TiER1 Performance

This article originally appeared in The Data & Measurement Issue of Performance Matters magazine. Download a digital copy of the magazine to read more on this topic. 

How can data help inform decisions that support strategy activation? Learn how two organizations leveraged data insights to improve patient experience and help leaders become more inclusive and proficient in making data-driven talent decisions. Plus, explore how Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) creates new content from datasets.

Healthcare

“We need to improve our patient experience. Can you help?”

Moments that matter are the foundation of meaningful experiences. At an ambulatory services organization within a large healthcare system, the vision is for the organization to be a place where everyone feels safe, appreciated, and taken care of—so that, ultimately, the organization’s people can provide an exceptional world-class patient experience for others. To help bring that vision to life, TiER1 partnered with this organization to drive measurable changes across its ways of working and outcomes in the leader and associate experience, starting first with ambulatory care centers.

We conducted three workshops with approximately 30 operational leaders across nine ambulatory care centers. Based on the science of healthy and high-performing teams, these workshops helped company leaders build on the “bright spots” of the leader and associate experience, as well as surfaced opportunities or challenges associated with patient experience data. Because patient experience scores are a lagging indicator, we also looked at leading indicators throughout the work to provide meaningful insight into progress toward desired results, as well as identify results early enough to course-correct as needed.

Examples of leading indicators:

• Staff feel connected to their team.
• Staff feel listened to and respected by the team.
• Staff feel that their expertise is valued.
• Staff feel appreciated.
• Staff feel empowered.
• Patients feel “seen” and heard.
• Patients feel staff and providers communicate with empathy and compassion.

Outside the workshops, we facilitated fieldwork and guiding sessions to help site leaders identify a key moment to redesign. The work included listening to staff needs and pain points relative to two key patient experience drivers; reviewing patient and associate experience data; identifying the moments that matter that need to be intentionally redesigned at their site; and empowering a core team of staff to develop and test new ways of working. With support from TiER1, site leaders were able to determine which leading and lagging indicators they would use to gain insight into the impact of the newly designed moment at their site.

DEI & Talent

Clare Jeong, 2023 Excellence in Learning & Performance Award recipient, is a talent management professional who is helping leaders become inclusive and more proficient in making data-driven decisions when it comes to talent.

Here’s how: 

As a passionate advocate for DEI, Clare seamlessly integrated a DEI lens to talent review by building key spreadsheet dashboards that highlighted succession and DEI metrics via a customized dashboard for leaders to support talent discussions. This was critical as it enabled leaders to see key talent gaps as part of their calibration discussions. As a result of Clare’s work, leaders are now being trained on how to leverage the dashboard and DEI talent metrics to have more meaningful talent conversations and create a more effective talent practice. With this newfound training, Clare is helping leaders prioritize inclusiveness and become more proficient in making data-informed talent decisions.

Clare is passionate about supporting growth, curating a diverse and inclusive work environment, and creating innovative solutions to large-scale global problems that better support the business. She’s also a skilled project manager with change management and cross-functional collaboration experience. (Fun fact: Clare played a lead and strategic role in standing up the talent and performance practice at a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate—from the manual design of talent tools to providing strategic analysis for the talent practice.)

Clare’s work makes an impact on the organization’s culture by ensuring that talent processes are equitable and sustainable — using data and measurement as a tool.

Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) has become ubiquitous in the technology industry.

For years, AI has been integrated into business operations to identify patterns and trends, while enhancing customer experiences; tailoring content on enterprise platforms; enhancing product design; and navigating supply chain hurdles. GAI advances AI architecture through its ability to learn relationships between data elements and then reassemble the data into new content based on prompts. “Content” may include text, images, code, analysis, and much more.

The power of GAI is its predictive ability to generate new content from existing datasets. Each new advance in GAI modeling sees a monumental step forward—and the advances are accelerating even amid the navigation of ethical implications of bias and copyright, legal considerations, and security concerns.

So, how do leaders strategically navigate this shift in the power of data without creating chaos in their organizations? To do so, first consider these three areas:

Understand where you are in the cycle. This can range from “we have a small team adept at navigating GAI” to “we’ve already identified our areas of potential impact, data pools, and role needs.” Focus on what is practical and applicable now to create a near-term AI integration roadmap. In addition, consider how this maps back to your overarching strategy and organizational priorities. If you are early in the process, mapping your current data infrastructure and data quality might be great starting points.

Engage employees authentically. Helping employees see what AI-enhanced performance can look like is a critical first step to leveraging it from a data and measurement perspective. Be proactive in helping people find their place in it and to adopt a new personal narrative when needed. Mapping skills and talent, as well as future role impacts, can be another space in which you can build buy-in, and shift mindsets to see possibility while also gaining data on current AI skill capacity.

