thebiginterview
taken aback. I was asked if I had any questions at the end of the interview and I simply said, “yes, if I get the job do you give me a cape?!” It’s still funny but it’s still very true. Our people create technology that is a cyber superhero. I may not be ‘passionate’ but I am incredibly proud. Tat’s a great reason to do what I do and to want to draw more people into it.
How can the industry drive greater diversity in the sector? Businesses in general should be identifying where their
weaknesses are and work two grade levels below it to close it. Act early, intervene with genuine, worthwhile development programmes. Tis also means setting targets for your businesses to drive diversity into your leadership development programmes. Can you believe that some businesses are still rolling out senior
leadership development programmes that have 99% men in them? If you don’t have women at a stage in your organisation to send to these programmes, there’s your issue right there. Go two steps back and start plugging it. It’s critical to ensure our leaders are held accountable in their
objectives for delivering cultural value to our businesses. So those in leadership should consider how they can use what they have learnt to make their businesses more inclusive. If we can fully embrace gender equity and equity across all backgrounds, the more sustainable and successful we will all be. To do so, organisations should be asking themselves the following: 1) If we need open clear paths for women – what are we doing? 2) If we need to retain women – what are we doing? 3) If we need more women in Senior Roles – what are we doing? We need it to be the norm where flexible working is available to
everyone and there is no misconception of ‘having to be in the office’ to be doing your jobs. We need to put more trust in our employees to do their job and support working mums and those returning to work, and we need to make it standard practice to have female leaders in senior positions – given the same respect and salaries to match. Lastly, we need to speak to our women both in our organisation, those leaving and those applying. We need to stop guessing what they would want from a workplace and we need to start understanding. It shouldn’t be amazing what we can learn from our people. It should be standard practice for our evolution and our growth.
How can the industry look to attract more females into leadership positions within the channel? My gut tells me that two things need to happen:
(1) Women need to be developed, invested in and given opportunities for leadership roles. If organisations are suffering the same challenges then we all have few women seen as ‘ready now’ for a leadership role, so the same biases that keep our own women from gaining top jobs will prevent external women from job offers as well. Te second is then simple.
(2) Women need to be seen as worth the risk. Tis has been done for centuries with men and leadership roles. Companies need to acknowledge the potential of their women more and promote them into roles their past experiences and potential lend toward success at, not tick the boxes as having done before.
20 | September 2022 In the short term we need to do more targeted campaigns to
women, highlighting the benefits of the industry and the amazing roles that are available. We need to start having more success stories of women succeeding in the industry. Tere’s so much out there at the moment about how hard it is for women in tech, it feels only natural that we are not seeing women rushing to apply. We need to make clear the multitude and breadth of tech roles
available that women can either develop into or even transition into. Transferrable skillsets are abound in this industry and I’m not sure it’s clear that you can start at any time with most backgrounds. As an industry we also need to engage earlier. Tis is difficult
as it’s the long game but it’s true. Getting into schools early and educating the next generation, as well as their parents, on the opportunities and then staying engaged through their educational career as mentors and guides will hopefully inspire them and possibly have them consider us all as future employers one day.
How can companies look to ensure more DE& I with the shiſt to remote working and has this created more opportunity for diversity? I believe this has created more opportunity. If you remove the
barriers of a workplace location from the process you widen the funnel of who can enter the consideration process. Tis must be done carefully, however, as there are new risks of bias in remote working for organisations to combat now as well. A great start is to identify what a shiſt to remote working has
done to create a better culture for your current employees and then highlight that in your job adverts as well as your interview process.
What advice can you offer other companies to ensure DE&I in the work place? Eighteen months ago, I launched a strategic approach that addressed the employee journey, much like we would do for our clients. It enabled our people approach to operate an employee experience approach. We want a holistic view of, and thus journey, for our employees. By creating the right experience, we drive the best metrics. We create that experience by developing and encouraging
company-wide behaviours that again, drive those metrics. Otherwise, our metrics alone will drive the wrong behaviours. So, while we use metrics as a driver, they are not the only thing. Delivering value to our people, learned by listening to our people, leads the way. Tere are three core elements I see as vital in this approach: • Giving executive leaders D, E&I objectives and coach them on the importance. Tey all have proven track records of success in their careers. Give them something to deliver but give them guidance. Many haven’t done this before.
• Empower middle managers, again with company objectives. Tese folks are task rich and time poor. If it’s not made important they will deprioritise out of the need to survive.
• Involve your people. If you don’t ask then you can’t properly deliver. Communicate regularly. Share your plans. Update on progress. Employees will engage with what they feel communicated on.
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