MarketSource Collaborated with a Client to Foster Diverse and Inclusive Environments through Courageous Conversations
MarketSource collaborated with one of its clients, a leading automotive manufacturer, to create a diversity and inclusion training and awareness program aimed at surfacing unconscious bias and providing tools to minimize inequality. Courageous Conversations equipped the client’s and MarketSource’s employees with a framework to hold and process difficult discussions surrounding discrimination.
Courageous Conversations was a fulfillment of one of MarketSource’s Diversity & Inclusion goals, which is to make D&I core to its culture and for D&I to instantiate every aspect of the business, including supporting its client’s D&I initiatives.
Led by MarketSource’s D&I team and Peter Maxwell, vice president of commercial, automotive client services, the program goals were to:
- Understand and advocate for the equitable treatment of all team members
- Work together to ensure all employees’ emotional and physical safety
- Better serve the communities in which employees live and work
- Improve all our relationships, whether with coworkers, neighbors, or family members
Maxwell said, “Staying informed and vigilant helps us both deal with and prevent inequality, and learning about and striving to understand other cultures alleviates fear and prejudice. We need to (re)learn what happens in our communities and to our neighbors, whether they’re part of minority or majority communities. Courageous Conversations gave us and our client’s teams the tools, space, and support to do just that.”
The program goals were to address each of the four keys to inclusion:
- Impact on physical and workplace safety
- Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
- Active listening and understanding the value of listening
- Being understanding and thoughtful
“From hiring to retention to reflecting and serving the diverse communities we serve, D&I is embedded into the fabric of our organization,” said Damon Joshua, senior vice president, B2B commercial business, for MarketSource. “When our client approached us about creating this program, it felt natural for us to partner with them to help them achieve their D&I goals.”
“As a relationship-based organization, we aim to foster a culture of acceptance and inclusivity, while honoring diversity in thought and in experience,” said MarketSource President Rick Haviland. “We look forward to ongoing collaboration in this space with our partners and team members to ensure we reflect, represent and grow the richly diverse communities we serve.”
About MarketSource
MarketSource, an Allegis Group company, is a sales acceleration company focused on delivering better outcomes for many of the world’s most iconic brands. We design and operationalize managed sales and customer experience solutions in B2B and retail environments. Our solutions are purpose-built and tech-enabled to deliver measurable improvements in business outcomes.