RAVE Team Provides Diversity Training

by Karen Crowder

R— Respect each individual
A—Appreciate the contributions each can bring to FM
V—Value the differences
E—Enfold the contributions and differences to create a strong FM team

The original RAVE team was chartered in response to the Diversity Audit conducted in Financial Management almost two years ago. The team generated great ideas and made recommendations to the EIT based, in part, on additional surveying of the staff around the issues of diversity. The original RAVE team was comprised of Stepheny Bonner, Anita Bingaman, Agnes Acholonu, Libby Graham, Elvin Smith, Cathy Billings, and Heather Cahill.

The team was rechartered in December of 2002 with the directive of sponsoring all-staff diversity training, hosting brown bag presentations and making recommendations for the QI library on the topic of diversity, as proposed by the original RAVE team. The current team is comprised of Agnes Acholonu, Anita Bingaman, Stepheny Bonner, Karen Crowder, Yung-Chen Fang, Frannie Gladney, Libby Graham, Jim Harney, and Paul Jeganathan. Frank Montgomery is our sponsor.

The biggest project, which is the all-staff diversity training, has begun, with sessions scheduled through early May. The RAVE team discussed and experienced some of the elements needed in the training curriculum. The training sessions are being conducted by Alexandra Laird, co-president of Phoenix Consulting, and Karen Crowder of Financial Management. In addition, the team has sponsored a very successful brown bag session on Non-Verbal Communication that was attended by 85 people – almost half of Financial Management. The plan is to continue to present topics of interest that will promote greater job satisfaction and productivity for everyone in Financial Management and their customers.

One of the most important (and satisfying) aspects of the RAVE team has been the way in which we have experienced working as a diverse team. Our goals have not all been product driven. Our intent has been to learn from each other about cultural differences, individual perspectives, and trust building. We have worked at modeling what an effective team of diverse individuals can be. We are proud of the programs we are sponsoring, but we are also the richer for the experience of working together.

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