Gareth Fennell's IP Inclusive Leaders’ Pledge

I commit to:

1. Providing visible and proactive leadership to improve D&I in my organisation, by:

• Considering and raising D&I at every opportunity, particularly when decision making 

• Discussing D&I

   

2. Taking D&I seriously at the highest level, by:

• Encouraging my senior colleagues to do as I do to provide visible and proactive leadership on D&I issues

3. Embedding and valuing D&I throughout the organisational culture, by:

• Challenging those in decision-making positions to prioritise D&I

• Ensuring that internal communications regularly include D&I-related content

• Including D&I-related topics on the agendas of internal events such as for new starter induction, would-be partner training and staff awaydays

• Ensuring we hear diverse voices in our meetings, put diverse teams on opportunities and hire diversely

4. Building trust and safe spaces throughout the organisation, by:

• Encouraging all staff, at all levels, to bring their whole selves to work and speak openly about their identities

• Leading by example in sharing my own identity and experiences

• Speak up when we fall short

5. Educating myself and my colleagues about D&I issues, by:

• Supporting, encouraging and participating in allyship, privilege awareness and/or unconscious bias training for staff at all levels, including board/partnership level

• Encouraging staff to learn about and mark key D&I-related awareness dates (eg LGBT+ History Month, Black History Month, International Women's Day) to the organisation’s internal calendar

   

6. Sharing my privileges, by:

• Encouraging staff in all roles and at all levels to get involved, and leading by example with my own involvement

• Requesting and supporting that our HR department continues to widen the channels through which we advertise vacancies in the organisation, including through external recruitment consultants, where feasible, adopts the IP Inclusive guidelines on recruiting for social mobility[1] and on improving social mobility and access to the IP professions[2]

7. Insisting on equity, by:

• Requesting and supporting stablishing fair, diversity-enhancing recruitment and promotion procedures throughout my organisation

• Commensurate with the organisation’s size and resources, requiring the use of:

  • objective selection criteria

  • diverse decision-making panels

  • at least partially-blinded (eg name-blind) early-stage selection processes

  • unconscious bias training for decision makers

  • contextual recruitment

• Challenging the procedures with HR colleagues to evaluate their impact on D&I levels in the organisation and if necessary improve them

• Highlighting the adopting of the initiatives suggested in IP Inclusive’s “Practical steps to improve BAME representation” publication

8. Working closely with HR and management colleagues to achieve this, by:

• Involving HR personnel in board/partnership level decision making on D&I-impacting issues

• Allowing them access to D&I-related training and professional development and valuing the expertise they acquire from it

• Giving them the mandate to effect D&I-related changes in the organisation, and providing visible and proactive support for their work

• Encouraging involvement of board/partnership level colleagues in HR communications, conversations and projects