Multicultural Leadership Development Program

Challenge:

Progressive has traditionally invested heavily in leadership development, to ensure its managers can lead with confidence, competence, and in ways that engage and empower their teams. At the same time, one of our overarching diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategic objectives is to foster diversity in leadership by developing our internal talent pipeline. As we began to look at the diversity of our organization at various levels, we found an opportunity to place more emphasis on programs that provided opportunities for a diverse group of potential future leaders to develop core and critical skills, as well as gain organizational exposure to help advance their careers into higher levels of leadership.

Actions:

In 2015, one of our larger business groups, Customer Relationship Management, and Progressive’s African American Network (PAAN) Employee Resource Group (ERG) partnered to develop our first multicultural leadership development program (MLDP). A pilot group of participants—frontline leaders from all backgrounds who aspired to more senior-level leadership roles—took part in an 18-month series of in-person and virtual sessions focused on cultural awareness, business acumen, and analytical skills. The curriculum included outside speakers, internal business case problems to solve, development of analytical skills, and a capstone project. The program culminated with a presentation to executives and senior leaders.

In 2016, we built on the success of the pilot program and expanded its reach by bringing in two additional business areas as well as involving our Latinx ERG, PLANetA. In 2018, we again expanded the program to include our Asian American ERG, AANet, and made the program available to all business groups within Progressive, which more than doubled the number of participants.

Program Format:

Each of the MLDP cohorts is a 12 or 18-month intensive program with 20-30 participants at a time. Participants focus on intercultural competence, leadership, and analytical skills through workshops, business cases, team projects, and exposure to new business areas, people, and ideas. Participants will also work closely with senior leadership and assigned mentors. The expected time commitment for participants is 25% of their time with a mix of:

  • Custom workshops on key leadership skills such as coaching and developing others, planning and organizing, and inclusive leadership
  • Guest speakers. cultural workshops and discussions on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion topics
  • Stretch projects like business cases (to build business acumen) and formal presentations
  • New relationships with fellow program participants and senior Progressive leaders
Outcomes:

We are tracking the individuals who graduated from each cohort of the program.

Our initial program, which is focused on entry level leaders, remains highly successful. Ninety percent of graduates have earned a promotion or made a career-enhancing move within two years after completing the program. The two newer programs that were introduced for aspiring leaders are beginning to show similar outcomes, with half to two-thirds of graduates being promoted or making career-enhancing moves.

Quote

We’re building a culture at Progressive where we can be our most authentic selves and feel safe, valued, and respected for the work we do and the ideas we share.

We actively listen and debate important issues, build lasting relationships, and learn from our unique perspectives to find the best solutions that will move us forward.

Growing together and feeling good about who we are.

That’s what diversity, equity, and inclusion is all about.

Tricia Griffith
President & CEO
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