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EVERYDAY
INCLUSION

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Introduction
Why Everyday Inclusion?
An ecosystem for accelerating change
What works in practice
Real life case studies
– Case Study 1 – An integrated diversity
and inclusion strategy at a global
power systems provider
– Case Study 2 – Board readiness at a
global savings and investment firm
– Case Study 3 – Raising the profile of
women at a global financial services
organisation
– Case Study 4 – Valuing individual
difference in a global engineering
conglomerate
– Case Study 5 – Leadership
development in a global financial
services organisation
– Case Study 6 – Broadening women’s
experience at a global business process
outsourcing conglomerate
Acknowledgements
Resources
Next Steps
What works in building a
gender-balanced organisation
Responsibility Derailers
An integrated agenda for sustainable
demographic change that is aligned
to the core business strategy
The Board, Executive leadership
and HR
Campaigns based on one leader’s
personal interest.
Authentic advocacy from the
top backed up by personal role-
modelling of inclusive leadership
Executive leadership
Lack of follow through in addressing
ambivalence.
Transparent goals and governance
to drive accountability for diversity
across the organisation
Executive leadership
Targets that don’t relate to existing
context or action plans
Tools and tips for managers on how
to get the best from diverse teams
HR
Lack of honest feedback loops
for leaders and managers on
their behaviour
Anticipation of societal shifts as
a prompt for innovative thinking
on diversity
All employees
Groupthink and failure to look
beyond what is working

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The 30% Club is a highly inclusive and
very diverse collaboration. Having a clear
purpose (the clue is in our name) has
enabled us to engage Chairmen and other
business leaders in working together
towards voluntary and sustainable
change in the Boardroom and beyond.
The zeitgeist for greater representation
of senior female leaders – not just in UK
business but in all walks of life around the
world – has undoubtedly helped. We have
also benefited from compelling research into
the business opportunities and challenges
associated with gender diversity. Throughout,
we have worked with committed individuals
across industry, academia, the media,
government and the public sector to
accelerate the pace of change. It has clearly
been a team effort!
We can see that progress has been, and
continues to be, made every day. As
our original deadline for 30% female
representation in FTSE 100 boardrooms
approaches, we want to ensure that
momentum is sustained within an ecosystem
that enables women to rise through the ranks
as easily as men. Everyday Inclusion takes
This ‘tone from the
top’ is amplified by
the active involvement
and advocacy of both
board and executive
committee members.
Senior leaders who
sustain their personal
involvement in
diversity efforts attract
support more widely in
the organisation.
stock on lessons learned, shares practical
ideas, and celebrates successes to date. We
have selected a handful of examples that are
representative of many more organisational
success stories. Unsurprisingly, the same
themes – clear aims (and measures), visible
leadership, rapidly changing context,
evidence-based investment of effort, and a
broad community of interest – underpin all
of these stories, including those that we don’t
have space to share here.
This is an early preview of an ongoing
research effort. We are keen to hear about
all effective routes to creating sustainable
gender balance (see Next Steps for how
to get involved). Later this year, we will
share how men and women experience
inclusive working environments. By linking
organisational and individual experiences,
we hope to pinpoint what constitutes
an ecosystem for change and delivers a
sustainable, gender-balanced pipeline of
future leaders well into the 21st century.
Helena Morrissey, CBE
CEO Newton Investment Management
Founder of the 30% Club