Build trust-rich teams to explore options together. Developing AI agility—the capacity to shape and reshape the organization as it navigates uncharted territory—will be critical. Experimental pilots, sharing success stories, as well as lessons learned, can all be used to build trust. However, the agility will also need to be balanced with use case prioritization (how will we focus our efforts) and return on investment measurements (how do we know what’s working). Finding ways to lift up monitoring and evaluation data to effectively and transparently identify potential biases, errors, and unexpected impacts will also be a necessity for building trustworthy GAI solutions.

When it comes to how we leverage data, GAI is a definite game-changer. Being strategic in building a data and measurement strategy around its adoption in our organizations will go a long way in turning it into a competitive advantage for our organizations and people.

TiER1 Performance

“Microaggressions are the everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups.”
– Dr. Kevin Nadal, Professor of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Everyone has bias. We have bias towards all types of things based on our lived experiences, beliefs, family and social influences, and much more. It’s important to recognize not only that various types of bias exist, but also to understand what behaviors they influence and their impact on our ways of working. Bias leads to an act that can have harmful impacts on an individual and an organization’s sense of belonging: microaggressions. (See this video to learn more.)

Microaggressions are harmful acts against another, and they occur because of bias and stereotypes. It may be easy to state that you “meant well” or didn’t know or feel the comment or action was minor, but to the person on the receiving end, it’s major! Microaggressions most often happen to people most marginalized. Because these acts often happen against historically marginalized individuals, they may not want to exert the emotional labor to speak up and rock the boat for fear of being disregarded or labeled as “too sensitive.” Microaggressions are incredibly harmful because if people continue to disregard these behaviors, they can have a significant impact on an individual’s mental wellbeing, self-worth, and sense of belonging to the group or culture. In the workplace, this can lead to absenteeism, disengagement, isolation, productivity issues, trust issues, and even result in their leaving the organization.

Common microaggressions

Check out this article on recognizing and overcoming our biases, which provides examples and why they are hurtful. Below are a few call-outs for us to be even more aware of within our environment to honor diversity and inclusion and demonstrate equitable practices:

Reflect on microaggressions you may have experienced, witnessed, or become aware of recently. How can you rectify with more inclusive behaviors or influence others to be use more inclusive language?

Mispronouncing an individual’s name after you’ve been corrected multiple times. Many don’t seem to realize that the phrase “Your name is too difficult to say” is actually demonstrating oppressive behavior. One tip is to write down the phonetic spelling of someone’s name (if you don’t know, search YouTube or Google) and practice saying the name out loud. It takes seconds and makes a difference! If your colleague continues to pronounce someone’s name wrong, gently correct them by spelling out the phonetic pronunciation in the Teams chat or saying it.

Taking the “I’m color blind” route during race-related discussions. Phrases like “I don’t see color” or “We’re all one race, the human race,” implies that you don’t see the individual for their uniqueness, their identity, and their culture. This is oppressive and non-inclusive behavior that is actually a deflection. I recommend to instead get curious and vulnerable about what you may or may not know, and take the opportunity to learn or unlearn. If there is something you’re uncomfortable with, it’s OK to ask the question but more importantly use the tools available to you.

Only referring to the dominant group during a meeting. This will look different for every organization; it could be only the most tenured voices are heard, or the loudest. Take action to ensure all voices are heard.

Assuming that people are in heterosexual relationships. When we assume that someone has a spouse or partner of the opposite gender, we are showing our own blind spots. Don’t assume. If you don’t know someone’s pronouns or relationship status, use stated names without using gender.

Continuing to use terminology someone has shared is offensive. Comments such as “It’s too hard” or “I was raised that way” are not adequate justifications for not honoring the boundary your colleague has attempted to set. It’s important to ask how that language is offensive, so you can better understand and empathize then try on a new language as a positive habit. The goal is to create a new habit of language to be more inclusive.

Misgendering people based on how you assume they present. This can happen when we act based on assumptions or beliefs (such as, believing someone looks like a woman and referring to them in a group of other female-presenting people as “Hey ladies!”). Try on more inclusive language, such as “everyone / partners / friends / esteemed guests / beautiful humans.” Also, use someone’s name when referring to an individual during a conversation about them, instead of using pronouns, if you aren’t certain. Finally, state your pronouns when you introduce yourself, just as you would share your name and your title or role. For example, “Hi! My name is Victoria Rodgers, my pronouns are she & her, I’m the DE&I Strategy Director at TiER1 Performance, and I’m excited to be here!” Often when you lead by example, it gives others permission to do the same.

