Strategies for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Minnesota PRSA's Award-Winning Journey

Welcome. This is the Public Relations Review Podcast, a program to discuss the many facets of public relations with seasoned professionals, educators, authors and others. Now here is your host, peter Wolfolk.

Welcome to the Public Relations Review Podcast and to all listeners all across America and around the world. In addition to Apple having ranked this podcast among the top 1% of podcasts worldwide, we recently won the Podcast Innovator of the Year 2023 for the Southern USA from Innovation and Business, and that organization is located in the United Kingdom. So again, thank you for the recognition. Now question we know that DEI continues to be a major effort for PRSA, so what type of project did the Minnesota chapter produce to achieve the top DEI award for 2023? Now that award was presented to the chapter in October, doing its PRSA annual conference here in Nashville, tennessee. My guests today are from the Minnesota chapter, the first place award winners for its project to greatly improve its DEI outcomes. Joining me today from Minneapolis, Minnesota, are Leah Kondes, a member of PRSA since 1997. She currently serves on the board of the Minnesota chapter as its DEI officer. In 2021, Leah earned her diversity equity as an inclusion in the workplace certificate from the University of South Florida's Muma College of Business. She is the senior director with Padilla Public Relations Corporate Advisory Group and I'm also joined by Marsha Pis Phillips, principal at MRPP Associates Communications. Prior to launching her own firm, she managed public relations for the greater Twin Cities United Way for over a decade. Marsha has also served on the 2022 PR team for the opening of the first independent bank, minnesota's first black owned bank, and on the Super Bowl I'm going to hope this is right 57, gospel Celebration broadcast on BET. Marsha was Minnesota's chapter's first diversity and inclusion officer. Currently, she is now PRSA's national diversity, equity and inclusion committee co-chair and she is also president-elect of the Minnesota chapter and has over the few nations Ladies. Thank you so very much for joining us today on the podcast.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you for having us.

You have one of the minor connect corrections. It was this O52 that was held in Minnesota, in Minneapolis, at the US Bank Stadium in 2018, and I am because we rolled over to a new calendar year. I am now immediate past co-chair of the National PRSA DEI Committee and no longer president elect, but have been installed as the president of the Minnesota chapter A humbling honor.

Well, I'm going to let that stay just as it is. It clears it up. You know, I think I wrote this last year, which is right around the corner.

Right.

But thank you, thank you so much for getting us straight, but said, and the correction has been and will be all that Leibniz stand has made. So let's get back to your project. You're deciding on just what it was you would undertake to move forward to actually wind up winning this prize.

Yeah, our winning entry focused on two things that we did in the previous year. One was the Midwest district conference that we hosted in the fall of 2022, which actually enabled us to facilitate the intercultural development inventory for the board in 2023. We were able to take the revenue from the Midwest district conference, reinvest that in our board, and I think the through line there is that we believe DEI should not rest on one person on one committee, that it really should be woven throughout the chapter, and I give Marsha Pett Phillips a lot of credit for that. In 2018, she became the nation's first full voting board level diversity and inclusion officer position to serve as part of the chapter's executive committee. So back in 2018, it kind of was one person. If I'm being honest, that's my point of view. And so, marsha, I thought maybe you could just give maybe a little bit of historical context on where our chapter started Gosh, almost six years ago now, on its DEI journey. That sort of laid the groundwork for our award win last fall. Thank you, leah.

As Leah said, that at our 2018 annual meeting, which was held in December, I was officially voted in as the first DNI officer, but I believe that our DNI journey began a couple of years before that, and here's what I mean. We had a DNI form. That was held in August of 2018. And our then president, eva Kaiser. I think bells went off ding, ding, ding. We're on to something here. It generated that particular form. That summer, generated a lot of interest and robust conversation. We engaged with DEI experts who are not professional communicators but who work in this field this is their life's work who are in the Twin Cities area and they served as our panelists great breakout and roundtable discussions. And a couple of years before that, in 2016, we had a very dynamic panel that resulted from the unfortunate killing of Philando Castile, which, as we know that garnered global attention, and our chapter took the step to host a panel to engage with journalists and just talk about some of the challenges that occur when it comes with challenging situations, when it comes to race. So that was in 2016. We then had the forum in 2018. And later on in that year was when I was voted in and then officially assumed office that January in 2019.

