SAN DIEGO -- Major League Baseball’s efforts to promote and increase diversity don’t end with getting more qualified candidates in the door. The commitment to diversity includes helping to develop new leaders.

“You need diversity on the front end, and you need inclusion once they get there. It doesn’t work without a two-pronged approach,” said Caroline Perry, senior vice president/general counsel of the Padres. "I think it’s critical that baseball recognizes that.

Perry was among more than 30 select women in front office leadership positions who participated Sunday in the Katharine Feeney Leadership Symposium ahead of the baseball Winter Meetings at the San Diego bayfront. The select group, all at the vice president level or higher, participated in a program developed by Stanford professors Shelley Correll and Sarah Soule to help women executives navigate an industry traditionally dominated by men.

The symposium, named in honor of the late MLB executive Katy Feeney, has been held three straight years at the Winter Meetings. This year’s program included workshops on team dynamics, creating inclusive workplaces, practical solutions for women leaders, and fostering exchange and collaboration.

“I didn’t expect the camaraderie that occurred immediately,” said Naomi Rodriguez, vice president of external affairs and community relations for the Dodgers. “I mean, we’re competitive. On the national level, we compete against one another. But here, within the first few minutes, it was, ‘How can we help each other? We’re in this together.’”

Previous participants of the symposium have returned the past two years to serve as panelists and assist with the workshops, so that feeling of camaraderie has shown to last beyond the initial face-to-face interactions. And that bodes well for the goals of the diversity efforts concentrated around the Winter Meetings.

This year features several events organized by MLB’s Diversity and Inclusion Department:

• Take the Field, held Friday and Saturday, provided women interested in careers in coaching, scouting and player development an opportunity for education and interaction with club personnel.

• The Workforce Diversity Best Practices program on Saturday featured human resource representatives from all 30 clubs in sessions geared toward promoting and supporting an inclusive environment.

• The Unfiltered Series on Monday allows Winter Meetings attendees to learn from diverse and high-ranking baseball executives.

• The Supplier Diversity Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday allows diverse-owned businesses to pitch representatives from MLB and its clubs.

• The Diversity Pipeline Program from Monday through Wednesday aims to identify, hire and expand the pool of qualified women and persons of color in baseball operations, front office, and on-field roles.

“It is rare throughout the year that all 30 clubs, all MLB entities are all in one place,” said Corey Smith, senior director of MLB Diversity and Inclusion. “We’re simply capitalizing on the fact all the clubs are here.

“At D&I, we view ourselves as MLB’s consulting group on these matters. If HR, baseball ops, marketing, whoever, wants to gain more insight and knowledge into diversity and inclusion topics, we’re here to provide it. We created specific content throughout this week toward that.”

The intent is that participants in the programs will put concepts into practice. The discussions aren’t meant to stay in the bubble of the Winter Meetings. With the Feeney Symposium, participants already are planning to take workshop activity into the workplace.

“I feel empowered that when I go back to my team there are things I can institute immediately,” Rodriguez said. “For instance, we did an exercise about group dynamics and the different types of personalities on a team, in a group. You don’t want to leave out the person who maybe has a shy personality or isn’t comfortable speaking out in the group dynamic. How can you avoid leaving talent or good ideas behind because someone doesn’t feel comfortable speaking up?”