Council Meeting

Held Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Host: Co-Chair Jorge Ponce

INTRODUCTION

Ms. Delia L. Johnson, Co-Chair of the Council and Director, Office of Civil Rights for International Broadcasting Bureau, opened the meeting with a few remarks and then asked the attendees to give their names, agencies, and positions.

Mr. Jorge Ponce, Council Co-Chair, thanked Jane Hyun for traveling from New York to address the Council. Mr. Ponce indicated that he was acting as Ms. Hyun’s mentor by introducing her to the Council members. Mr. Ponce announced that Ms. Hyun had gained national recognition by authoring one of the seminal books on cultural fluency and the Asian community entitled “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling.”

JANE HYUN AND CULTURAL FLUENCY

In the “Art of Cultural Fluency” presentation, Ms. Hyun, Founder & President of Hyun & Associates Multicultural Leadership Strategy and Executive Coaching, addressed the following items:

a) A critical framework for understanding and managing multicultural diversity; and,

b)   b) Practical steps that we can begin to take for achieving better teams by understanding how to apply this critical competency.

Cultural Awakening

Ms. Hyun opened the workshop session by discussing her own cross-cultural experience and some of the cultural challenges that she encountered when her family moved from South Korea to New York City as an eight years old.  As a student in South Korea, where the style of teaching was done in a teacher-directed manner, she was used to Asian students taking notes from teachers, raising their hands to ask questions, and speaking only when recognized or called upon by their teachers. When she moved to NYC, she was in for a rude awakening when she discovered that students in the United States have many different ways of interacting in a classroom—and found they asked questions out of turn, and, at times, disagreed with the teachers’ views in an open, expressive way. 

Ms. Hyun cited Geert Hofstede’s definition of culture, “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.” She further added that culture is a power set of influences that is reinforced or rewarded in a particular social group.

Importance of Cultural Understanding to Manage Workplace behaviors

She explained that cultural competency should be important to employers because the workplace has to reflect the diversity found in the marketplace or the population at large to better serve those communities or to penetrate these markets. Lack of cultural understanding leads to interpersonal/team conflict, lack of productivity, and/or protracted litigation.  She indicated that it is important that we keep this perspective in mind as organizations seek to attract, onboard, and retain diverse talent to stay ahead of the competition and to achieve excellence.

The Stages in Cultural Awareness: Denial to Cultural Competency

She used three different stages that people go through in their journey to becoming more effective at working across cultures. 1) In the beginning of the journey, they judge one culture as better than another; 2) the next stage is when we are all the same (emphasizing assimilation to get ahead). Most agencies in the private and public sector are at this level in their cultural-fluency development, and think that spending money on cultural-fluency training is wasteful; and, 3) when individuals become more culturally astute, they move toward being able to not only understanding someone who is different from them, but able to leverage the differences of others and seeing things through the other persons’ eyes, rather than trying to change them.  She added that even after all these years of progress we’ve made in diversity in the United States, very few organizations have truly reached this stage. Ms Hyun cautioned that without being able to move toward the third stage, there is risk of attrition of top performers, lack of engagement, lack of relevance, and loss of creativity.

Research Findings from Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling

Based on her extensive research for her book, Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, and her work with managers, Ms. Hyun found that Asians encountered a variety of personal and organizational barriers on their way to the top of organizations. Too often, organizations are not aware of the diverse cultural characteristics that their employees possess, creating misunderstanding in the office. As she was conducting her research for the book, she interviewed a variety of executives across a range of industries to understand what it took to get to the “senior management ranks” of organizations. Further, some of the cultural values that Asians are raised with are at odds with what it takes to advance beyond middle management ranks.   

The career cycle for most employees starts with jobs that value technical skills and accuracy.  These are followed by first-line management jobs, where relationship building with internal and external organizations gets rewarded.  The last group of senior management roles focuses on organizational impact, or on exerting influence beyond your own division.  Many Asians (as well as multicultural professionals in general) tend not to progress in a timely basis to the other cycles in the model because no one takes the time to explain the job requirements for them, or their importance to get promoted.  Considering the lack of Asian employees at the SES rank in the federal sector, there are not many Asian mentors to help with this challenge.