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An ecosystem for change
The 21st century context for business – volatile,
uncertain, complex and ambiguous – does
not bode well for linear approaches to change.
Globalisation, technology, demographic shifts,
behavioural economics and neuroscience all
add to the level of sophistication required to
change collective behaviour. Policy levers, such as
legislative quotas, only go so far.
The case for diversity in ensuring organisational
innovation, agility and relevance in a rapidly
changing world continues to be demonstrated
across different industry sectors.
Obviously, gender is only one source of
experiential and cognitive diversity. Yet with
women making up just over half of the world’s
population, gender inequalities at the top are a
beacon for what an organisation values in
its leaders.
The 30% Club’s Cracking the Code research revealed
that the everyday behaviour of line managers
and colleagues has a bigger impact on women’s
career progression than many formal policies and
practices. Yet these formal initiatives are important
in signalling the organisation’s intent to become
more gender diverse.
Everyday Inclusion covers both the formal
and the informal ways in which organisations
are becoming more inclusive and attractive
environments within which women want to build
their careers.
What we mean by inclusion
Practitioner models of inclusion and inclusive
leadership currently outstrip academic research.
The most widely used definitions of inclusion
involve:
§§ Belonging – part of a collective effort
§§ Uniqueness – value in being distinctive
§§ Access – to information and resources
§§ Involvement – in decision-making and
meaningful work
Academic definitions of inclusive leadership often
overlap with transformational, ethical, servant
or cross-cultural leadership. Practitioner models
tend to include the following qualities, which
are usually integrated within core management
frameworks:
§§ Cultural antennae and adaptability
§§ Self-awareness and humility
§§ Open mind and appreciation of difference
§§ Tendency to trust
Our working definition of Everyday Inclusion
focusses on the organisational context that
encourages both men and women to succeed on
their own terms.
The vast majority of organisations that have shared their experience
so far describe systemic, sustained, innovative approaches to
achieving an inclusive culture that enables gender diversity.
SUPPLY VS DEMAND
INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL
HR VS LINE MANAGEMENT
DIVERSITY VS INCLUSION
Many organisations are addressing what
they see as a lack of supply of female
talent in the pipeline, e.g. through women’s
development programmes.
Increasingly, they are boosting demand
for more women leaders, e.g. by linking
gender diversity to branding or client
satisfaction indices.
Many organisations are working
through their internal cultural
dynamics, e.g. using talent reviews to
diversify their succession plans.
Increasingly, they are extending their
efforts out into wider society, e.g. by
supporting outreach efforts into schools
and universities or running social
campaigns.
Many senior leaders view diversity as a
targeted effort that requires their active
advocacy and support in setting the
right ‘tone from the top’.
Increasingly, they also hold their line
managers accountable for maintaining
an inclusive culture that attracts and
retains the best talent.
Many senior leaders genuinely value
and welcome gender diversity as a
source of competitive advantage.
Increasingly, they are making their
own personal shifts in demonstrating
inclusive leadership behaviour, e.g. not
convening executive offsites during
school holidays.

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What works when it comes to gender diversity
Recent external research shows that an open and
supportive culture is seen as the most effective
strategy for improving gender diversity, generally
as well as in the boardroom.
Submissions to Everyday Inclusion reinforce these
findings about what works, as well as:
§§ Senior commitment to diversity and role-
modelling
§§ Training for men in gender discrimination and
the benefits of inclusion
§§ Supporting work-life balance for all
§§ HR policies and practices that are monitored and
reviewed for bias
An open and supportive culture that supports
gender diversity
Unbiased recruitment and selection practices to
attract diverse talent pools
Good work-life balance policies (e.g. flexible working)
that support female staff with caring responsibilities
Clear career paths and promotional opportunities in
middle and senior management roles
Coaching and/or mentoring programmes for women
Female sponsorship/advocacy schemes for women
Women’s networks and forums within
the organisation
Voluntary targets set by individual organisations
Leadership and other development programmes
aimed exclusively at female employees
Mandatory quotas for gender diversity
Voluntary targets set by government
Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Survey Report, February 2015 (details in Resources)
Very Effective Effective No Effect Negative Effect
The effectiveness of organisational approaches in improving the gender diversity of boardroom executives

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Early contributions to Everyday Inclusion confirm
that organisations are creating an inclusive ecosystem
that integrates approaches to drive change. These
approaches draw on recent advances in behavioural
economics as well as the more traditional psychology
of change. Behaviour is changed via two different but
interconnecting thinking systems.
An explicit processing system. When changing our
behaviour, this produces rational, deliberate, thoughtful
behaviour. We are conscious of our deliberation, which is
frequently controlled and effortful. We can explain what
we think to others and why we have chosen to behave in a
particular way.
An implicit processing system. This produces automatic,
impulsive, unconscious behaviour. Much of our everyday,
familiar behaviour, like driving, occurs in auto-pilot. We
process and respond to large amounts of information,
often making instant judgements without noticing. When
adapting our behaviour, the pace and volume of our
thinking is enabled by mental shortcut habits, such as
heuristics and biases.
Approaches to effect change, shown in the outer circle,
include prompts to System 1 – conscious decision-making.
Approaches to prompting change, in the inner circle
show ways to work with System 2 – unconscious
judgements in the moment. This systemic approach
enhances these connections and drives a more reflective
set of behaviours.
EngageExtend
Get people
on board
Reach out
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Enable
Make it easy
Exemplify
Start with
yourself
Explain
what works
Track progressComply or
explain
Incentivise
reward