Tips for taking action

Explore your bias. Consider what’s implicit (unconscious) and explicit (the ones you are aware of consciously), and reflect on what you want or need to do with that bias.

Own the bias. It’s OK. Often when someone has barriers to owning their bias, it’s because they’re afraid that what they’ll learn will imply that they’re a bad person. This has nothing to do with good or bad. Bias exists – it’s our intention AND the impact of our actions that matter.

Understand impact versus intention. We can have the best intentions in the world, but our actions have a tremendous impact. We will have a greater impact when our intention to support others with love and compassion is combined with energy and positive action as a collective. Examine your language and be willing to learn, practice, and ask for forgiveness if you get it wrong. Learn, grow, and experience with others, together. Share what you’re doing to learn, grow, and support each other.

Reflect on the last time you really wanted to call someone in for something they said, but couldn’t because you weren’t sure how. How might you call them in next time?

Practice calling in or calling out for accountability. When someone says something that could be hurtful, oppressive, or exclusive, call them in. Calling someone in means to privately ask questions of clarity to help them self-discover the behavior and then educating them on why their comment is hurtful/exclusive. (Check out this article to learn more.) This method requires less energy and may feel less risky. You can also call someone out in public if there is a need to ensure people understand it’s important to align correcting behavior or comments. It drives accountability, but it will require energy and can be risky to relationships, and may lead to a deeper dialogue.

Look out for those who are marginalized. Remember: Everyone has bias. Microaggressions are harmful acts rooted in bias and stereotypes, and they happen most often happen to the people who are most marginalized. When microaggressions continue unchecked, they can have a significant impact on an individual’s mental wellbeing, self-worth, and sense of belonging to the group or culture.

I hope you have found this 10-minute read to be insightful, helpful, and crafted with love. Please share how this content resonates or supported your ability to be more inclusive by reaching out in the form below. I’d love to hear how your journey is going.

At TiER1, we are on an organizational journey to better center inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in our values and company culture—we call it the IDEA journey. To realize our fullest potential, we believe it’s important that we play a part in dismantling systemic racism and creating equitable workforces. We also believe that dialogue is important, so we welcome you to connect with us in the form at the bottom of the page.

TiER1 Performance

For years we have witnessed a focus on diversity and inclusion by our peers and community. As organizations progressed in their journeys, the evolution of their people strategy required additional letters to be added, such as the “E” for Equity or Equality (i.e. DEI), “J” Justice (i.e. JEDI), or “B” Belonging (i.e. DI&B). This recognizes that every organization’s journey is personal and driven by different internal and external forces.

As our Diversity and Inclusion Task Force explored the future of D&I at TiER1, we discovered definitions and applications that resonated with us; at the time, the terms equated to DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility). In true TiER1 fashion, we shifted it into a catchy acronym of IDEA, which carried through to our Agile Team and ongoing work. Of course, we have our own ideas (pun intended) of how we lean into this work as conscious leaders focused on humanity while meeting ourselves where we are.

I came across this quote from the American Alliance of Museums and believe it applies to our future goals of this journey: “We believe that equity is our goal, inclusion is how we move toward that goal, and diversity describes the breadth of our experiences and perspectives.”

Why IDEA for TiER1?

Inclusivity is a mindset.

Inclusivity is the practice and policies in place which guide us to include an individual or people, with awareness of who may otherwise be excluded or marginalized. Someone with an inclusive mindset behaves in a way that embraces and welcomes the diversity of others, allowing people to bring their whole selves to work, which directly impacts performance.

• This requires an ongoing awareness of potential bias and blind spots (systemic and individually) and how to not exclude someone. However, this does NOT mean we expect anyone to sacrifice their personal beliefs.
• To be inclusive requires that we all choose growth everyday.

Diversity is a fact of personal identity.

Diversity is the ways in which we are all similar and different, including the core (visible) and invisible characteristics. When we embrace, recognize, and value diversity, we are also recognizing this at the individual level. There is no room here for discrimination.

• When we say diversity, this does not solely apply to core characteristics such as age, gender, race, etc. Instead, this includes all of our unique characteristics.
• Over the years we have focused on Strength Finders, Emotional Intelligence, DiSC, and other profiles as a way to understand each other better. These are a part of our personal diversity stories to help others understand how to engage with us.
• Without being intentional in how diversity is represented across our organization, we can lose out on being innovative.

Equity recognizes gaps and inequities to close.