Ms. Hyun then proceeded to ask the Council members what were the general accepted rules in the federal sector to get promoted.  Among the responses received were who you know, not what you know; mentorship; assuming supervisory assignments; getting results; cross-organizational understanding; and collaboration. Ms. Hyun added these other commonly accepted “rules” for getting ahead inside organization, which included taking the initiative; showing confidence in your communication style; being aggressive in building your own network; promote your own accomplishments; taking charge of your career development; and, saying yes to stretch assignments.

The Loudest Duck Gets Shot vs. Squeaky Wheel gets the Grease”

Ms. Hyun used very compelling “proverbs” from the Asian and Western American cultures to describe Asian behavioral patterns – “the loudest duck gets shot,” and “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” To describe Western behavioral patterns, she used “the squeaky wheel get the grease,” and the acceptability of learning to toot your own horn.

Everyone may not operate from the same lens. 

Perceptions vs. Behaviors

Ms. Hyun indicated that as we interact with members of other cultures, we see behaviors and we make perceptions – most of which are not favorable, if they differ from our cultural norms.  She used a quotation by Ian Percy, a renowned business speaker and author, to describe this behavior – “We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.” She said that we have to reverse this trend if we want to improve our interactions with members of other cultures. 

Cultural Understanding – What Are You Really Saying?

Asian and Western examples

Ms. Hyun shared the importance of understanding different cultural preferences of people, and truly exploring the “how and why” people might behave in certain ways.

She discussed the egalitarian power structure that is most common prevalent in western cultures, while she described the hierarchical structure as being the most popular in Asian countries – where employees expect clear direction from their superiors, and managers expect total compliance from their subordinates.  In the West, employees guide their own careers.  In Asia, supervisors guide your careers.

Ms. Hyun talked about individualistic cultures, where there is more risk taking and employees are comfortable in expressing their viewpoints.  She described Asian culture as collectivistic – where there is a strong identification with work groups, and with parents (who may have some say in what college you attend, what career you pursue, and, at times, who you marry). 

Ms. Hyun explained that relationship building in the West emphasizes “results/getting things done” and “moving quickly to make things happen,” whereas in many other countries, including Asia, Latin America, and parts of Europe, colleagues may focus on the relationship and will want to get to know you on a personal level first.

Make Cultural Competence a Core Leadership Skill – A Call to Action

Ms Hyun shared the importance of having cultural awareness training for anyone who manages others, as well as culturally relevant leadership/skills development training for diverse professionals (Asians, Latinos, African Americans, and other minority groups) in order that individuals are given the tools to succeed, and organizations continue to create a fertile environment for everyone to reach his/her full potential.

With the mission of her organization to “develop culturally fluent leaders™”, Ms. Hyun indicated that those wishing to ask her follow up questions or interested in more information about Jane and her team, please contact her directly at jhyun@hyunassociates.com or by phone at 917-327-0992 or Audrey Lee, Vice President at alee@hyunassociates.com

Their website is www.hyunassociates.com

Her book, Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling (HarperCollins), now in its 5^th printing, can be purchased on www.amazon.com or www.bn.com

Doug Conant, CEO or Campbell Soup Company, has called the book, “A MUST READ FOR ANY CEO OR ASPIRING CEO WHO WANTS TO BUILD A CULTURE OF INCLUSION.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Milton Belardo, former Chair of the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (NCHEPM), announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce, together with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the NCHEPM, will host a symposium for Hispanic Employment Program Managers and Special Emphasis Program Managers and a Career Fair on Monday, September 20, 2010, at the U.S. Department of Commerce, located at 14^th and Constitution Avenue, NW, in Washington, DC, and accessible by Metro at Federal Triangle stop on the blue/orange lines, and Metro Center on the red line. To get additional information, contact Milton at mbelardo@doc.gov.