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Educate
Inform people about what works and why
Conscious aversion to gender diversity or
overt prejudice against female leaders is rare.
Ambivalence or disinterest, where individuals
either do not understand the issues, or do not
know how, or what to change is more frequent.
Education is an obvious first step in helping
to create a rational connection with the need
for gender diversity. Contributors to Everyday
Inclusion have shared lots of examples of
awareness-building, either through commissioning
research, reporting the business case, or cascading
communication across employee networks.
Encourage
Incentivise and reward the change you
are seeking
The saying “you catch more flies with honey
than with vinegar” reflects the power of positive
reinforcement as a way of changing behaviour.
Contributors to Everyday Inclusion take advantage
of the symbolic value in public recognition by
rewarding gender diversity champions and
celebrating successful initiatives, as well as
incentivising managers to demonstrate inclusive
behaviours and sustain progress towards gender
balance in their areas.
Enforce
Put controls in place to ensure compliance
At the opposite end of the spectrum to Encourage,
using sanctions, or the threat of sanctions, can
also drive a change in behaviour. However, any
change is usually based on compliance rather than
commitment and can entail subtle, undermining
forms of resistance. Contributors to Everyday
Inclusion are alert to the dysfunctional outcomes
that imposing conformity of approach, e.g.
tokenism, can provoke. Unsurprisingly, references
to punitive consequences for non-compliance were
notable by their absence in submissions received
so far.
Evaluate
Monitor and measure progress, evidence
what works
‘What gets measured, gets done’ appears to hold
true in the organisational submissions to Everyday
Inclusion. All examples include clear measures
of both formative and summative achievement.
Gauging what is working while implementing
change, not only reinforces action learning and
prompts continuous improvement, but also
fuels healthy competitive tension. Contributors
to Everyday Inclusion reference a range of
measures – quantitative and qualitative, people
and business-related, subjective and objective –
in tracking what is working, and demonstrating
return on investment.SYSTEM 1 – CONSCIOUS CHANGE

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Engage
Make it matter, get key influencers on board
Nearly all established models of organisational change
involve establishing a compelling rationale and/or
ensuring that change starts at the top. Unsurprisingly,
the vast majority of contributions to Everyday
Inclusion echo this, and start with the commitment of
the Chairman and the CEO. Their framing of the need
for gender diversity is embedded in the organisation’s
purpose and reinforced by personal narrative and
meaning. This ‘tone from the top’ is amplified by
the active involvement and advocacy of both Board
and Executive Committee members. Senior leaders
who sustain authentic, personal involvement in
diversity efforts attract support more widely in the
organisation.
Exemplify
Show rather than tell, be a role model
Social influence and group norms cannot be
underestimated as key levers for cultural change.
Individuals in any social environment observe and
monitor the behaviour of those around them when
deciding how to act themselves. Contributors to
Everyday Inclusion work with majority influence by
encouraging men and women to ally in the change
effort for gender diversity. Specific campaigns
to address any diffusion of responsibility, e.g. a
bystander effect, reinforce each and every individual’s
responsibility to address exclusion in its various
guises. Senior leaders’ behaviour – whether male
or female – is scrutinised for alignment with their
rhetoric on diversity and inclusion.
Enable
Adapt the environment, make it easy to change
Nudges are no longer the behavioural economist’s
secret weapon. Contributors to Everyday Inclusion
provide several examples of adapting the
organisational environment to make ‘opting in’ for
gender diversity the default. Nudge-style interventions
are being used to shape choice architectures. ‘Priming
and anchoring’ techniques are often used to reset
perceptions of the status quo. One example involves
starting a succession planning session by discussing
only female talent. The shock in seeing so few female
names mapped against an organisation’s leadership
roles, helps to overcome any ‘availability bias’. This
can prompt a more thoughtful discussion about
what needs to change to ensure a diverse supply of
future leaders.
Extend
Open things out, collaborate across
organisational boundaries
Nearly all contributors to Everyday Inclusion
acknowledge that they still have work to do on
achieving gender balance. Yet all share their
organisational learning via external networks, and
increasingly with clients and partner organisations. This
transparency helps others to overcome ‘confirmatory
bias’, i.e. favouring information about successes
and suppressing information about failures. Viral
campaigns on social media attract massive audiences
and can raise an organisation’s profile for all the right
(or all the wrong) reasons. Yet organisations regularly
lend their support to diversity-related campaigns in
the knowledge that their endorsement will be seen as
indicative of corporate values and cultural intent.
SYSTEM 2 – UNCONSCIOUS CHANGE