We recognize that some individuals or groups are disadvantaged due to an unequal starting place, and therefore, are underrepresented or marginalized within a field, industry, workplace, or community. This requires us to examine systems both internally and externally to find ways to provide opportunities to reduce barriers to entry and provide support to help level the playing field. We are using business as a source for good.

• This is an ongoing journey for us as a company that requires being intentional and keeping the pulse on where inequities may exist so that we can support individuals who are marginalized to continue to develop and thrive.
• As we progress in this journey, we will measure areas where we have gaps to fill. It is OK to call out equity gaps in our field, population, and needs as we grow.

Accessibility is about access and support for all.

Everyone should have the ability to access environments, events, services, and experiences with or without disability. Therefore, we must focus on proactive design and care versus reactive fixes.

• By treating accessibility as an independent dimension, it allows us to drive actionable intention to how we acknowledge, create, support, and destigmatize disability.
• As experience designers and an organization passionate about mental health and neuroscience, we have a unique opportunity to explore how to accommodate people with a range of disabilities.

Through the IDEA Journey, we seek to deepen our knowledge, adjust our systems, and foster a sense of belonging for TiER1ers. As we continually evolve and learn, we are sharing our commitments and lessons learned along the journey as they progress. Interested in learning more? Join us on this exciting and ongoing journey.

TiER1 Performance

This article originally appeared in The Healthy, High-Performing Cultures Issue of Performance Matters Magazine. To request a print or digital copy of the magazine, click here.

An organization’s employee well-being or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts may garner reactions such as fear of alienation or saying the wrong thing. Despite those mindsets DE&I work matters deeply. According to research by Catalyst, only 31% of employees report “often” or “always” experiencing inclusive team norms at work—and marginalized groups experience even less. Yet, a survey by Survey Monkey found that 78% of employees say it’s important to work for an organization that prioritizes DE&I.

Being intentional about DE&I and caring for employee well-being are critical to someone’s ability to thrive. Yet there are misconceptions that these efforts are separate initiatives; or, that it’s complex or time-consuming and will add weight to everyday workloads. There may also be perceptions about the organization’s approach to DE&I and employee well-being; as reported by Lever, nearly half of employees who took required diversity training said that it felt like a checkbox on their company’s diversity goals.

This is why it’s important to incorporate both DE&I and well-being within ways of working. By providing accessible, realistic, and tangible ways to integrate both, leaders can elevate their real-time decision making and daily routines with increased empathy and listening. Keep reading to learn how organizational leaders at already embedding simple techniques for themselves and their teams to positively impact culture, employee experience, and DE&I goals.

D&I in practice at ESPN

As a high-performing organization, ESPN has ongoing goals to cultivate a sense of belonging and nourish well-being across their “always on” culture. They envisioned a conversational approach that would equip leaders to deepen their knowledge, create new habits, coach teams, and drive accountability. TiER1 partnered with ESPN to design and develop a leadership coaching series that repurposed their existing well-being and D&I framework so that they could successfully embed ideal practices into everyday ways of working. These actions included:

1. Leaders (and their teams) adopt behaviors that continue to promote holistic health and inclusion with clear connection to performance.
2. Leaders model behaviors that encourage teams to adopt new habits and routines in hybrid work environments with diversity in mind.
3. Leaders better navigate responding to and supporting employees, including at the moment of need.

As you can see, these are not “separate” or “additions” to everyday workloads, but integral to leadership practices.

Tips for getting started

Here are practices to consider for incorporating DE&I and well-being into your organizational ways of working:

• Examine team dynamics to uncover exclusive and unhealthy practices. From there, shift to celebrate differences and change decision-making processes (including adjustment to power dynamics).
• Open 1:1s or meetings with an emotional inventory or check-in. Then explore ways to better support at this moment. (Tip: use mood association such as distracted, somewhat present, fully engaged.)
• Provide tangible examples of how leaders can lead and show up during difficult conversations by demonstrating curiosity, emotional intelligence, empathy, and inclusive behaviors.
• Reflect and assess unconscious bias related to leaders’ daily interactions, decision making, and ability to explore trepidation; then provide spaces to discuss.
• Address burnout by establishing better boundaries, knowing the signs and symptoms of burnout to observe, and revisiting any narratives that may contribute to feelings of powerlessness.

Embedding inclusive practices at work

When it comes to impacting others, how we work is just as important as the work we do. The ongoing practices of acknowledging bias, mindful behavior, emotional intelligence, inclusive conversations, and willingness to examine team dynamics can seamlessly be incorporated within our everyday interactions. It takes curiosity and empathy. Organizational leaders already are applying these simple techniques to create new habits and ways of working for themselves and their teams positively impacting culture, employee experience, and DE&I goals.

