Introducing ADAPT: KBR’s New Employee Resource Group

KBR’s employee resource groups (ERGs) are central to the company’s commitment to being a place where people can belong, connect and grow. This October, KBR is launching a new ERG, ADAPT, which is dedicated to disability inclusion. Elgan Iorwerth, co-chair of ADAPT, sat down with us to talk about the group’s important mission of creating a community of support and educating, empowering and enhancing the experiences of individuals with disabilities of all kinds across KBR.

Transcript

IN ORBIT: A KBR PODCAST

Season 3, Episode 16

Introducing ADAPT: KBR’s Newest ERG

INTRODUCTION

John Arnold

Hello. I'm John, and this is In Orbit. We want to welcome all you listeners out there. Whether you found us for the first time or are a repeat offender, we appreciate you tuning in and staying in our orbit.

I want to ask you: what does it mean to be a people company? At KBR, it means supporting and empowering people and creating environments where they feel they belong, where they can connect, and where they can grow personally and professionally.

One of the ways we accomplish that is by providing opportunities for people to come together with like-minded folks around issues or causes that are important to them. I'm talking specifically about KBR's employee resource groups, or ERGs. These volunteer led groups not only act as outlets for engagement and camaraderie, but they also serve as a barometer that helps KBR leadership on a journey of continuous improvement for the employee experience. KBR has a variety of ERGs with different areas of focus, several of which we've talked about here on the podcast.

Well, now we're excited to announce the launch of a brand new group called ADAPT. And with us here to talk about ADAPT and its mission is Elgan Iorwerth. Elgan is a program manager with KBR's Defense Systems Engineering business, part of Government Solutions United States, and he serves as co-chair for the new ADAPT ERG.

Welcome to the podcast, Elgan.

Elgan Iorwerth

Hi. Thank you, John. Pleasure to be here.

John Arnold

Pleasure to have you. And I hope that I nailed my Welsh R rolling. I tried my best.

Elgan Iorwerth

You certainly did. Thank you.

John Arnold

Well, before we get into discussing ADAPT, I'd love for our audience to get to know you a little bit. So why don't you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at KBR?

Elgan Iorwerth

Thanks, John. So I day-to-day work with our U.S. Air Force customers to help them solve technical problems on existing Air Force assets, primarily aircraft. So my team will work on engineering solutions to meet their needs and to ultimately support the war fighter.

John Arnold

Excellent. And Elgan also warned us that if at any moment a plane goes overhead, that's the noise that we'll hear, if it happens. So in addition to those responsibilities, Elgan, you've also been instrumental in helping launch KBR's newest employee resource group ADAPT. Would you tell us about the journey to get ADAPT launched, what its mission is as well?

Elgan Iorwerth

Certainly. So I would say my journey started nearly two years ago, almost exactly to the month when we had an internal forum around neurodiversity in the workplace, which was an internal KBR global forum. I was part of the panel where I was talking about the challenges that I face being a neurodiverse individual and what that means. It was a fantastic forum.

And then from there, back in January of this year, there was a briefing with Jenni Myles and Stuart Bradie talking about diversity and inclusion. And during that whole discussion, chat and the internal discussions were going wild with so many people being impassioned and feeling that they wanted to help support their community of disabled individuals.

So from that, an exploratory committee was formed where we discussed, "Do we want to start an ERG? What would that look like?" And from there, we were working through with our executive sponsor, Jay Ibrahim, to get to the point where we were presenting our pitch to the ELT of KBR to say, "We're here. We want to be a community of individuals who have a passion and want to support our community very organically." We presented that. It was accepted in the summer. And since then, we've been busy trying to establish everything, get our logo in place, working with the KBR comms team, and preparing for a very exciting launch this October.

John Arnold

And the launch in October coincides with an observance here in the States. Would you tell us about that?

Elgan Iorwerth

Sure. So October is NDEAM, or National Disability Employment Awareness Month. It comes through the [U.S.] Department of Labor. It's a national thing. And this year, it's even more exciting because it's 50 years commemorating the Rehabilitation Act here in the United States. So it's very timely to reflect on this community and being able to be an addition to the wonderful portfolio of ERGs we have here at KBR.

John Arnold

Absolutely. So in reading about ADAPT, I've seen that one of the purposes of the group is to provide community, as you said, and support for three distinct groups. Would you tell us about who those groups are?

Elgan Iorwerth

We deliberately thought about and understood that disability isn't just something that happens at work. It's equally at home. So we chose to have three pillars, which is supporting an individual disability. That's really to make sure that they have the resources that they need to be able to achieve everything that they can achieve and feel really part of the KBR family.

But we also recognize there are parents and carers at home who may have a child diagnosed with a disability and really not know where to start. And we want to be good examples of these disabilities don't inherently limit a child's potential to be really successful. And so we wanted to support those as well. There are people associated with ADAPT who have children with disabilities who are exceptionally powered mothers and fathers and parents of their children who have been wildly successful in all their pursuits. And we want to encourage that and give that community.