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Minutes9.98 contains the minutes for the September 22, 1998 meeting. (John Palguta, MSPB, discussed the Outstanding Scholar Program)

Minutes11.98 contains the minutes for the November 19, 1998 meeting. (Andrew Strojny, U.S. Dept. of Justice on Title VI)

Minutes1.99 contains the minutes for the January 20, 1999 meeting. (Discussion on the proposed 1614 regulations)

Minutes3-99 contains the minutes for the March 25, 1999 meeting. (Wilett Burton and Karen Freeman, Vice President Gore’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government; Council Recognizes Kathy Gause)

Minutes4.99 contains the minutes for the April 20, 1999 meeting. (Chris Kuczynski and Carol Miaskoff, EEOC, addressed reasonable accommodation issues for persons with disabilities)

Minutes699 contains the minutes for the June 4, 1999 meeting.  (Miscellaneous)

Minut6-30 contains the minutes for the June 30, 1999 meeting. (Carlton Hadden, OFO Director)

Minutes799 contains the minutes for the July 16, 1999 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes999 contains the minutes for the September 22, 1999 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes1099 contains the minutes for the October 20, 1999 meeting. (U.S. Postal Service Mediation Program: REDRESS)

Minutes1199 contains the minutes for the November 16, 1999 meeting. (Henry Romero, OPM – Classification of EEO jobs)

Minutes124 contains the minutes for the January 24, 2000 meeting. (Classification of EEO jobs; Armando Rodriguez, OPM – Outstanding Scholar Program)

Minutes200 contains the minutes of the February 28, 2000 meeting. (Update on the National Partnership for Reinventing Government/ EEOC Interagency Federal EEO Task Force)

Minutes300 contains the minutes of the March 27, 2000 meeting.  (Update on the National Partnership for Reinventing Government/ EEOC Interagency Federal EEO Task Force)

Minutes400 contains the minutes of the April 19, 2000 meeting. (National Science Foundation Diversity Initiative)

Minutes500 contains the minutes of the May 25, 2000 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes600 contains the minutes for the June 28, 2000 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes700 contains the minutes for the July 20, 2000 meeting. (Ponce receives the Secretary of the Treasury Award; Charles Fowler III – IRS EEO Office Modernization Initiative)

Minutes900 contains the minutes for the September 20, 2000 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes100 contains the minutes for the October 31, 2000 meeting. (Adalberto Bernal – Navy ADR Program)

Minutes101 contains the minutes for the January 30, 2001 meeting. (Miscellaneous; Council Recognizes Luther Santiful)

Minutes 301 contains the minutes for the March 16, 2001 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes 401 contains the minutes for the April 24, 2001 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes 501 contains the minutes for the May 22, 2001 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes601-2 contains the minutes for the June 19, 2001 meeting. (Sharon Rennert, EEOC, Office of Legal Counsel – Reasonable Accommodation Procedures)

Minutes701 contains the minutes for the July 24, 2001 meeting. (Dinah Cohen, CAP)

Minutes901 contains the minutes for the September 14, 2001 meeting. (EEOC Chair Cari Dominguez)

Minutes1001 contains the minutes for the October 30, 2001 meeting. (EEOC OFO Director Carlton Hadden)

Minutes302 contains the minutes for the March 19, 2002 meeting. (Council Report on the Reporting Authority of EEO Directors)

Minutes502 contains the minutes for the May 22, 2002 meeting. (Multiple Attorneys – Improving the Federal Sector Complaints Process)

Minutes902 contains the minutes for the September 24, 2002 meeting. (Don Names, EEOC – ADR)

Minutes 103 contains the minutes for the January 28, 2003 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes 503 contains the minutes for the May 20, 2003 meeting. (Gary Gilbert, Esq. – Compensatory Damages)

Minutes 603 contains the minutes for the June 17, 2003 meeting. (Joe Riddle, SES Learning Center, OPM – OPM’s New SES Development Program)