This article originally appeared in The Healthy, High-Performing Cultures Issue of Performance Matters Magazine. To request a print or digital copy of the magazine, click here.

TiER1 Performance

There has been an influx of surveys conducted to explore this notion of ‘a sense of belonging’ that employees experience within their organizations and, importantly, what contributes to the feeling and desire to remain with their employers. The 2022 Workplace Belonging Survey conducted by Ipsos uncovered the following:

• Two in three say a sense of belonging at work means having their perspectives and/or contributions valued by their colleagues and superiors  (64%) and working in an environment where they feel accepted (64%).
• The largest disparity between what workers think belonging means and what they currently feel at work is “being treated fairly and respectfully at work” (17 percentage point difference), followed by “having their perspective and/or contributions valued by their colleagues and superiors” and “feeling connected with others at work” (15 percentage point difference for both).

Organizations can drive belonging by actively examining and addressing biases, creating spaces for deep understanding, focusing on building community and integrating systemic practices into their ways of working to achieve DE&I goals. By prioritizing well-being and accessibility, leaders can create an environment where everyone feels included and supported. This can reduce employee burnout, increase engagement and productivity, and, most importantly, foster a sense of belonging.

Although a subjective experience, belonging depends on individual experiences and perceptions. Leaders directly impact an employee’s day-to-day work experience, including their ability to thrive in the role. Studies show that people often quit their jobs due to their manager; therefore, the practices highlighted in this article will focus on the leader’s role in integrating wellness and DE&I within the flow of work. Across these practices, you will notice two recurring themes: listening to employees and recognizing employees.

Honoring the diversity of your team

We are all extraordinarily unique individuals with lived experiences, beliefs, values, and social identities that frame how we are motivated, think, feel, and act. What can be learned from employees beyond their skills and years of experience that can challenge thinking? Lived experiences should not be discounted, as the experiences and lenses people wear can be just as valuable as advanced education, years of experience, and credentials.

• Consider utilizing assessments to allow individuals to learn about themselves and others through a common language and understanding of individual differences. Clifton Strengths and Personality Styles at Work focus on identifying an individual’s unique strengths, while Hermann Brain Dominance and DiSC focus on categorizing individuals’ behavioral tendencies and preferences. Leaders should use this information to deliberately assign tasks and responsibilities that play to strengths to create a more balanced and effective team.
• Offer reverse mentoring to pair younger professionals with senior executives so they can share knowledge and skills related to social media, technology, and other emerging perspectives. Younger professionals can feel heard and valued while bridging the generational gap to promote understanding, respect, and trust across age groups. With guidance, this approach can challenge senior executives’ thinking.
• For the next job posting or team assignment, challenge the ‘years of experience’ requirement by considering what exposure and lived experiences may be relevant.

Deliberate recognition

Workhuman and Gallup’s 2024 report From Appreciation to Equity: Recognition Reinforces DE&I In the Workplace discovered that recognition is one of the most effective and affordable ways to improve well-being and advance DE&I outcomes. Research shows that receiving various forms of recognition supports employees’ sense of belonging while also contributing to key measures of financial success—including increased productivity, decreased safety incidents, and lower absenteeism.

• Consider what gratitude or positives have gone unsaid about an employee’s performance. Narrowly recognizing high performers excludes employees still adding value (i.e., performing their duties).
• Examine which employees receive recognition regularly due to their high visibility, then challenge yourself to seek out ways to recognize less visible yet impactful contributors. (Congratulations, you are confronting bias!)
• Identify moments that matter to employees within the flow of work so that you can observe and provide recognition specific to their focus areas (such as stretch assignments or new challenges)

Collective decision-making to improve physical well-being

People often associate “physical well-being” with working out and eating right. Going beyond these associations, consider what new agreements can be created with the team to have a more balanced and accessible workflow, whether in person or remotely.

• Encourage connections in nature (i.e., outdoor walks during breaks or 1:1 meetings).
• Be intentional about how extended team meetings are structured, such as half-day planning or multi-day co-working sessions. Include time for breaks for people to move about the space and recharge on their own.
• Encourage employees to block off their calendar for daily “no meeting” times and honor them. Model good working boundaries for employees by honoring their calendar status.
• Recognize employees when you see them caring for themselves.

“The research shows that employee engagement hinges on employee well-being. There is no-one-size-fits-all button to push regarding well-being. The subjective nature of well-being (unique to every individual) will push organizations to listen with compassion and act with intention as they develop policies and programs to meet the unique composition of needs within their workforces. Just as all individuals experience the ebbs and flows of life, organizations must maintain an open and ongoing feedback loop to understand how best to serve their employees’ fluctuating well-being needs.”– Dr. Kibibi Springs, I-O Psychology Practitioner, Researcher & Practitioner in Rest, Recovery Cycles & Employee Wellbeing.

