Blog

Belonging - the new buzz word for inclusive leadership or the missing piece of the puzzle?

Could belonging be the crucial piece of the puzzle leading to psychological safety? To help shape an original piece of research on belonging, we have created a short survey and would value your input as well as share this with your contacts and colleagues to hear their views.

29 July, 2019
Charlotte Sweeney

Inclusive Leadership hopes for 2019

As with all previous New Years, over the last couple of weeks I’ve been bombarded with notes, emails and social media streams talking about what is going to be different in 2019, the 'New Year New You' mantra seems to be wearing a little thin - well, it is for me anyway! I’ve also been bombarded with predictions for the coming year, how leadership will evolve, what will companies be grappling with in a post Brexit environment (who knows what will happen) and how diversity and inclusion (D&I) will progress.

14 January, 2019
Charlotte Sweeney

Inclusive Leadership two years on…

It’s been a whole two years since we published and launched our first book, the first of its kind to share a step-by-step plan on how to develop and execute an impactful diversity and inclusion strategy, both locally and globally. We delved into our combined nearly 40 years experience to pull that together…and share some of the stories along the way.

4 December, 2018
Inclusive Leadership

Why it’s never too early to be thinking about how you can support the Trans* agenda

Last year, my colleague and I developed a gender transition toolkit and I was astonished at how complex the topic was for a number of reasons, including the fact that transition can refer to both social and medical transition, but it doesn’t have to be both. My limited first hand experience was based on my brother Bob transitioning to my sister Sarah some 15 years ago, but unlike Sarah, there are also many people that don’t undergo medically assisted gender reassignment.

25 June, 2018
Fleur Bothwick

As we mark International Womens Day 2018, what do we know will help us #pressforprogress?

On International Women’s Day (IWD), I am struck by the amazing amount of activity planned to mark the day, locally, pan EMEIA and even globally, both internally and externally. We also celebrate this year that it is 100 years since women over 30 achieved the right to vote alongside men in Britain. We can also see female leaders in many walks of life including the police, politics and even most recently, hosting the BAFTA’s.

8 March, 2018
Fleur Bothwick

To all you ambitious women if you do one thing in 2018 for your career – find a sponsor!

When we first started to build out the gender agenda at EY, our gender partner sponsor and I had a call with the States and asked them which one of all of their initiatives had really delivered on investment. They suggested, Career Watch, a sponsorship programme that at the time they ran for their women. We customised it for the UK and later rolled it out across EMEIA and I can say that in my 15+ years of experience in this field, if it is run correctly, it probably is the most impactful intervention that you will find.

5 March, 2018
Fleur Bothwick

How can we make sure that disability is firmly on the D&I agenda for all organisations?

I wonder if you have ever heard Caroline Casey talk about the business case for a focus on disability. If you haven’t heard of her I would highly recommend her Ted Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyBk55G7Keo or any of her recent videos for her #valuable campaign. She reminds us that one billion people across the world live with some form of disability. ‘Despite the international drive for workplace equality, the value of those one billion people is routinely disregarded by the most powerful force on the planet: business. The impact of this is the continued disproportionate societal exclusion of 15% of our global population.’

19 February, 2018
Fleur Bothwick

The Changing Working World – the role of diversity and inclusion

The impact of creating more diverse and inclusive work environments on an organisations performance has been a hotly debated topic for over two decades. Research by Deloitte identified an 80 percent improvement in business performance when levels of diversity and inclusion were high and there is a raft of other research from companies such as Mercer, McKinsey and EY to support those findings.

20 November, 2017
Charlotte Sweeney

It’s the 30th anniversary of Black History month in the UK so why are organisations still struggling to make real progress on this agenda?

I recently visited Bristol University with one of my sons as part of the pre university assessment process. It’s a lovely area of the UK, a friendly campus and small enough to feel like a community, but my son didn’t feel at home. He noted that the other students visiting, on the whole, looked white and didn’t reflect the inner London state secondary school he has been attending for the last six years.

25 October, 2017
Fleur Bothwick

Are You Prepared for Your Customers to See All?

From publishing Gender Pay Gaps to the Women in Finance Charter organisations in the UK are now faced with the prospect of sharing information publicly they wouldn’t usually disclose. The impact of this increased transparency can be far-reaching as it will highlight a company’s attitude towards inequality as well as their approach to addressing it for the future.

6 October, 2017
Charlotte Sweeney