Minutes 703 contains the minutes for the July 22, 2003 meeting (Fair Credit Reporting Act). (Christopher Keller, FTC -- Fair Credit Reporting Act)

Minutes 903 contains the minutes for the September 23, 2003 meeting. (Mona Papillon, EEOC Office of Legal Counsel -- Title III of the No FEAR Act)

Minutes 104 contains the minutes for the January 21, 2004 meeting. (Title III of the No FEAR Act and OGC Interference Survey)

Minutes 204 contains the minutes for the February 25, 2004 meeting. (Julie Ferguson Queen, OPM -- Title II of the No FEAR Act)

Minutes 404 contains the minutes for the April 20, 2004 meeting. (Leroy Warren, NAACP)

Minutes 504 contains the minutes for the May 25, 2004 meeting. (Douglas Gallegos, EEOC -- MD-715)

Minutes 604 contains the minutes for the June 22, 2004 meeting. (Miscellaneous)

Minutes 704 contains the minutes for the July 27, 2004 meeting. (EEOC Commissioner Ishimaru)

Minutes 205 contains the minutes for the February 23, 2005 meeting. (George Nesterczuk – National Security Personnel System; Tonya Odom and Andrew Culbertson, EEOC AJs – expediting hearing requests)

Minutes 305 contains the minutes for the March 29, 2005 meeting. (MD-715)

Minutes 405 contains the minutes for the April 26, 2005 meeting. (MD-715)

Minutes 505 contains the minutes for the May 25, 2005 meeting. (EEOC Presentation & Title VI/IX Association)

Minutes 605 contains the minutes for the June 28, 2005 meeting. (ADA-ABA Guidelines)

Minutes 705 contains the minutes for the July 26, 2005 meeting. (EEOC Customer Service Survey)

Minutes 1005 contains the minutes for the October 26, 2005 meeting. (MD-715 Reports, Gerald Lucas, IWG)

Minutes 1105 contains the minutes for the November 30, 2005 meeting (IWG)

Minutes 206 contains the minutes for the February 22, 2006 meeting (EEO Survey, and the EEOC/IWG meeting)

Minutes 306 contains the minutes for the March 21, 2006 meeting. (Title VI and LEP presentations)

Minutes 406 contains the minutes for the April 26, 2006 meeting. (EEOC Vice Chair Naomi C. Earp)

Minutes 606 contains the minutes for the June 27, 2006 meeting (GAO Report on the lack of EEOC and OPM cooperation)

Minutes 906 contains the minutes for the September 26, 2006 meeting (HHS Hispanic Employment Initiative)

Minutes 1006 contains the minutes for the October 31, 2006 meeting (GAO Report on Hispanic Underrepresentation)

Minutes 1106 contains the minutes of the November 28, 2006 meeting (Virginia Andreu-Rosario discussed the EEOC Task Force on Hispanics)

Minutes 107 contains the minutes of the January 30, 2007 meeting (John Salamone, CHCO Council, EEOC Commissioner Christine Griffin, & draft applicant form)

Minutes 207 contains the minutes of the February 27, 2007 meeting (Steve Nelson, MSPB, Causes and Cures of Under-Representation)

Minutes 307 contains the minutes of the March 27, 2007 meeting (April Harris, OPM’s Attracting Talent Presentation)

Minutes 407 contains the minutes of the April 24, 2007 meeting (Contract Employees & Challenges of MD-715 Reports)

Minutes 507 contains the minutes of the May 30, 2007 meeting (Carlton Hadden, OFO Director)

Minutes 607 contains the minutes of the June 26, 2007 meeting (ADR Survey; Destin Enterprises, LLC; JDG Associates, Inc.; Contract Employees)

Minutes 707 contains the minutes of the Sept. 15, 2007 meeting (William Gil – HACU and HNIP)

Minutes 1007 contains the minutes of the October 23, 2007 meeting (EEOC Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru)

Minutes 1107 contains the minutes of the November 27, 2007 meeting (Matthew Perry -- EHRI Presentation)