Examine and correct power imbalances

A sense of belonging makes team members comfortable enough to provide feedback, share ideas, and confront tension. Leaders can work toward creating a culture where power is shared among team members who openly address power struggles through transparent communication.

• Ensure there are opportunities for everyone to participate in meetings, decision-making processes, and career progression opportunities. One method won’t work for all work styles, so provide a variety of ways for employees to participate and engage.
• Explore how you consider the voices of early-career employees. Often their voices are disregarded unconsciously due to lack of experience or age. Similar discrimination happens to people of color, women, and English as Second Language speakers.
• Create spaces allowing individuals to share stories about their experiences to connect and understand.

Care for social well-being through relationships

One way to prioritize the creation of safe environments within the workplace is through your relationships. By prioritizing social well-being, leaders can foster a culture of inclusivity and support through community—as well as positively impact mental health through connection.

• Be explicit that it’s OK to have fun at work. (AKA know who’s the in-house DJ on the team!)
• Establish a collective agreement on social time for the team to connect outside work projects or meetings, such as Connection on Thursdays from 12-2pm. Be clear on the purpose of this time and honor the commitment; model what you want to see, and the team will follow your lead.
• Connect with Employee Resource Group leaders to hear the needs and wants of marginalized identities; then, explore findings with your team to identify changes to current ways of working.
• Encourage teams to solicit different perspectives to get curious and practice lifelong learning (and unlearning); create space for them to connect with experts, ERG speakers, local non-profits, and vendors.

Storytelling within safe spaces

As a leader, your team expects you to understand what is happening at work. By creating a safe and brave space for open dialogue to humanize individual experiences, leaders can foster greater empathy and understanding among team members. Doing this requires leaders to model bravery, curiosity, compassion, and to actively listen to employees.

• Discuss with your team what you are learning and unlearning, then uncover their perspective too.
• Talk about mental health and challenges (such as burnout for caregivers, social anxiety, stress). Starting the conversation can help employees feel less alone or anxious. Talk about mental health even when there isn’t a crisis.
• Foster open dialogue among team members about what they like and don’t like about their position as it aligns with their strengths. (Bonus points for this practice also supporting their career wellbeing.)

By creating a sense of belonging within organizations through recognizing diversity and prioritizing employee well-being, leaders can foster a positive work environment that promotes inclusivity and increases engagement and productivity while breathing equity into the system and creating accessible environments for all to thrive.

For further reading, check out A Strengths-based Approach to Building an Equitable Workforce, or drop us a line in the form below to explore strategies for promoting wellness at your organization.

When Equity Requires Intentional Design

This tech firm recognized the widening gender gap in leadership roles. Leaders wanted to increase the success of women progressing beyond the mid-level manager role. They wanted a purposeful experience that develops identity, confidence, acumen aligned with the organization’s values and standards for leadership, while deepening cross-organizational relationships and visibility.

When New Ideas Were Needed—Fast

This 10,000+ employee organization faced a rapidly shifting market and economic headwinds. They wanted a faster way to ideate and test fresh concepts to attract new audiences. However, traditional ideation was slow and resource-heavy, making it hard to keep up with digital trends.

TiER1 Performance

The 2025 Inclusive Transformation Awards have been granted to David Conkerite II and Denisha Porter. These awards honor individuals who lead impactful change by breaking down barriers, advancing inclusion, and creating respected, valued, and safe environments. Selection criteria for these awards include demonstrating leadership in creating inclusive, people-centered workplaces and driving transformative change that enhances equity, access, and the overall employee experience. Meet the 2025 Inclusive Transformation Award Recipients:

David Conkerite II

David Conkerite II, MBA, SPHR is a Lead Consultant at Community Belonging Consulting, LLC. With over 15 years of experience, he has led transformational talent initiatives across leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). While consulting for mission driven organizations and in prior leadership roles at OU Health and Loma Linda University Health, David has championed inclusive, people-centered strategies that remove barriers, elevate employee experience, and develop high-performing teams. His work has consistently embedded community belonging into talent and learning frameworks, resulting in stronger leadership pipelines, greater representation of historically marginalized groups, and more equitable, accessible workplace cultures.

David’s impact is truly transformative, which can be seen through his work in launching inclusive leadership programs, developing health equity education series, and advising executives on systemic change. His efforts have increased employee engagement, improved retention, and earned national recognition for advancing health equity. Beyond the workplace, David serves on multiple community boards focused on health equity, youth safety, and cultural empowerment. With his strategic mindset, cultural humility, and unwavering commitment to inclusion, David exemplifies the spirit of the 2025 Inclusive Transformation Award.