So now, getting started on this, let's call it, for lack of a better term, application for the DEI award. Let's talk, then, about what it was you found out that youth thought needed to be corrected in your chapter.

Yeah, I can speak to that.

So, as we prepared to host the Midwest District Conference, we interviewed the Midwest District Chair from the previous year, reviewed conference information from PRSA, western and Southwestern District Conferences, and what we found that was that DEI efforts were lacking or not well defined in other conferences, and so we saw this as an opportunity to correct that and building upon what Leah said, and seeing this opportunity to expand our efforts and ensuring that we have the farthest reach and in terms of inclusivity, ethnic diversity, gender, et cetera, when it came to the panel breakout and keynote speakers, and building upon what other districts might have done and where we saw the opportunity here in the Midwest, we also stood on how we have been very intentional. We as a chapter have been very intentional about weaving diversity, equity and inclusion into the very fabric of the organization, and one of the things that I'd like to point out, peter, is we are not necessarily the most ethnically diverse chapter, but we are very intentional about our DEI efforts. Oftentimes, people equate DEI with race, and that is a major component of which we know DEI and DNI efforts were born out of. However, we know that diversity, equity and inclusion has far reaching points when we get into gender identity, disability, community pay equity. There are so many different aspects when it comes to DEI, but because of our intentionality and how we take a look at the work that we do here in the chapter, we are always examining what our programming, our professional development activities, our programs that we call our career coffees, our DEI form, that we are doing this work through a DEI lens.

Let me just add to something you said about that, because, oh, I'm not sure how long ago it was, I had a guest on from Wyoming and DEI popped up as a question, and therein lies the fact that diversity covers a wide range. I mean, you could be have diversity in age. You can have diversity in the way people think about things. So there's a wide spectrum, if you will, of opportunities to enhance your DEI program other than just how people are perhaps racially identified, because you can't always do that in some areas.

You bring up a very good point. As a matter of fact, one of our career copies in 2023 did a deep dive into the age differences in the workplace and the intercommunications with across the age spectrum in the workplace, and the panel composition was of those who were just entering the workforce or who were, on the other, the younger end middle age and then to those who were more senior in the C-suite and therefore have more experience. And what is it like communicating and working alongside through the different generations in the workplace.

So you bring up a very good point, so Marcia, if I can just add on to that, we are in the midst of planning an annual event that we host for current students, called PR North, and they have asked us to do a session on DEI, and so, as we plan that panel, I'm thinking about not only racial or ethnic diversity, but age of the panelists, what type of workplaces do they come from, gender. There's a lot to balance, and I think what bubbles up for me is why we are doing this, and that is relevance. So not only does it behoove us to become more culturally competent, because it's the right thing to do, it's a good thing to do. I honestly believe that we need to get this right or our association could die out. You know, if these younger, diverse students show up and they don't see folks that look like them, they don't feel like they connect, they're not going to think that this is an association that they want to join or that they feel like has relevance to them, and so I think that's just something that we've been talking about as a board and is finding its way into other programming besides just honoring diversity in October when it's PRSA diversity month. Hopefully, every month is diversity month, every day is diversity day, and so that's what we're striving to do on our journey.

To build upon what Leah just said. That has been part of the intentionality of the National DEI Committee, of which I am the immediate past co-chair. We are, yes, we're doing programming during a API month Asian, american, pacific Islander month, and Black History Month and those different months. However, what the National DEI Committee is saying is that there should be some reflection of those different components in every month and moving us away from only focusing on Black History Month or Women's History Month or Disability Awareness Month, because to me that becomes a checkbox mentality to say, okay, we did that, whereas how about having the different abilities reflected, january through December. Ethnicity, january through December, different groups, women, january through December, and on and on.

You know. I think it's important that you bring that up because even in trying to build this program, one of the things I look at is the data. The data for based on my program, shows that most of the people who listen to this podcast are in the Gen Z Millennial category, Though they drain this roughly. What is that? 22 to 44, something along those lines. So I also have to look for the topics within public relations that would be of interest to them. So I certainly understand the need for data and the diversity of group of people in many different ways and, as I said, the way you think, where you're from and those other kinds of things all fit into trying to describe who it is that you're trying to reach and how you're trying to bring these groups of people together.

