Ann Anaya is the chief diversity officer for 3M, a global science company that is all about innovation. The company was previously known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. Once appointed to her new position, Anaya didn’t waste any time achieving these new goals. She has used her platform at the Minnesota-based company to build a team that strategically works to achieve diversity and inclusion within their company globally. Through programs and initiatives, Anaya strives to check in with the employees and clients to ensure that she is doing her job. She is working tirelessly to make opportunities and access equally attainable for all members of the company.
What is your role at the company?
I’ve been chief diversity officer since May of last year. I’m a lawyer by trade; I came in through legal affairs and transferred in as chief diversity officer. We drive two important goals for the company globally. The first is our diversity sustainability goal. Our CEO in 2015, announced that we would double our pipeline of diverse leaders in 10 years. So, by 2025, we look to that year as the one that we will have double the number of diverse leaders. Diversity is defined in the broad sense to include all dimensions of diversity including disability, people with military backgrounds, LGBTQ as well as gender, nationality, ethnicity, and race. The other index that we drive is, called the inclusion index. So, our standard opinion survey is given every two years to every business and function within the company around the globe. As a part of that survey, there are questions that measure the inclusion of our environment at work, and whether or not we have leadership behaviors that are inclusive, whether or not our workplace is inclusive, whether or not our workplace is respectful. That index is the other metric that we use on the diversity and inclusion team.
What does your day-to-day look like?
Every day we have a number of meetings, with different stakeholders in the company. We have a lot of early mornings or late night meetings because our efforts are global. As a part of our diversity and inclusion campaign that we launched in 2017, “Different Minds Inspire” we worked with our design team. We are partners with the design team as well as talent development and our community outreach, the 3M Give Foundation.
Are there any journals you read or conferences you attend?
So, we’re a member of the conference board and they have a specific chapter that is dedicated to diversity and inclusion. We’re also a member, sponsor, and recipient of the Catalyst Award. We are engaged with the McKinsey group. All of those groups create a network of information, whether its articles, white papers or general benchmarking with other chief diversity officers around the globe and with our peer companies.
Outside of the goals for a successful diversity campaign, are there any other goals you would like to achieve?
When I started, we had really focused on bringing awareness about the business case for diversity for the last five-plus years. We wanted to really bring that to the next level with a call to action. To find ways to bring a stronger culture of inclusion to 3M. As we move into 2019, the next step is for integrated collaboration and diverse teams. Hopefully, on a five-year trajectory, we hope that there is a solid process in place that celebrates diversity, appreciates its value and leverages it through creative and innovative teams that are driven through a business level each and every day.
Are you reading any business books?
I am on my way to Asia and the book I have first on my list is, Innovation by Design: How Any Organization Can Leverage Design Thinking to Produce Change, Drive New Ideas, and Deliver Meaningful Solutions by Edgar Papke and Thomas Lockwood.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
The team I have in place here, we were talking out our success here and we were all jazzed up about the future because we feel like we are bringing diversity and inclusion into the next level of building a stronger workplace culture.
