Richard Howson's 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:

• Including D&I in my organisation’s corporate strategy and business plans

• Allocating our organisation’s time, energy and money to D&I work

• 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:

• Encouraging and allowing time for staff to work on D&I-related projects and training (including outreach and wellbeing initiatives)

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

• Requiring external suppliers (eg recruitment consultants) to help the organisation meet its D&I targets

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

• Establishing an internal D&I forum with representatives from all roles and all levels within the organisation

• Attending some of the forum’s meetings myself

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

   

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

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

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

   

6. Sharing my privileges, by:

• Widening the channels through which we advertise vacancies in the organisation, including through external recruitment consultants

• Where feasible, adopting the IP Inclusive guidelines on recruiting for social mobility and on improving social mobility and access to the IP professions

   

7. Insisting on equity, by:

• Establishing 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

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

• 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