I absolutely. And I just made a note, Marcia, about I think one of the reasons we wanted the board to do the intercultural development inventory last year was to give people the tools to have courageous conversations. And, Marcia, I love your use of the word intentionality. I think that's spot on right. If we continue to do the same old thing because it's easy and that's the way it's always been done, then guess what? We're going to get? The same old outcomes, and so we need to challenge ourselves, to think differently, try new things. Some might fly, some might not, but we're not going to change anything if we don't, you know, change our thinking and change our behaviors.

Now is this reflected in the just real quick? Is this reflected in the award that you won? That you made these various changes and acknowledgments in your research and executions?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'll just speak, and so I'm going to refer to the intercultural development inventory as the IDI, because that's just a lot quicker. Some of us were familiar with it, others weren't. I will say in all transparency that it was maybe initially met with a little bit of I don't know skepticism. You know, marcia and I, I think, made a good case for it. I think that our board members, even the skeptics, were pleasantly surprised. One of the things you know questions they asked us to answer before we made this investment was well beyond these. You know three workshops that we had planned with a facilitator. How would we keep it going? How would we expand that investment? You know, what about people that roll off the board? So a couple of things in that regard. Beyond the initial workshops, we carve out time in every board meeting for DEI, and it's not a long time. It's maybe 10 or 15 minutes. But I give the board members some homework to do in advance of the board meeting. It's usually some questions, maybe, you know, doing some reflection or writing, maybe some research, maybe to 20 to 30 minutes, and then during our board meeting we'll go on to breakout rooms and discuss our homework, and I think we really got to know one another on a deeper level and I think building that trust, building those relationships, was important and valuable to our board members' personal and professional development. You know, if you serve on a volunteer board, it's usually about what you can do for the organization, right? Give us your time, give us your money, that sort of thing. And we really saw this as a way to invest in our board members and thank them for their service. And the truth is, when somebody rolls off the board, they don't disappear, right? Hopefully there's still active members of our chapter. They're active in their workplaces, their community, wherever that takes them. And so I see sort of a ripple effect and, in fact, one of the new things that we are trying this year. One person who rolled off the board has joined our DEI committee and we're trying these DEI chats this year, which maybe we'll do quarterly. We've got our first one coming up next month, but it's sort of replicating what we did in the board meetings, but giving it a full hour, opening it up to a lot more people, and so we're excited to try that and see what sort of response it gets.

To build on what Leah has shared about the breakout groups during our board meetings. We're still meeting virtually. I know some chapters and people who are listening to this may be having meetings in person. So having these breakout sessions has been really fulfilling and getting to know each other in a different way. Where we're living in a hybrid kind of world, some are still completely remote. Some people are meeting in person and then in other places. It's a mixture. So to Leah's point about the relationship building and getting to know and understand each other on a different level, I believe has caused personal and professional growth before our immediate past board members who've been on this IDI journey with us and I believe it'll be beneficial for the incoming board members as we continue to utilize this tool, the methodology that Leah has implemented with our board meetings, because we believe we'll probably continue to be virtual. It really is convenient for the parents.

Now, as you went through all the measurements and planning and execution of your plan, how did you know that it was successful? What was your measurements? If you were to say what were your measurements to decide, yes, we succeeded at ABCND.

Yeah, I can speak to some of that. So when we were planning the Midwest District Conference, we had a goal of diversity of at least 25% of the conference speakers and I think our Midwest District Conference not to brag, but I'm in PR so I'm going to do it we probably had the most diverse conference, including an all-female black panel. It's not just counting the faces or whoever that we're on part of our programming, but also the quality of the programming. So our overall conference rating was 4.7 out of 5, planning and preparation 4.9 out of 5. We exceeded our attendance goals, exceeded our revenue goal. I think it was a great way to increase member engagement. If you think back to fall of 2022, we were kind of coming out of our pandemic cocoons. We were in and so it really felt good to get together with people in person, put on some great programming and, I think, just more accurately reflect our population with who was in front of the microphone at that event.

