1. Diversifying the Workforce Bev Seay
May 30, 2018

2. Bev’s Themes of Workforce Diversity
Competence
Confidence
Cognizance
Collaboration
Include history on how these developed

3. Diversity Demands Adaptability
Theme 1: Competence
To Diversify Individuals and the Workforce:
Pursue interdisciplinary education options
Develop areas of expertise to gain new insights
Identify skill gaps and close them
Integrated teams yield the big picture
Learn about various industries
Notice trends
Experiment and take calculated risks
Seek mentorship and also be a mentor
Recognize and overcome bias
Education Computer Engineering vs. Computer Science
Georgia Tech CS+X
Commercial SW Engineer  Defense Corporate Exec
Diversity Demands Adaptability

4. Diversity Yields Innovation
Theme 2: Confidence
To Diversify Individuals and the Workforce:
Be willing to do what others won’t
Take stretch assignments
Find subject matter experts
Move forward despite uncertainty
Demonstrate tenacity & push ahead
Advisors and mentors are rare if you are a pioneer
Volunteer to lead
Peers can be a great source of information
Project Management – budget / schedule / documentation, etc.
CCTT / IBM – stretch assignments
Applying for Annual Awards Program - SMEs
Volunteer Governor Bush / IT Florida - volunteer
Network Orlando Community / mentors & peers
Diversity Yields Innovation

5. Diversity Drives Awareness
Theme 3: Cognizance
To Diversify Individuals and the Workforce:
Cultivate awareness:
Yourself
Your team
Your workforce
Your customer
See challenges from other perspectives
Acknowledge the roles and priorities of others
Recognize interdependencies
Know your customers - internal and external
Self-awareness/Strengthsfinder, KOLBE, Myers-Briggs, my key challenge
UCF has MyPlan
Workforce awareness: Diversity, my leadership program and women’s network pilots
Customer awareness: understanding needs, tell my R&D stories
Diversity Drives Awareness

6. Diversity Becomes Differentiation
Theme 4: Collaboration
To Diversify Individuals and the Workforce:
Build relationships
Understand what you want
Learn what others want
Collaboration yields stronger results
Negotiation is a key skill
Be an adaptable team player and adjust to win
Navigate politics
Metrics drive behavior
Make the business case
Build relationships – The need to manage up (my challenges)
Navigate politics – The SAIC Fiefdom Model
Create business case – Expanding modeling and simulation into other markets
Diversity Becomes Differentiation

7. Bev’s Themes of Workforce Diversity
Diversity demands adaptability
Diversity yields innovation
Diversity drives awareness
Diversity becomes differentiation
Include history on how these developed

8.
Closing Slide