The Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance (MFHA) announced it is hosting a series of roundtables with hospitality industry leaders on the topic of unconscious racial bias and in building culturally intelligent brand and leaders who understand how to use skills to deliver better results.
The organization hosted its first roundtable in Saint Paul, Minn., on June 14 with Ecolab, a provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies and services for the hospitality industry. Mike Hickey, Executive Vice President and President, Global Institutional Division of Ecolab, kicked off the roundtable that focused on ‘Engaging Today’s Workforce with Cultural Intelligence.’ Attendees were challenged to understand their own biases and how that affects their work and colleagues.
One participant said they learned how to, “acknowledging my own biases and how to change them to be positive.” Another attendee said, “it, “opened a lot of very interesting conversations about how to think and communicate with people around you.”
“I was honored to lead the first MFHA roundtable and use the steps we’ve taken at Ecolab to foster a positive work environment as examples for the roundtable attendees,” says Mike Hickey, executive vice president of Global Institutional for Ecolab. “I’ve challenged Ecolab, the roundtable attendees, and other companies to lead the way in confronting biases head-on to make changes.”
From now through the end of the year MFHA will host five more roundtables in partnership with industry leaders Kellogg, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, Darden Restaurants, Sysco and Chick-fil-A. Some of the topics covered will include: Understanding Unconscious Bias and the Impact of Cultural Intelligence in the Workplace; Community Engagement; and How Unconscious Bias Impacts Recruitment.
The dates for the next Roundtable, sponsored by the IL Restaurant Association, is July 26, which will be held at Kellogg in Elmhurst, Il on the topic of Engaging Today’s Workforce with Cultural Intelligence
“The Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance has long been the cultural intelligence solutions provider for the industry,” adds MFHA President Gerry Fernandez. “With recent racial bias events in the news, now more than ever is a time to be involved with the MFHA.”
