| As the civil servant staff level at the Center
continues to decrease, as workloads and programmatic responsibilities
increase, it is critical that the skills, energy, and talents
of every individual be fully utilized to meet NASA Glenn's
technical commitments. This premise formed the basis for Glenn
instituting New Leadership Strategy (NLS). In 1994, NASA Headquarters
mandated that each Center complete three days of multicultural
training. Rather than contract with external resources to
conduct this training, this requirement was customized into
the newly developed NLS framework. NLS Part One (Multiculturalism)
and Part Two (Blueprint for Diversity and Quality) were a
direct result of an innovative approach that integrated a
Headquarter requirement with the Center's needs. In short,
Glenn turned a challenge into an advantage by going beyond
mere compliance. In 1997 NLS Part Three (Diversity Dialogue
Sessions) began and continued until the spring of 2001. At
this time we moved from Awareness (DDS) to Action (Model Workplace
Plan.)
GRC’s journey for a culture change began nearly 15 years
ago with the Dallas Crable and Associates Diversity Awareness
Training. This training covered an overview of diversity and
concepts with opportunities to participate in activities illustrating
these concepts. The Diversity Awareness Training was attended
by Supervisors/Managers and Civil Servant employees. Total
Quality Management was next, followed by New Leadership Strategy
(NLS). NLS, pioneered by Dr. Phillip Walker, was a 1 1/2 day
Manager-led training for employees and covered the basics
of multicultural awareness and ended with each group defining
their vision and mission. Diversity Dialogue Sessions (DDS)
followed allowing organizations to dialogue openly about any
issues/challenges that were being encountered. DDS’s were
manager-led dialogues with a Process Consultant in attendance
to facilitate the dialogue. DDS then evolved into Model Workplace
Sessions (MWS) and covered the topics that were specific to
becoming a Model Workplace. Throughout the NLS effort, the
Diversity Survey was implemented as a data collection instrument
bi-annually from 1994-2002. The results of these surveys were
used as dialogue topics in the DDS and MWS. |
