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22 | TH E M R EP O RT FEATURE While we appreciate external recognition of our diversity efforts, we want to ensure that we are "walking the talk," which in part means continuously ensuring that our workforce remains diverse. In order to retain the best and the brightest talent, we have to recruit and develop our employees at all levels of the organization. We are committed to maintaining a pool of diverse candidates, and this past year chose from that pool to fill all of our open officer positions. In 2016, 66 percent of our external hires were minorities and 47 percent were women. The workforce at Fannie Mae leads financial services, with 57 percent people of color and women mak - ing up 36 percent of our board members. From Top to Bottom and Bottom to Top O ur diversity and inclusion roadmap, or strategy, is a top-down, bottom-up approach. We have leadership vision and commitment at the top and grassroots engagement from our employee base. Our areas of focus consist of three distinct but connected pillars that enable Fannie Mae to reach its vision to be America's most-valued housing partner. We want to continue to lead the industry with a diverse organization, hiring and retain - ing dynamic talent that brings different perspectives, thoughts, cultures, and decision making, which are all key elements that drive innovation. To leverage the dynamic talent at Fannie Mae, we focus on creating an inclusive culture where every employee has the opportunity to make contri - butions that are valued. One of Fannie Mae's values is "valuing our people and our communities." We live this value by providing education and tools for our lead - ers to build and manage an in- clusive culture. More than half of Fannie Mae's employees actively engage in one or more of our 12 Employee Resource Groups (ERG). Fannie Mae's ERGs are demographically aligned, with a few exceptions, such as our two religious ERGs (Muslim and Christian Salt and Light), and the veterans and individuals with dis- abilities ERGs. Many companies today shy away from offering religious groups and affiliations to their employees. Not Fannie Mae; we believe that offering these em- ployee resource groups shows our full commitment to embracing and creating an inclusive culture for all employees. Our resource groups also enhance our ability to attract and retain employees with military backgrounds and those that may have differing workplace needs, thus increasing our diversity. The year-round programming and events sponsored by the ERGs provide employees opportunities for education, recruitment, profes- sional development, network- ing, and volunteerism, all while supporting our corporate diversity and inclusion strategy. Intercultural Development Inventory E very day, we have the privi- lege of working with a diverse workforce. This gives us the opportunity to engage different working styles, gain deeper and more innovative ideas, and learn to appreciate different cultures, which ultimately helps us better serve our diverse customers in every market, every day. We real- ize that to successfully leverage this rich diversity, we need to ensure that we are a culturally competent organization. To that end, we have incorporated a tool called Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). This theory- based psychometric instrument measures an individual's intercul - tural competence. It is accurate, unbiased, reliable, and validity tested with over 7000 subjects in a variety of different cultures. This tool has been deployed to all of our officers and other key leaders to provide them with the skills to lead and manage a multicultural workforce. This means that every leader has an obligation to increase his or her level of cultural competency by executing their IDI development plan. Our work is never done on this journey. We are continuously working to achieve a culture that is self-aware, understanding of others, and capable of creating inclusive strategies to address all areas of Fannie Mae. Diversity Advisory Council O ur focus on our culture also includes our Diversity Advisory Council (DAC), a group comprising 15 Fannie Mae ex- ecutives representing the various divisions within the organization. These senior leaders are struc- tured around the three strategic diversity and inclusion pillars to help drive a broader and wider reach of inclusion across the enterprise. Some of the members serve as executive sponsors for our 12 ERGs, and participate in our "Courageous Conversation: Let's Talk About It" Series where we recently addressed race rela- tions, myths, and stereotypes that plague the Muslim and LGBTQ communities. Our next Coura- geous Conversation will be a deep -dive listening tour with each of the 12 ERGs to hear their feed- back, perspectives, and insights into ways we can strengthen our inclusive culture. This group of leaders also regularly volunteers to test and learn new initiatives before we launch and implement them across the enterprise. We recognize that we cannot seek ac- countability of workplace behav- iors without clear communication of expectations. Therefore, our diversity and inclusion journey includes all of us. Our roadmap targets the mar- ketplace and is built around our strategic alliances with nonprofits, lenders, customers, and organiza- tions enabling us to achieve our mission of providing liquidity, access, and affordability of credit to the market at all times. These partnerships also enhance the Fannie Mae brand. Executive Leadership Visibility T o meet this business impera- tive, we have to understand the changing demographics of the marketplace and have a cultural understanding of diverse com- munities and the issues facing underserved markets. One of our initiatives in this area is our Exec- utive Leadership Visibility, which "Every day, we have the privilege of working with a diverse workforce . . ."