INCLUSION & DIVERSITY
STEP TWO: LEAD BY HAVING PEOPLE WHO MODEL INCLUSIVE BEHAVIOUR
We all have influence and power, whether over people who report into us or our peers. Women also need to bring men on board to meet the challenge of taking back control and working on their terms. Pushing forward and managing good behaviours, while also recognising and tackling bias is key. We should all be asking ourselves who hasn’t had a voice in key decisions and discussions. In-groups at work are really important, but they have their own bias and are often made up of like-minded people who get on well. We need to be asking if a decision is going to work for everyone and agree to give permission to one another to disagree. Recognising and understanding
cultures is important, too. We need to walk the walk on inclusion and be proud to do that. We also need senior people to take the lead on actions, such as leaving the office on time and for that to be acceptable. For this, we need everyone – including men and women at senior levels – to be okay about making themselves vulnerable by being honest. This is vital if the challenges facing women and men at work are to be overcome, for example, around the currently missed opportunity of fathers taking up their right to shared-parental leave.
STEP 3: DELIVER INTERVENTIONS THAT CHANGE ENVIRONMENTS
For the workplace to be truly inclusive, employers need to make interventions, such as:
• Sponsorship, including male to female • Reverse mentoring, so everyone can learn from each other
• Board-shadowing, which means people in the business can see how decisions are made and what the key issues are
• Report reading, where the author of any board report presents it to committees and meetings, and so gets the exposure and recognition from the wider business
• Revolving chair-people at meetings, so everyone gets a chance to direct discussions and set the agenda
• Change policies and processes; for example, to support gender pay gap reporting, agile flexible working policies
SIOBHAN CUMMINS HEAD OF GLOBAL MOBILITY, NASPERS LTD
“IWD is an important event in the calendar for so many reasons, but mainly because it brings awareness to the role of women and their importance in the workplace.
“What is concerning is that despite the number of women in managerial and professional roles the number of female mobile employees has in- creased very little in the past 10-15 years.”
“While this varies by industry, more should be done to encourage women to take on an international move and not opt out. Women make great expats! Lets have more of them.”
and shared parental leave, to make sure they are fit for purpose, and give men and women choices and opportunities.
BREAKING OUT OF COMFORT ZONES “Many cultures are broken because they are comfortable,” Touré suggested. “But who are they comfortable for?” Often, they are comfortable for the people who made them, i.e. men. As we become more diverse as a workforce and expect more of a work-life balance for better health and wellbeing, we will become even less comfortable. “Getting it right means we can attract the best talent, engage in long-term retention, upskill and get the best out of the talent we have, and make the workforce more agile, productive and resilient to change. We need to adapt to global change. We need to be sustainable through the unknown. Goodness, it’s an uncertain world out there: Brexit, Donald Trump. These are things that weren’t expected or predicted,” she said. “This is a time of great change, but we can manage this if we change together.”
SHARING RESPONSIBILITY AND TAKING ACTION TO INCLUDE Touré continued, “Success comes from shared responsibility. Disabled athletes are now household names. This wasn’t because disabled people just started doing their thing. They just weren’t being given the time. But Channel 4 used their expertise and launched it (prime-time Paralympic Games coverage).” The MeToo movement wasn’t just down to more women reporting it, even though they did. But when they
did report it, everyone started to get it – men got it, the media got it – and more women spoke out. Things are now starting to change. In conclusion, Touré said, “We’ve all
got a responsibility to include. We will all personally gain from this. Diversity is a reality, whether we like it or not. It’s what we choose to do about it, because inclusion is a choice. Let’s help people make that choice. Take one thing away with you today that you can do; one thing you can ask your team to do; and one thing you can ask your customers to do.” The question is: what will you do?
Come and meet inclusion and diversity experts at the Festival of Global People and discover how coaching can support your team.
Below: Lauren Touré, keynote speaker at Relocate’s International Women’s Day
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