While this year tested and challenged us like no other, we were also presented with a number of opportunities to adapt, learn, and grow. From the start, our first employee resource group, Women In Spine (WIS), set out to create an inclusive culture to inspire, develop and empower all Shareowners. Despite a virtual setting, WIS found new ways to keep Shareowners engaged and connected by providing development webinars, access to leadership, community events and open-dialogue sessions. Read more below for some of the top WIS highlights of this year.
Growth Groups
WIS continued to uphold their mission to provide development resources for all Shareowners throughout our shift to remote working environments. WIS quickly pivoted and created virtual learning experiences where topics included owning your development, influencing others, mentorship, creating culture across teams, and many others. Shareowners took part in these development sessions in small group sessions that were led and facilitated by NuVasive leadership. They not only learned from the career experience of these leaders, but also got to connect and hear the perspectives of their fellow Shareowners. Three rounds of Growth Groups took place this year with 260 members signing up to participating.
Freeform Fridays
In the midst of a racial and social justice movement that started in the U.S., WIS leadership made a commitment to educate themselves on the topics of racial implicit bias, systemic issues affecting the Black community, workplace equity and gender equality. WIS developed Freeform Fridays in order to provide a safe space and opportunity for dialogue with fellow members on issues not typically discussed in the workplace. Every other Friday, the WIS community virtually came together to listen to a curated short-form podcast and have an open forum discussion to connect and share perspectives. The topics ranged anywhere from disrupting bias, authenticity, and inclusive leadership to fostering allyship, and included podcasts from Michelle Obama, Ruckika Tulshyan, Aliya Hamid Rao, Kelly Greenwood, Alison Nasisi and Ritu Bhasin. Since July, WIS has held 10 Freeform Fridays with more than 65 members attending each session and numerous members volunteering to facilitate and make the program a success.
EMPOWER20
WIS rolled out the EMPOWER development series last year, an experiential one-day conference for Shareowners nominated by leadership that includes various workshops with invited guest speakers, panel discussions and networking with NuVasive leadership. This year, the last two professional development events in the series took place in Berlin, Germany in January, and virtually in August. Most recently, this conference series brought together 17 Shareowners from all levels and functions where they took part in three 90-minute virtual sessions centered around leadership presence and how to find calm in chaos.
Authenticity keynote with Ritu Bhasin
In September, Shareowners had the honor of tuning into a virtual webinar and Q&A presentation from award-winning motivational speaker, Ritu Bhasin. The webinar—Authenticity in the workplace—gave Shareowners tools to embrace authenticity in their professional and personal lives. As one of the highest attended WIS events to date, Bhasin coached Shareowners on several ways to put authenticity into practice and how to be an authentic leader.
Holiday speed networking
With in-person networking put on hold for the time being, WIS introduced one more opportunity for members to come together before the year ended. They hosted the first WIS holiday speed networking for its community to create new connections. Attendees were broken up into virtual breakout rooms to get to know one another and discuss prompts ranging from professional to personal topics. WIS encouraged active participation from all over the globe to continue to build community in a virtual environment.
While 2020 was a turbulent year, WIS made us all feel connected to something larger than ourselves—something we all needed a little more of in a virtual environment. Highlighting the value of global diversity, inclusion and engagement while providing professional development opportunities for all Shareowners will remain at the forefront of the WIS mission. We look forward to what WIS will accomplish in the new year!
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