin. And just to piggybacking on what Julia said, I think in a volatile sociopolitical environment, it's important for us as a company to be steadfast in our commitment to DEI. And to project our voice and to use it to stand up for groups that may be suffering for a variety of reasons.
I think we talk a lot about our purpose and values, and they are important to us here at Booz Allen. And so, using that, using our commitment to DEI always keeping that front and center and not shying away, even in a difficult external environment. We can be a leader in our industry and hopefully we can let people know across the spectrum that this is a place that is inclusive and welcoming of their perspectives. And that when we come together, we can do incredible work and be an unstoppable force for good.
Alexé Weymouth:
This is Alexé. I agree with that. And it makes me think of some of the most influential thought leaders that we've had an opportunity to partner with the past couple years in this mission space. One of them, I think that had the biggest impact on me in many ways was Brian Stevenson from the Equal Justice Initiative. And when he came in and provided the keynote for one of our Unstoppable summits, I'll never forget him talking about how it's hard to hate someone when you're up close to them. When you really get to know them. He talks a lot about emotional proximity, being near, being close to. And I think my translation of what he was saying was love, that is practically how to love someone. And we see that a lot in our work.
I think this past year, especially with a lot of the work that we've done in supporting the firm's response to various crises. Whether they're geopolitical or wars breaking out or social flashpoints, there is really no right approach. It's not that black and white in this space, it's very nuanced. And the best posture we can take is to love people and to provide space to know people, to straddle alongside our workforce through a sort of emotional proximity, first posture. And trying to really listen to people and hear them out in order to support them.
Jennie Brooks:
Many thanks to the members of Booz Allen's diversity, equity and inclusion team for sharing your reflections, thoughts, and ideas on what's on the horizon for DE&I in 2024. We'll be back in a couple of weeks. See you then.
[Blooper Reel Begins]
[Beep]
Enrico:
Recording.
Baris:
This is Baris Yakin. Is that what we said? You can cut this part out.
Erin:
Yeah, yeah.
Enrico:
Yeah.
Baris:
That's it? Okay. So, you got that part.
[Beep]
Enrico:
Rolling.
Anna:
Just start whenever?
Enrico:
Yep.
Anna:
Should I be closer?
Enrico:
Well, you're talking really quietly, right?
Anna:
Well, yeah, but when I talk.
Enrico:
No. This is fine.
Anna:
Okay.
Enrico:
Right. Like you guys might want to come in a little bit when you speak.
Anna:
All right. Hi, this is Anna. No, that's bad. [Laughter]
[Beep]
Jennie Brooks:
Thanks for listening. Visit careers.boozallen.com to learn how you can be unstoppable with Booz Allen. Be the future. Work with us. The world can't wait.