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Everyday Inclusion submissions indicate a
wide range of successful interventions, often
linked to specific organisational challenges,
but usually within an overarching strategy.
Internships/
Apprenticeships/
Returnships
Fair
allocation
of work/Clear
career paths
Debiasing
selection
practices
Support
for women’s
networks
Mentoring
Governance/
Accountability
Campaigns/
Networks/
Partnerships
Inclusive
leadership/
Management
training
Development
programmes
(for women)
Equitable
parenting/
Pay policies
Flexible/
Agile working
Sponsorship
Coaching
Source: Number of submissions to Everyday Inclusion (May – June 2015)
External
benchmarking

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1. Cultural interventions
Inclusive leadership/Management training:
Inclusive leadership training ranges from making
leaders aware of their unconscious biases, all the
way through to defining and measuring the impact
of inclusive leadership behaviours on a range
of organisational outcomes. Most organisations
communicate the importance of inclusive
management behaviour as essential for getting the
best out of all their people. There is scope to be more
consistent in this area according to Opportunity
Now’s recent finding, that core competence in
inclusive leadership is patchy.
“66% of employees said that in their
experience less than half of the managers
and leaders in their organisations are great
inclusive leaders.”
Campaigns/Networks/Partnerships: Several
organisations sign up to externally run diversity-
related campaigns, where these resonate with their
own corporate values on empowerment, e.g. the
United Nations’ ‘HeforShe’ campaign for gender
equality and ‘Stonewall’s Nobystander’ campaign to
end bullying.
Several organisations share their own internal DI
resources with other organisations, occasionally as
part of a commercial arrangement. PWC has shared
some of its ‘Open Mind’ e-learning materials with
clients and the wider public via You Tube:
Most organisations actively participate in external
DI networks, research opportunities and media
events. These provide an opportunity for cross-
pollinating ideas, identifying best practice, and
benchmarking informally between organisations.
The more effective networks engage a diverse
spectrum of organisations, including academic
bodies and specialist consultancies to inject
latest thinking.
Organisations that operate in traditionally male-
dominated industry sectors invest in addressing
gender imbalance at source. They actively engage
with schools and universities to encourage girls to
study STEM-related subjects, e.g. Girls Who Code.
The 30% Club encourages senior female leaders to
go out and inspire schoolgirls to senior leadership
positions, through its partnership with Speakers
for Schools.
“Apprenticeship schemes are a great way to
address a number of equality factors at the
same time as building talent for the future. It
also enables an organisation to make a civic
contribution to an area.”
Flexible/Agile working: This features as a high
priority for most organisations looking to anticipate
generational shifts, as well as acknowledging
that ‘no one size fits all’ when it comes to defining
flexibility. At its best, flexible working is seen as
compatible with career progression, gender neutral
and applicable for employees in the front line as
well as in the back office.
“The senior male staff who work 4 days a
week are strong ambassadors/role models
for others. Breaking the gender linkage… has
proven to be a very important thing and has
(perhaps ironically) helped women returning
from career breaks.”
Increasingly, flexible working is built around
individual need and experience rather than HR
policy requirements. Managers are supported with
technology, tools and resources to help flexibility
fit with their business needs.
“Flexibility is any… arrangement that
addresses an employee’s personal desire for
a different schedule or work location – either
on a regular or as needed basis – while
meeting the company’s work demands. We
have learned what balance is to one person
may not necessarily be balance to another.”
Employee attraction, retention and engagement
outcomes are tracked along with other unexpected
cultural benefits, such as enhanced trust,
teamwork, and sense of well-being.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijG1bWsTHTQ
https://www.nobystanders.org.uk
Campaigns/
Networks/
Partnerships
Inclusive
leadership/
Management
training
Flexible/
Agile working
External
benchmarking
Governance/
Accountability