Minutes 108 contains the minutes of the January 29, 2008 meeting (Congressman Danny K. Davis)

Minutes 208 contains the minutes of the February 27, 2008 meeting (EEOC Supervisory AJ Kokenge and Thadius Sale)

Minutes 308 contains the minutes of the March 26, 2008 meeting (applicant-flow; No Fear regulations; Matthew Fogg)

Minutes 408 contains the minutes of the April 30, 2008 meeting (EHRI Update)

Minutes 508 contains the minutes of the May 27, 2008 meeting (HSI lists and EEOC’s AAPI Work Group)

Minutes 908 contains the minutes of the September 23, 2008 meeting (Carlton Hadden provides EEO Update)

Minutes 1208 contains the minutes of the December 2, 2008 meeting (MicroPact’s E-versity; Lori Grant and part 2 of proposed changes to the MD-715 report; and Gary Gilbert and the ADAAA). In addition, a summary of the minutes of the October 28, 2008 meeting are included (Lori Grant and proposed changes to the MD-715 report).

Minutes 109 contains the minutes of the January 29, 2009 meeting (Presentations made by representatives from FEW, FAPAC, and the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers).

Minutes 209 contains the minutes of the February 25, 2009 meeting (discussion on the pitfalls of preparing MD-715 reports).

Minutes 309 contains the minutes of the March 25, 2009 meeting (Christy Compton and Wilfredo Sauri discussed improvements to future MD-715 reports)

Minutes 409 contains the minutes of the April 22, 2009 meeting (Jorge Ponce discussed improvements to future MD-715 reports; NIH’s competency model for the 260 and 361 series; American Association for Affirmative Action)

Minutes 509 contains the minutes of the May 19, 2009 meeting (DHS proposal on collecting RNO data; Carol Miaskoff (EEOC) gave a presentation on E.O. 12067; Will Peratino, OPM, gave a presentation on GoLearn).

Minutes 609 contains the minutes of the June 24, 2009 meeting (I-Complaints Dashboard; Jorge Ponce discussed meeting with OPM officials on the classification of EEO jobs).

Minutes 909: meeting was held on September 29, 2009, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, in Washington, DC. Ernest Hadley and Garry Gilbert, both prominent attorneys, discussed the impact that the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DeStefano will have on EEO programs. Gary also serves as Director of the Federal Employment Law Training Group, while Ernest is the President of the Federal Employment Law Training Group.

Minutes 1009 No. 2 contains the minutes of the October 27, 2009 meeting (Jody Wildy and Not in My Neighborhood; David Frank discussed the ADAAA Amendments; Janet Bashen discussed a case management and tracking software, EEOcaselink)

Minutes 1109 contains the minutes of the November 17, 2009 meeting (Dexter Brooks, EEOC, gave a presentation on the barrier analysis process under Management Directive 715. Mike Dole, U.S.. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, gave a presentation on ways to present the statistical information in MD-715 reports in a more user-friendly way for managers).

Minutes 110 contains the minutes of the January 26, 2010 meeting (Sue Webster, FEW National President; Madeline Caliendo, Associate Administrator, Office of Civil Rights, U.S. General Services Administration, gave a presentation on a training geared to managers and supervisors; discussion on the conflict with the 2010 EXCEL conference and the national conferences of LULAC, FEW, and NAACP).

March 310 contains the minutes of the March 4, 2010 meeting (OPM Director John Berry and Deputy OPM Director Christine Griffin).

Minutes 310-2 contains the minutes of the March 30, 2010 meeting (LRP Publications and the Ivy Planning Group).

Minutes 410 contains the minutes for the April 27, 2010 meeting (Dr. Ferentinos, MSPB; June Horner, HRSA).

Minutes 510 contains the minutes for the May 25, 2010 meeting (Dottie Li and accent reduction/modification; Kelly Goode and EEOC TAV’s; Nicole Johnson and OPM hiring reform).

Minutes 610 contains the minutes for the June 22, 2010 meeting (Jane Hyun and Cultural Fluency).