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Posted
June 08, 2023
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DEI at Applied: Engaging Leaders as Champions of Change
by Applied Blog
June 8, 2023
At Applied Materials, we are committed to upholding a culture and an environment where everyone can safely speak, be fully heard and is part of a workplace community that leverages and appreciates differences.
Over the past several years, we have been making progress toward our goals of increasing the number of women and underrepresented minorities in our workforce and our efforts in this area continue to evolve. Recently, we introduced the Applied community to the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) Engine, a framework of tools, learning and processes to accelerate our culture of inclusion strategy. The first pillar of that strategy is engaging leaders as champions of change.
“We have a strong culture of innovation built on collaboration, speed and hard work,” said Michelle Mapp Cooper, vice president, culture of inclusion at Applied. “And much like our technology continues to evolve, so does our culture. Our leaders play an important role in creating – and modeling – a more inclusive culture at Applied. That’s why we focus on personalizing inclusion for our leaders.”
Champions of Change
Since its launch to the Applied leadership group, which includes managing directors and vice presidents globally, we have expanded our DEI Engine and doubled down on our commitment to engage leaders as champions of change.
Michelle Mapp Cooper and chief human resources officer Susan Winchester recently led a “Celebrating and Strengthening our Culture” session that introduced the DEI Engine and featured a panel of leaders from Applied’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) who shared their personal experiences, recent ERG accomplishments and their plans for the year.
“There was visible energy in the room as so many leaders wanted to know how they could be more inclusive and get involved or support our ERGs,” said Michelle.
Coaching for Inclusion
In addition, during the past 18 months, Applied has provided more than 170 of our executive leaders with a tailored coaching for inclusion program, which focused on making inclusion personal for leaders – helping them to understand how DEI issues affect them, their teams and the organization.
The most recent cohort of 40 Applied leaders graduated in April and included Prabu Raja, president of Applied’s Semiconductor Products Group and Tim Deane, group vice president of Applied Global Services – who both led teams through the program.
“The program is a transformational experience for our Applied team,” said Tim Deane. “It will change the way we operate and interact well into the future.”
That sentiment was echoed by many of the other leaders who participated.
“This program provided a wonderful opportunity for self-reflection to understand how events in one’s life shapes who we are, and how we can create a positive impact as a leader in the company,” said Derek Witty, vice president, Semiconductor Products Group. “Inclusion is about connecting with one another on a personal level, listening to hear and understanding how to empower others to succeed.”
“It was a fantastic and engaging class, filled with honesty and appreciation for the paths that others have walked on their inclusion journey,” said Rory Campbell, managing director, Joint Operations Leadership Team. “I very much look forward to using the skills with my team.”
This blog post is one in a series that will focus on Applied’s culture of inclusion. The next post will follow the release of Applied’s forthcoming 2022 sustainability report and will spotlight our 2030 DEI goals and what we’re doing to get there. To learn more about Applied’s commitment to a culture of inclusion, visit our Corporate Responsibility webpage.
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