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“Team members are more committed to the
project and to each other. They go the extra
mile and work hard to make sure everyone’s
flexible arrangements work well for the
team, the client and the firm. There has also
been more continuity on the team.”
Interestingly, there still seems to be a mismatch
in how flexible working is promoted internally
to retain and engage existing employees, verses
relatively little mention when attracting external
hires. A recent study in the UK demonstrated
a gap in attraction tactics, with only 6% of UK
job advertisements mentioning flexible working
options. This was in stark contrast with 46% of UK
workers wanting to work flexibly.
Governance/Accountability: Governance
around diversity and inclusion is rarely mentioned
explicitly, although the vast majority of DI
activity is tracked for return on investment.
Regular internal reporting about gender balance
across the organisation is seen as business as usual.
Formal performance management processes often
include a diversity indicator that affects individual
and collective leaders’ reward for achieving gender
diversity targets.
“Our senior leaders have scorecard and
individual performance measures linked to
reward which ensures accountability.”
More focussed effort on external transparency is
becoming the norm. Fewer organisations include
formal conduct guides to standardise expectations
around behaviour.
“The key catalyst for our success over the
last 18 months has been the step of setting
a bold and public target on diversity which
we will be held accountable for by the
external market.”
External benchmarking: Several organisations
assess their progress in achieving diversity using
hard quantitative measures against comparator
organisations as a way of maintaining momentum.
Nearly all include DI items in their employee
opinion survey.
“We can also demonstrate success via the
external recognition we have received for
our efforts, including Women of the Future
Corporate Award, Winner of the Breaking
the Mould Awards, Times Top 50 Employers
for Women, Top 30 Employers for
Working Families.”
2. Boosting women’s social capital
Support for women’s networks: These appear as
a key plank in efforts to help women succeed. The
more effective of these tend to involve men and
women, provide useful learning opportunities for
all, invite external input to provoke new insights,
share external best practice and link back to the
organisational mission. A few networks operate as
‘sounding boards’ for organisational innovation,
e.g. trialling new client propositions.
“An external study… reveals a correlation
between participation with the Women’s
Business Network and increased
organisational commitment, job satisfaction
and feelings of higher quality mentoring.”
Profile/Media presence: Several organisations,
often those with savvy branding and a strong
media mission, encourage women’s networks to
have a public profile for a win:win outcome. The
organisation develops female leaders with strong
engagement skills and sends a clear message
about its female friendly credentials. One news
organisation, recognising that the contributions of
women to the global economy are under-reported,
has made a concerted effort to increase the
number of stories that address women as drivers
of economic growth.
“We encourage our reporters to seek out
female sources in all of our reporting and
include at least one woman’s voice in
all features.”
Sponsorship: The more effective of these tend
to incorporate both senior male and female
sponsors, who share access to their own networks.
Successful sponsoring arrangements are based
on clear mutual responsibilities, build visibility
internally and externally, and create awareness at
senior levels of the need for inclusive leadership.
“What this role (formal internal sponsor)
does for leaders is to get them to see the firm
from someone else’s perspective.”
“The challenge is to ensure that those with
the influence and ability to provide visibility
and opportunities are doing so equitably.
We are seeing more deliberate consideration
when opportunities and assignments are
being allocated.”
Support
for women’s
networks
Sponsorship