And then the lastly is we want to make sure that coworkers and managers of people with disability in KBR have resources so that they can understand, be good allies, and realize, hey, if there's somebody here who has a need, what the process is for them to be able to help, make sure that appropriate accommodations are in place, and know the resources well, because we don't want to just be very narrow in our focus. We want to be as broad and big tent as possible for this community.

John Arnold

Absolutely. That's fantastic. Well, you mentioned this a little bit before the ERG really started getting off the ground, that there was feedback, there was a response from both the workforce and the leadership, and you said impassioned. Would you tell us a little bit more about that response?

Elgan Iorwerth

Yeah. It's hard to be a spokesperson for so many different people with so many different smaller, narrow viewpoints. So everybody experiences disability differently. But if you look at the Advocate cornerstone, there was over a hundred people part of that group chat that the Viva Engage page talking about Advocate.

And so seeing that cornerstone having so much support and so much interest led us to thinking this is a community that would really benefit from an ERG. And so from that point on, we've had, across KBR, both in the US and some very kind folks across the world who have given us good advice, really feeling like disability is an area that we want to serve and make sure that we're mindful of.

And we've run the whole range of disabilities from physical disabilities to the less obvious disabilities.

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

And it's really energizing to see all these people who want to be good role models, to share, to support, to provide knowledge and wisdom, and even if it's just a one-to-one of being there for someone who's struggling and wanting to know how they can be best fulfilled in their work at KBR. So it's just energizing every day.

John Arnold

That's fantastic. Well, you were just talking about the Advocate Cornerstone. That is one of the cornerstones for KBR's All In Network, which is a network of all the inclusion and diversity related ERGs. Repeat listeners to the podcast may be familiar with that. But if you're not, if you're new to the podcast, we're talking about the All In community. Would you tell us a little more about All In and how ADAPT fits within that community's framework?

Elgan Iorwerth

Sure. So I see All In from my perspective, and I will not claim to be the expert, as just part of how KBR has the value of we're a team of teams. It's a big value to KBR. And being a team of teams means that you support your teammates with their needs and from their various roles. We have so many different minorities at KBR that are thriving and succeeding, and we have ERGs that underpin that success and foundational resources across the board. And it's just a fantastic community across the globe in many cases for KBR, where we're making sure that everybody feels that they can be part of KBR. And that's just the exciting part about being here, is being part of that community.

John Arnold

That's wonderful. Well, we've already touched on this as well a little bit, that when we say disabled or differently abled, that we are not just talking about physical or physically apparent conditions. A lot of times, these conditions are ones that they just aren't apparent with the naked eye. They're non-seen, such as neurodiverse conditions, which you mentioned, things like autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, and so on. Why is it important to include that distinction in this group?

Elgan Iorwerth

So I'd extend it even further than just what we'd consider potentially traditional, I suppose. You have people with chronic pain.

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

Chronic pain is something might not be visible, but impacts your day-to-day life. Or people with chronic illness. So it's very important to make sure that the accommodations that we have in place at KBR are widely advertised and widely understood, because that's what we want. We want everybody who needs them to be confident that they can reach out through the appropriate process and get those accommodations that they need to be as successful as they want to be and can be.

And so physical disabilities are very much the visible aspect, but neurodiversity is possibly a larger portion of the US overall than the physical disability in many cases. And with those come unique challenges, which I can speak from personally, but in terms of just being dyslexic has that impact. There are certain things that you do exceptionally well, and there are certain things that you struggle with that's different to a normal person's experience.

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

But I think that having those resources out there and being able to both talk openly about it, but see the support and the care that you get from KBR on those fronts is vital to being part of this big community of KBR.

John Arnold

That's wonderful. And then also just by extension, teaching other coworkers and colleagues to be more empathetic and sensitive to the fact that you never know what's going on in someone else's life and to just meet people where they are on a daily basis. That's wonderful.

Elgan Iorwerth

Yeah, absolutely. And it's a pleasure to be part of this community. It's a very vibrant and energetic community, and I'm enthused by the potential.

John Arnold

I'm enthused talking with you about it and learning more about it. I have been really surprised to see how many of my friends, adult friends from over the years, are now being diagnosed in their thirties and forties with neurodiverse conditions. And it comes as both a surprise and a relief to them. And for the first time, they feel they're able to work and live and participate in a headspace where they know really who they are.

I’ll read a quote by your ADAPT co-chair, Jessica Venturelli. She said, "Being disabled doesn't hinder potential. I believe that disabilities, mental or physical, are not hindrances but unique attributes that can be seen as powerful assets if given the right opportunities." Could you speak to that a little bit?

Elgan Iorwerth

Yeah, absolutely. So I'll speak very personally, because like many of your friends, I discovered I was dyslexic when I was in university. And I think in part that's a function of drawing up in an era where neurodiversity wasn't well understood. It wasn't necessarily picked up and assessed in the same way …

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

... in schools that we have today. And there are many great organizations, Made By Dyslexia being an example, which are very much advocating to try and teach and inform teachers early so that your diverse conditions can be picked up.