So, all in all, you were very, very skillful in carrying out the plans that you have put together and things went very, very well for you. So what would be your next challenge now in the same arena?

There's going to be another chapter that we'll be hosting the Midwest District Conference, but I believe our challenge, the challenge that we face all of us as public relations practitioners, is the narrative around DEI that is bubbling up and how we equip our membership with the necessary resources. And I'm not talking about this in a political sense at all, I'm talking about this in a realistic sense. What concerns do our chapter members have when it comes to their workplaces or their community engagement with volunteer work that they may do and when people ask questions? So, ensuring that they have the tools and we'll do that through our professional development programming and speakers career copies ensuring that our younger members and our PRSSA students that they have the necessary information that they need and of course I will. I have to reference the DEI toolkit that the National DEI Committee has put together, and we now have that in Spanish, and the committee worked very diligently on getting that translated accurately, because here in Minnesota and in other cities across the country, the Spanish-speaking population has greatly increased. And so, to circle back to your question about what else lies ahead for our chapter, in particular, I'm going to talk about ensuring that our secondary I'm sorry, our college level educators that they have the information about the endowed multicultural scholarship program and that scholarship is endowed because Minnesota PRSA. In the wake of the George Floyd murder, we came together, the executive leadership came together, and we determined that we wanted to take a stand and to do something. And we determined that what better something we could do but to invest in the future. And the future is those future public relations practitioners, our college students, ensuring that they have the money that they need. So we are very proud of doing that and through our efforts and our contribution to the multicultural scholarship program, that lays the foundation for it to become the endowed multicultural scholarship program. So that means that the financial resources are now there going forward. So it's doing that. It's working with educators, ensuring that our students pouring into our future, continuing to have robust programming, recognizing excellence here in the Twin Cities community for the great work that it's done by the public relations practitioners and just recognizing their work and, of course, continuing with our DEI effort.

I think what I would add is it's just always trying to top what we did the year before, and the truth is we will probably never be done. We're always changing, the culture is always changing, and so we'll be on this journey for as long as we live. It's a marathon, not a race, not a sprint. Culture change is hard work. That's just the honest to goodness truth. But I see signs that we're headed in the right direction this time. Last year I recruited one of our newer members to be part of our PR North event. This year he's on the board. I think when Marcia was first installed as our diversity and inclusion officer, she was probably the only person of color on the board. Last year we had two, this year we had three. So not huge leaps and bounds, but these are just. You know, we just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep building on that. Our IDI facilitator and one of our Midwest District conference speakers participated in our annual DEI forum this last fall. So those are small signs of success that I can point to, and we just want to keep building on that.

And, if I can add to that, lee, I love the way you position that small signs of success. But I'm going to add small signs of success that lead to major impact, that continued ripple effect of change.

Let me say, ladies, that I really do appreciate you having come on to take the time to explain how you wound up doing the things that you did to win the, the national DEI recognition from PRSA, and All the steps that you take not only did you take but you continue to take to improve the dea situation, particularly in your Minneapolis chapter there, and hopefully that our listeners will hear, hear this and Join you and perhaps a sharing in some of the Strategies and tactics that you did use to to accomplish your goals. So I want to thank you so very much for joining us today.

Thank you. It's Minnesota, so it's beyond the Minneapolis St Paul area. This is a statewide Chapter and we do appreciate you having us on today and allowing us to share About the the great work and the hard work that the membership and the board is doing.

Well, that is that a statewide is even better. There's there's no question about that. So, again, let me say thank you to both Lea Condis and Marsha Fitz Phillips from the Minnesota chapter of public relations society of America for Winning that national award that was presented to them in 2023. And also let me say to you, if you've enjoyed this, we certainly like to get a review from you, and if you would like more information on the DEI award, give the folks at the Minnesota chapter PRSA a call and perhaps they can share that information with you so you, too, can produce a very effective DEI programming. So, peter Wolf, okay, thank you so very much for listening to the public relations review podcast and thank you for the bird and enjoy me for the very next edition. Thank you and have a good day.

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