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In advance of employee promotion assessments, we provide a quick and easy reminder for
senior employees, that highlights gender variances and provides top tips for managing bias.
We have provided tips for women during assessments that have been really well received.
This is in response to the question we had at one of our women’s network sessions of “what
can we as women be aware of or ‘do better at’ in interview situations?”
AREA TYPICAL MALE
CHARACTERISTICS
TYPICAL FEMALE CHARACTER-
ISTICS
IMPLICATIONS FOR
ASSESSORS
Individual vs
Team
More likely to attribute
successes to individual
factors and failures to group/
team factors. ‘I succeeded
in implementing a major
change project.’ ‘The project
failed due to a breakdown of
communication in the
wider team.’
More likely to attribute successes to
group/team factors and internalise/
personalise failures.
‘We succeeded in implementing a
major change project.’ ‘The project
failed because I was not able to ensure
the wider team communicated well.’
It may be difficult to
assess the degree of
personal versus team
contribution to success
(or failure) for both men
and women. But if we
take statements at face
value men may be over
assessed and women
under assessed.
Emotional
Intelligence
More likely to focus on and
communicate in a systematic,
data based manner focusing on
the ‘what’ more than the ‘how.’
More likely to focus on and
communicate in an empathetic manner
articulating the ‘how’ and emotional
impact of events.
When emotional
intelligence is being
assessed women are
likely to be scored more
highly than men.
AREA TYPICAL MALE
CHARACTERISTICS
TYPICAL FEMALE
CHARACTERISTICS
ADVICE
FOR WOMEN
Confidence
and risk
taking
Likely to focus on the things
they can do rather than those
they cannot. “I can do 60%
of that job/task/project, I can
learn the rest as I go.”
Likely to be mindful of the thing they
are not sure they can do and therefore
less likely to put themselves forward or
to take risks. “There’s 40% of that job/
task/project I am not sure of yet so I
will not put myself forward.”
Do not de-select
yourself from
opportunities.
Talk about what you
do well and how it can
apply to a new role/
opportunity. Try not to
reveal self-doubts.
Source: Vodafone case study, originally submitted to Cracking the Code 2014.
3. Ensuring fair and inclusive
people processes
Equitable parenting/Pay policies: Global
maternity policies facilitate the mobility of women
in early and mid-career within multi-national
organisations. Even if initially prompted by the
prospect of legislative changes, equalising the
parental leave proposition for both fathers and
mothers is ultimately experienced as a positive
cultural intervention for those organisations that
have adopted shared parental leave.
Very few organisations put forward an equal pay
audit as a key driver of change. None mention
prioritising their status as an equal pay employer as
a facet of their culture likely to attract female talent.
“Shared parental leave is seen as just one
part of a cultural shift in how we embrace
changing gender and parenting roles, both
within our organisation, and within society
at large.”
“...our Vice President of Search, wrote
powerfully about how… after taking
paternity leave, he developed a greater
appreciation for the challenges that women
face after having children in choosing to
work either inside or outside of the home.”
Debiasing selection practices: There appears to
have been much work undertaken in addressing
gender bias in internal selection processes.
Obvious wins include ensuring gender-intelligent
branding of vacancies, ensuring gender balanced
candidate lists, and adding females to balance
interview/promotion panels. Some organisations
build in prompts throughout the selection process
Fair
allocation
of work/Clear
career paths
Debiasing
selection
practices
Equitable
parenting/
Pay policies

