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NEWPORT, R.I. — If there were only 13 people left alive in the world and you had to pick seven to survive, how would you decide who lived and died?
This question was at the heart of an exercise conducted at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport on Feb. 28 by G. Lee Floyd, director, Equal Opportunity Programs, and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command. Floyd, who has held his current position since March 2004, spent two days at NUWC Newport as a part of the command’s celebration of Black History Month in February.
“Today is about awareness,” Floyd told a group of more than two dozen NUWC Newport employees in each of two exercise sessions. “It’s about time for us to evaluate how we’re doing business.
“This exercise is designed to get us talking and taking a deep dive into why we make decisions. You need to take into consideration the person on the other side of the desk.”
On Feb. 27, Floyd met with NUWC Newport’s Commanding Officer Capt. Michael Coughlin and gave an employee presentation on cross-cultural communication as it relates to diversity and inclusion. The next day he held two, 90-minute sessions with employees where they parsed the aforementioned question and others related to diversity and inclusion.
Throughout his visit, Floyd emphasized the importance of dealing with people as individuals — accepting others for who they are and not simply tolerating them. Self-evaluation is a critical component of this, particularly when it comes to confronting our unconscious biases — “the monster within all of us,” according to Floyd.
“Mission readiness is the bottom line,” Floyd said. “How we treat our folks greatly determines our ability to accomplish the mission.
“You’re in a position to do something about it. It’s going to take some courage, but if you keep going along with the status quo, we’re going to continue to have the same conversations.”
Having these types of uncomfortable, yet honest conversations were essential in Floyd’s exercise on Feb. 28. Employees were given a prompt stating there were only 13 people left alive in the world and living in a shelter, yet there were only enough supplies left for seven people to survive the next two months when it would be safe to leave.
Employees were then split into groups and asked to come up with three traits they would use to determine who would get to stay in the shelter. In one form or another, groups settled on procreation ability, skillset and health as the most important factors.
“It’s important you establish among yourselves that you’re going to be honest — brutally honest,” Floyd said. “The person I want you to be honest with is yourself. Don’t cheat yourself. Take a chance, be courageous, jump in with two feet and see what happens for you.
“Trust the process. It’s just like making a cake; we’re going to fold in ingredients as we go.”
As participants worked through the exercise, Floyd introduced more information to the equation. At first, it was just names — Dr. Dane, Ms. Brown, Mr. Ramos, etc. — along with each person’s race, age, sex and one fact about them. After a few minutes Floyd gave the groups more information related to their health, sexual orientation and other factors that forced the groups to test their measurements for keeping a person.
“You need a doctor,” one group member said.
“Are we good with getting rid of Mr. Newton?” added another.
“I would put Ramos in,” a third chimed in.
After working through this, Lee elicited responses from the crowd and asked them to explain why they kept each person alive. After evaluating some choices, Lee asked if anyone had considered race as a factor — none did.
“No one thought this was important? Take a look at your list: When you focus on the mission, those other things tend to take care of themselves,” Floyd said. “That’s called a naturally evolving workforce. I want the best folks to do this job I have to get accomplished. We allow ourselves to get in the way. This is an awareness exercise, but there are so many lessons to be learned there.”
Many of these lessons also were present during his talk to the workforce on Feb. 27. Floyd opened that discussion paraphrasing a poem by Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of the Morning.” Angelou read the poem at former President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, where she became the first woman and African-American to read at a presidential inauguration.
Lee then noted that most people like to quote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at these types events, but he was only going to quote him twice.
“‘The truest test of a person’s sincerity is in their actions.’ Think about that. ‘A doctrine of black supremacy is as evil as a doctrine of white supremacy,’” Floyd said. “Some people will have you believe that Dr. King was all about black folks getting theirs, but that’s not the case. We’re going to have some discussions about us as individuals. If we’re going to move forward as people we’re going to have to understand and more than tolerate, but accept the knowledge that we bring to the warfighter.
“Black History Month is not a month that is set aside for black folks. It is so that everyone can understand and appreciate the contributions of African-Americans to this country.”
Floyd then talked about the “melting pot theory” and its flaws, as our society does not just melt into one. He then referenced the “salad bowl theory,” encouraging people to Google it when they got a chance.
“The salad bowl theory replaced the melting pot theory,” Floyd said. “It says you let lettuce be lettuce and you let a tomato be a tomato. It’s that you need all different flavors to the overall salad that we need. I shouldn’t have to change to add flavor to your salad.”
For as much sage advice that Floyd imparted during his time at NUWC Newport, he also acknowledged that that he was not always accepting of everyone. It was not until he underwent a signification emotional event — SEE, as he called it — that his perspective changed.
Floyd described a number of stops throughout his career in the Air Force, from basic training in San Antonio, Texas, to technical school and his first duty assignment at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Each time he moved, he got into a fight.
“The one common denominator was me. I had to realize that I was carrying luggage,” Floyd said. “Bruce A. Bowser was my supervisor, and he said, ‘I think this guy has something worth salvaging’ as I was about to get kicked out. That was my SEE. I’m not telling you it’s going to be an easy something. We’ve been taught certain things, but you have to find something that helps you move beyond this. I can’t give you a cookie-cutter answer to the courage piece.
“These briefings may be somebody’s SEE; just don’t let this be the end of it. When you leave, continue to have these discussions. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. That’s the only way we’re going to move forward.”
Floyd has been affiliated with the Air Force since 1983. He is a 1994 graduate of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), Patrick Air Force Base, Brevard County, Florida. Floyd retired from active duty in November 2003 as a master sergeant.
NUWC Division Newport, part of the Naval Sea System Command, is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Division Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures. NUWC’s other division is located in Keyport, Washington.
| Date Taken: | 03.26.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.26.2019 16:30 |
| Story ID: | 315750 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RI, US |
| Hometown: | WARNER ROBINS, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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