Denisha Porter

As Executive Director of All-In Cincinnati, Denisha Porter is leading a bold effort to expand access to opportunity and improve outcomes for communities across Hamilton County, OH. Her work is reshaping how public systems and institutions support our neighborhoods —focusing on lasting, community-centered change in health, housing, education, economic mobility, and justice.

Under Denisha’s leadership, All-In Cincinnati has grown into a respected hub for collaboration and advocacy, bringing together more than 60 partners and 165 coalition members to champion inclusive approaches to policy and practice—from tenant protections to maternal health. She has helped launch community-informed initiatives such as placing Community Health Workers in housing agencies and courts, supporting food access initiatives, and guiding local institutions through processes that foster understanding, accountability, and healing.

Denisha’s leadership uplifts lived experience, builds new pathways for civic leadership, and demonstrates that sustainable change happens when communities have a voice in shaping the decisions that affect them. With a track record of policy success, cross-sector collaboration, and national recognition, she has positioned All-In Cincinnati as a powerful example of how communities can work together to build systems that work for everyone.

Denisha Porter represents what it means to drive meaningful transformation through shared leadership and a belief that progress includes us all. Her work is not only improving lives—it’s expanding what’s possible.

The 2025 recipients were recognized on August 28 at an awards luncheon during the 2025 XPLANE Conference hosted at Great American Ball Park.

DiJeana Posley, MSM, SHRM-SCP – Roche Diagnostics U.S. Inclusion & Belonging Office 

Note: This article originally appear in the July 2025 issue of LTEN Focus on Training Magazine.

Rapid advancements in technology and science combined with evolving customer expectations, regulatory changes, and manufacturing and supply chain risks continue to shape the life sciences industry. Despite these potentially disruptive forces, 75% of global life sciences executives remain optimistic about the industry’s growth, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Life Sciences Outlook Survey.

To help develop the next generation of life sciences professionals who will fuel this growth, Roche Diagnostics, in partnership with TiER1 Performance, created Career Quest, an annual event focused on providing high school students with early exposure and hands-on experiences engaging with careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). The event uses interactive activities to help students understand possible career paths they could pursue in STEAM.

“Introducing students to STEAM early opens doors they may not have known existed,” says Candy Gee, Head of Inclusion & Belonging at Roche Diagnostics US. “It’s about expanding knowledge, nurturing curiosity, and laying the foundation for a future with the most innovation possible.”

In November 2023, Roche hosted the inaugural Career Quest at its Indianapolis, Indiana, campus, engaging 60 high school students from two local high schools. The following October, 60 more students from the same schools participated, and Roche replicated the event at company locations in Santa Clara and Pleasanton, California, and in Tucson, Arizona. In February, Career Quest returned to the Roche Indianapolis campus twice, impacting more than 200 high school students in one week. As Roche prepares to host Career Quest in Indianapolis a third time this November as part of its annual Week of Giving, the organization continues to plan for long-term expansion and sustainment.

To create, market, and implement an engaging event that could be replicated and scaled across locations, Roche used an event planning framework that applies design-thinking principles to enhance the participant experience before, during, and after an event. Apply the following human-centered design approach to your next event to impact participants’ mindsets and emotions and drive desired behavior change.

A Human-Centered Event Design Approach

In August of 2023, a cross-functional team of senior leaders and learning strategists joined forces to plan the inaugural Career Quest. After identifying the target audience, the team aligned on the event’s purpose and desired outcomes, which included the following goals:

• Drive awareness and provide local high school students with greater clarity on different career opportunities in STEAM.
• Gain meaningful engagement through hands-on learning labs that enable students to interact with tools and resources associated with different careers in STEAM.
• Inspire the path forward and help students realize their potential and feel hopeful about what’s possible for their future if they choose to pursue a career in STEAM.

To brainstorm strategies for meeting these objectives, the team used TiER1’s “5 Es” event planning framework, which considers what participants should think, feel, and do at every stage of an impactful experience. Using the framework as a guide, the team mapped out key moments to impact and engage participants during five key phases of the event: Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit, and Expand.

Below are the planning considerations for each of the five phases and how Roche applied this framework to create an unforgettable Career Quest experience.

1. Entice

When designing the Entice phase, focus on attracting participants through intentional invitations. Consider building anticipation through pre-event activities or mailers, like sending participants a themed itinerary or surprise gift.