And so it's both a relief. But also, it's a challenge because you now learn something new about yourself later in life.

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

And you have to unpack and really understand what that means. So for me, I had to explain some things. A funny story. I once sat an exam in university and debated with myself for about 30 minutes how to spell “zero,” because every time I wrote it, it just on that day did not look right to my brain.

John Arnold

Sure. Yeah.

Elgan Iorwerth

And so it's a funny story and I laugh about it. But understanding that about yourself and realizing, "Okay, I don't need to put the pressure on myself for that," because you can go through the accommodation process once you understand it ...

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

... takes time. It takes time to get used to that new fact about yourself.

And Jessica's a fantastic advocate for everyone, and I'm sure she won't mind me saying that her energy is what keeps us going on many days. And she's a proud mother, and she's fantastic for our organization.

And she's absolutely correct. I don't feel that my dyslexia has hindered me in my career. I actually feel like my dyslexia is why I'm successful in my career. I actually think dyslexic thinking, and I'm very proud that that's now a recognized skill you can put on LinkedIn, is something that allows me to be very good at what I do in a systems engineering more abstract world. I think dyslexic thinking to me is a help to that and not a hindrance.

And I would say for anybody who has any form of neurodiversity, you can and will excel at things. It's about understanding what you can excel at and applying yourself, too. So I don't want anybody to, be their parent or an individual finding out later in life that they have a neurodiverse condition, to think that they can't be successful, because I think, in some cases, understanding that will lead to greater success, not diminish them in any way.

John Arnold

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing about your experience. That's amazing. And I did not know that about LinkedIn. Way to go, LinkedIn, for stepping up and having that.

Before I let you go, I just have a couple more questions for you. First, curious about what sorts of resources and support are going to be available through ADAPT, and then also what all is on the docket for launch and then in the months after launch?

Elgan Iorwerth

Okay. Well, that's a lot to unpack. So divide up resources into a couple things. So number one, we want to make sure that those benefits and those accommodations are known and advertised so that if those are needed, that those are the awareness ... just raise the awareness of that overall.

Secondly, we plan on working with KBR to publish and pull together articles, so where there's resources that it can help explain conditions or techniques that help manage, mitigate, or otherwise empower and inform, that those get made available. And we'll continually build that library up as we go throughout the year and onwards.

And then also, we want to make sure that nobody feels alone. So from someone sat in one of the biggest offices that we have, let's say in Houston, down to someone who's a remote worker, that they know that there are individuals available to reach out and talk. I think it's very important to have individuals who you can talk to and understand and give you guidance and coaching throughout.

So we want to manage everyone's expectations. We're not going to build this all in one day. But we're going to grow it ...

John Arnold

Right.

Elgan Iorwerth

... and try and have a rich pool of resources, information, knowledge, links to nonprofits that support specific conditions to really make sure that anybody who has questions or anybody who has struggles can find what they need to help them be successful.

John Arnold

That's awesome and very, very exciting. I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens in the next few months with ADAPT. Well, one last question. Any parting thoughts from you before we let you out of here?

Elgan Iorwerth

Yeah. So ADAPT formally launches on October 18th. We are launching both virtually for anybody across the US, whether they're associated with the site or not, to be able to join us. The registration link for that webinar will be up shortly. And then in a number of sites, including here in Utah, down in Houston, out in Lexington Park, and a couple others, there's going to be launch parties. So if you're associated or near one of those sites, we're going to highly encourage you to come and attend in person. And it's going to a great celebration of recognizing that disability is not a hindrance to success.

John Arnold

Outstanding. Well, Elgan, we thank you so much for being with us. Diolch! [“Thank you” in Welsh] And we look forward to seeing a successful launch in October for ADAPT.

Elgan Iorwerth

Well, in which case I will say croeso! [“Welcome” in Welsh] And thank you very much for your time, John. Really appreciate getting to talk to everyone on the podcast.

John Arnold

We'll look forward to having you on again in the future.

Elgan Iorwerth

Yeah. Thank you.

CONCLUSION

John Arnold

Well, it's just another example of how KBR is providing opportunities for connection and empowerment. We want to thank Elgin Iorwerth and the rest of the ADAPT leadership team for the important work they're doing, and we congratulate them on ADAPT's official launch. Looking forward to seeing the impact they make for KBR people around the world.

If you're interested in learning more about KBR ERGs or our work in the community, you can read more about it over at kbr.com. If you're a KBR employee looking for an opportunity to connect with others, you can learn about the many different ways available on KBR Home.

A special thanks to our producer Emma for her wonderful work on the podcast as always. If you like what you heard today or if you have an idea for a future episode or if you just want to say hi, send us an email at InOrbit@kbr.com.

And a last big thanks to you, listeners. We know time is precious, and we appreciate you spending part of your day with us and keeping us in your orbit. Take care.