Gwilym Roberts' IP Inclusive Leaders’ Pledge

I commit to:

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

• Being personally involved in, and contributing to, D&I projects and events

• Putting my name to a public statement of the organisation’s commitment to D&I and of its D&I objectives, strategy and policies

• Acting as an ally to, and champion for, colleagues from under-represented groups

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

• Acting as, or appointing, a D&I champion at board/partnership level

• Including D&I as a standing agenda item at board/partnership meetings

• 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:

• Building a culture in which the whole of my organisation is involved in the quest for D&I

• Recognising D&I-related achievements in performance evaluation and professional development systems

• Encouraging all staff, through those systems and targets, to:

  • seek out and value diversity in their teams

  • champion under-represented groups, in particular when allocating work within teams

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

• Introducing a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and harassment

• 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

• Setting up informal mentoring or buddy schemes so that all staff have a trusted friend to speak with one-to-one, separate to their line manager, if they wish

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

• Introducing a reverse mentoring scheme for senior staff to learn from more junior professionals and professionals in under-represented groups; participating in that scheme myself

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

6. Sharing my privileges, by:

• Involving my organisation in some form of outreach scheme to improve access to the IP professions (eg a work experience, internship, sponsored placement or similar scheme), working where appropriate with outreach charities and community interest groups

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

7. Insisting on equity, by:

• Establishing fair, diversity-enhancing recruitment and promotion procedures throughout my organisation

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

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

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