(spot208) how to sponsor a diversity circle in a tech workplace

© 2015, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.

Susan Chan, Senior Product Manager, AWS

Lee Kear, Systems Engineer, AWS

Divya Patruni, Software Development Engineer, AWS

Amy Therrien, Senior Software Development Manager, AWS

October 2015

SPOT208

Supporting Diversity

How to Sponsor a “Diversity Circle”

in a Technical Workspace

Diversity Circle Sponsorship

The Flywheel for Growth

Amazon S3 – Unleashing Untapped Potential

Growth of

Amazon S3

innovators

Career

development for

innovators from

innovators

Innovation

leaders

Role models

attract more

innovators

Amazon S3 Women’s Circle

Membership selection (17 members)

• Common

• All women (inherent)

• All part of the Amazon S3 organization (acquired)

• Diverse

• Diverse levels of experience (acquired)

• Diverse roles: managers, product managers, software

engineers, systems engineers (acquired)

• Diverse cultural backgrounds (inherent)

Sponsoring

• Identify

• Time/budget

• Coaching

• Facilitating

Facilitating Trust

Safe environment for learning

Strong relationships keep circles

together

Make it fun!

• Blackberry picking

• Happy hour

• Lunches

Facilitating a Structure

• Monthly meetings on topics covering experiences and

knowledge

• Amazon S3 topics are defined by the circle: negotiation,

leveling the playing field, communication, confidence, work

life balance, etc.

• Establish role models

• Individual mentoring for the first role models

• Leverage existing career development techniques and

resources

• Guest speakers, published resources

• Provide feedback, encouragement

Sample Meeting

Knowledge Sharing

• 10 minutes: Grab lunch &

greet/mingle

• 30 minutes: Video on “Leveling

the Playing Field”

• 40 minutes: Interactive

worksheets, open discussion

• 10 minutes: Planning next

session

Experience Sharing

• 10 minutes: Grab lunch &

greet/mingle

• 5 minutes: Introduction of guest

expert on “Confidence”

• 60 minutes: Pre-prepared Q&A

with guest product manager

• 10 minutes: Planning next

session

Logistics

Do’s

• Stay connected to participants’

managers

• Advocate for your circle

participants outside of the

circle

• Make time for retrospectives

Don’ts

• Get into expanding circle churn

• Feel like you need to limit this

to women

• See this as a replacement for

all other mentoring

Measuring Success

Role model innovators

Growing influence

Diversity Circle Participation:

Curriculum Example

Leveraging Resources

Career development resources

My favorite:

“Communicating with Confidence” – leanin.org

A Story

Confidence

The Confidence

Flywheel

Practice New

Behaviors

Confidence

Success

Strategies

Communication changes

impact perceptions

Diversity Circle Participation:

Impact of the Circle Flywheel

Networking Within the Circle

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Branching Outside of the Team

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Branching Outside of the Team

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Branching Outside of the Team

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Branching Outside of the Team

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Branching Outside of the Team

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Branching Outside of the Team

Outside of Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Networking Outside of Amazon

Outside Amazon

Amazon

Amazon S3 team

Individual

Diversity Circle Participation:

Seizing Opportunities

JOB

vs.

CAREER

Key Takeaways

Don’t give up before

you try.

Exposure to tangible

role model turns an

unknown to known.

References

Lean-In Circles - http://leanin.org/

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Thank you!