The Career Quest planning team launched a marketing and communications campaign at the participating high schools to generate excitement among students and at Roche’s Indianapolis campus to recruit event volunteers. Materials included a hype video and an informational one-pager, which school counselors used to promote the event, as well as print and digital event posters.

2. Enter

For this phase, focus on setting the stage. Provide context, goals, and objectives ahead of time or at the event’s start to set the tone and create clarity. Consider welcoming participants with energetic music and greeters and sharing a list of guiding principles for participation.

Upon their arrival, students were organized into five color-coded small groups and received event-branded swag, including a T-shirt, water bottle, and drawstring bag. An opening ceremony featured high-energy music, an animated video that provided an overview of the event, and a call-to-action that encouraged students to actively participate, lean into curiosity, and share their learnings to earn prizes.

3. Engage

Focus on creating an experience that energizes and inspires participation. Think through the design of interactions and overall pacing of the schedule. Consider incorporating surprise elements, time for breaks, gamification, and a mix of group and independent time.

After aligning on the Career Quest theme, the planning team designed five 20-minute learning lab–like “exploration stations” (one for each letter of the STEAM acronym) that featured interactive gamified challenges related to specific careers. In their small groups, students embarked on their “Career Quest” by visiting each exploration station, learning about different roles within the featured career field, and completing challenges related to those roles to earn stickers. Roche technicians, engineers, and compliance managers helped facilitate the challenges at each station, providing students opportunities to interact with and learn from experienced professionals. Students completed their quest when they earned all five station stickers.

At the science station, for example, students learned about the job responsibilities of a research and development engineer, a manufacturing engineer, and a manufacturing technician. Students also learned how blood glucose meters work and then practiced using a meter with a control solution. At the end, they played Hungry Hungry Enzymes, a variation of the children’s game Hungry Hungry Hippos, but instead of apples, the hippos gobbled up enzymes.  ​

Each station followed a templated approach with branded creative treatment for the facilitator guides, role cards, and station posters and stickers, making the event easy to take on the road to other Roche campuses. The gamified challenges at the other exploration stations included:

• Technology: Beat the Bot​
  Students learned how Roche automation products work through a small instrument demo. Then, they tried to “Beat the Bot” in a capping tubes challenge.​
• Engineering: Lasers and Testers and Eyes, Oh My!​
  Students learned about different tools and technologies used in the manufacturing process and were tasked with guessing which strips were bad. The winner received a custom engraved pencil.​
• Art: A Hidden World Revealed​
  Students learned how staining is used in oncology to detect cancer, and then they constructed hidden messages to their partners to see an analogous process in action.​
• Math: Are you Smarter than an Algorithm?​
  Students learned how algorithms are used in oncology to detect cancer before attempting to score slides more accurately than an algorithm.

4. Exit

Focus on creating memories and momentum at the event’s conclusion. Consider capturing and celebrating participants’ shared achievements through summary drawing exercises, voting or survey tools, and group photos.

During the closing ceremony, students shared their learnings, “aha!” moments, and questions. The most engaged and curious students received prizes for their participation.

5. Expand

Focuses on commemorating and activating the experience after the event. Make event insights actionable and encourage individual accountability into the future. Consider scheduling check-in meetings, sending event photos and resources via email, and sharing content on a microsite.

The planning team collected event feedback from participants and school faculty through surveys. Based on this feedback, the planning team noted key lessons, which it has applied to subsequent Career Quest events to ensure continuous improvement of the experience. These include:

• Begin planning early! A minimum of three months provides a healthy runway to engage key stakeholders, coordinate promotion, and plan day-of details.
• Engage community members! Recruit a well-rounded design team to ensure a broad range of voices and ideas are reflected in the event’s design.
• Use a templated approach! Create evergreen, reusable assets to reduce costs when replicating the event in other regions.
• Focus on planning “Moments that matter!” Plan intentional moments that will inspire event participants to think, feel, and do in alignment with the event’s objectives.

Doing Now What Patients Need Next

Student and faculty feedback will continue to influence future iterations of Career Quest, which Roche hopes to expand to even more locations across the U.S. As one of the largest biotech companies in the world, Roche understands the power of exposing students to corporate environments and connecting them with STEAM professionals in their communities where those businesses are located.

“Inspiring students through STEAM isn’t just about sparking interest—it’s about showing them they belong in the spaces where innovation happens,” says Lori Satterfield, Senior Manager, Community Engagement. “Today’s encouragement plants the seeds for tomorrow’s breakthroughs in science, technology, and beyond.”

Interested in creating impactful human-centered event experiences? Download our event design canvas to create a memorable event that goes beyond logistics, or drop us a line below to get started.