By Cerasela Cristei, WTS-DC 
September 2021

On September 23, WTS-DC hosted our 7th annual event with the NOVA District of Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). This year’s topic focused on VDOT’s long-standing commitment to inclusion in the workplace. The panel conversation highlighted VDOT’s efforts to create a workforce culture of inclusion that promotes diversity and equal employment opportunity for all individuals, as well as VDOT’s recognition that inclusion stimulates productivity and growth. This event provided attendees the opportunity to learn about a facet of VDOT not often seen by the public.

Cerasela Cristei, WTS-DC Professional Development Committee Chair, moderated the conversation among six panelists:

• John D. Lynch, P.E., District Engineer
• Bill Cuttler, P.E., Deputy District Engineer
• Lauren C. Mollerup, P.E., CCM, Assistant District Administrator for Maintenance
• Leslie Martin, District Civil Rights Manager
• Aleksandra Tuliszka, P.E., Assistant Director for Transportation and Land Use
• Richard Burke, Transportation & Land Use Director for Prince William County

The panelists answered questions posed by WTS-DC members. Some of the questions and responses from the event are summarized below.

How do you recognize and remove barriers to design a diverse and inclusive workplace?

• Keep the lines of communication open and be a good listener. This builds trust and removes perceived barriers within any team. It also encourages courageous problem-solving and finding the best alternate solution to any problem.
• Inclusion tends to be a personal perspective. Open channels of communication help both parties find out why someone does not feel included and what can be done to change that perspective.
• In a government agency with a hierarchy of decision-making, someone new to the agency may not be able to sit at the table with the executive staff and help make decisions. VDOT has an innovative program where employees can contribute ideas on how to do things better. This “lab” forms purposefully diverse teams to develop ideas and post them on the internal website, where anyone in the agency can add their contributions to make the concept even better. This puts every contributor on even footing because all ideas count, and there are no barriers.
• VDOT also fields employee surveys on a regular basis.
• A statewide effort that is currently being implemented is a training program called “Road to Cultural Competency.” This program broadens people’s horizons about other people’s perspectives and teaches them to stop and listen to what people are saying and determine what actions they can take to help.

There are many ways to define diversity, but what percentage of women and people of color are in leadership positions in the NOVA District? And what is VDOT doing to place individuals who are historically underrepresented in positions of leadership?

• The percentages are only comparable within our area as the general population percentages within those categories vary sufficiently even within one state. The first step is to mirror the census percentages as close as possible, and while VDOT falls slightly below the statewide numbers, efforts to more closely align VDOT’s percentages with the statewide numbers are being implemented. Those efforts consist of reaching out to women’s organizations and looking at why people are not applying for certain positions. The leadership team is 50% men and 50% women, making gender diversity a model.
• The hiring process at VDOT is included in the Strategic Plan to be presented to the Governor and will be implemented to bring more diverse employees into the team.

What event or thing triggered you to see, understand, and help maintain the diversity of our society within the agency?

• In the late 1980s, there was a massive influx of professionals from other countries. Employees had to learn new ways to interact with their new colleagues. Panelists talked about their own experiences with accommodating different cultures, the importance of learning about other cultures, and weaving different cultures together to create a harmonious work environment.
• For the past eight years, Leslie Martin and Bill Cuttler have co-chaired VDOT’s Unity Day, a gigantic picnic featuring flags of all represented nations strewn across the pavilion. Through Unity Day, VDOT celebrates diversity, encourages learning about other cultures, and enables staff to develop sensitivity and respect for their colleagues. Attendees learned that VDOT staff were asked to place dots on a map of the world to represent their place of origin.  At the end of the day, there were dots in 49 states. And beyond the U.S., the dots marked the Silk Road.
• Northern Virginia is extremely diverse, and we need to embrace all cultures and backgrounds and come together to continue building our community.

One of the panelists shared that building and maintaining a diverse workplace may mean figuring out how to retain the employee and welcome the original culture of the employee.  Additionally, attendees heard that we all must learn how to communicate and appreciate diverse talents and abilities so that we all may continue to grow.

WTS-DC thanks VDOT for its continued partnership with our chapter and expresses its appreciation to the VDOT leaders who shared their time, perspectives, and experiences with members and friends of WTS-DC.

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