13.
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on unconscious bias. Most organisations track
outcomes at each stage of the selection process for
adverse impact.
“You need expert facilitators – experienced,
courageous, and prepared to take risks. Pull
no punches – subtlety is wasted – confront
people with the reality of the decision
they make and request more thoughtful
leadership and systemic challenge for all.”
Fair allocation of work/Clear career paths:
Perhaps seen as business as usual, this did not
appear very frequently as a key differentiator in
how organisations were establishing an inclusive
culture. This is despite transparency of opportunity
being seen by both men and women as one of the
most useful ways of helping everyone to succeed.
Surprisingly given the point above, conscious
deliberation about allocating high value
development projects, that provide useful
broadening experience for women, appears to be
the exception rather than the norm. This is despite
this being one of the strong recommendations
by the 30% Club’s professional services firms’
initiative. Cracking the Code also identified PL
and international experience gaps having a
disproportionate effect on the number of women
at ExCo level.
4. Building women’s career
capital
Development programmes (for women):
Programmes addressing identified development
needs for female talent are extremely popular. The
provision varies widely – both in terms of content
and delivery – dependent on the organisational
context and level. Three very different types
of development for senior female leaders are
highlighted in the Everyday Inclusion case studies.
More sophisticated women’s development
programmes are designed collaboratively with
a wide population of internal and external
stakeholders, to have a wider cultural impact.
as well as boosting the female executive
pipeline. Continuous feedback ensures that
these programmes remain relevant to the
organisational mission and the participants
ambitions.
Mentoring: Mentoring remains a more formal
arrangement for women than for men. This is
often incorporated into a wider female talent
management programme. More effective
mentoring arrangements expose women to
people with very different experience and
perspectives, e.g. the 30% Club’s cross company
mentoring scheme. Formal reverse mentoring
appears rare, although the personally
revelatory insights for mentors are often cited
as a welcome bonus.
Internships/Apprenticeships/Returnships:
Several organisations use the opportunity to
source female talent at an early career stage
as a means of redressing under-representation
in STEM career pathways. More innovative
approaches involve: social media, apps,
taster experiences, and career mentoring, as
well as support for educational materials in
traditionally male-dominated subjects.
Whilst still a relatively new concept and thus
lacking longitudinal evidence of RoI, capturing
the talent of experienced women in mid
or later career is becoming an increasingly
popular addition to resourcing activity. All
schemes include an initial period of intensive
induction to refresh returners’ contextual
knowledge and boost their self-efficacy. In return,
some capture observations and learning from
returners on organisational cultural effectiveness.
“To date, 27 women have gone ‘full circle’ by
returning (after time out of the workplace) –
a saving of over $2 million. With 136 active
participants, we stand to realise significant
savings in bringing back staff who have
institutional knowledge of the firm and in
whom we invested training dollars prior to
their departure.”
Coaching: Whether provided by external or
internal coaches – is rarely presented as a
standalone activity. Instead it is generally built
into more systemic development initiatives,
such as transition management, development
programmes, and business school courses.
“Don’t miss the opportunity for top
performers to be informal coaches for
one another.”
Capturing the talent
of experienced women
in mid or later
career is becoming
an increasingly
popular addition to
resourcing activity.
Internships/
Apprenticeships/
Returnships
Mentoring
Development
programmes
(for women)
Coaching

14.
14
What our organisation does
successfully and why
An inclusive culture and diverse workforce is
essential to achieving our company strategy. A
high performance culture in our global competitive
environment is a key enabler of innovation. We
know that people perform best when they feel
included, can be themselves and feel safe to
speak up.
Despite several years of reframing diversity and
inclusion (DI) and implementing numerous
initiatives we needed to accelerate progress in
early 2013 – following in-depth gender diversity
research, a review our employee base against
global benchmarks, and status in the FTSE100 top
employers for women report. A more strategic
approach and stronger focus on our culture started
mid 2013, based on a new DI strategy and the
maturity model outlined below:
An integrated diversity and inclusion strategy at a global power systems provider
Build and
communicate
the business
case
Develop
leadership and HR
awareness and
understanding
Generate
awareness and
understanding
for all
employees
Encourage
and enable
leadership
accountability
Drive business
change
Weave
DI into
everything
we do
Strand based
initiatives based
on business
direction
Internal and
external
recognition
Culture change
embedded

15.
15
As part of this maturity model, we have
implemented:
Governance: Our Global Diversity Steering Group
includes the Chairman, the CEO, a Non-Executive
Director and the Group Human Resources Director
to ensure that DI is led from the top. This group
implements a number of different elements, e.g.
setting and monitoring aspirational goals for the
Business Presidents, which are reported back to a
Global Diversity Steering Group twice a year.
Policies, Systems and Processes: We review
our policies, systems and processes across the
employee life-cycle to ensure they are inclusive of
all employees.
Leadership: Our leadership development
programmes are reviewed to ensure that they
drive inclusive behaviour. We have also
developed a diversity and inclusion toolkit for
leaders to provide extra practical support. All
GG16+ leaders take part in a ‘Respect at Work’
workshop, as part of our ‘Leadership in Action’
programme. What worked particularly well was
coaching a small cohort of high potential leaders to
be ‘leaders as teachers’ to facilitate this workshop
with their peers.
Business Ownership: All business areas are
required to include a DI objective in their
business plan. The DI team set out guidelines
for leaders on the strategy, our learning and how
to analyse their demographic data. Following
the 2014 ‘Leadership in Action’ programme we
have seen a dramatic pull from the business
to accelerate through the maturity model. Key
examples include the Defence business with a
task force of circa 40 people working to improve
management practices, address gaps in the talent
pipeline, and increase the proportion of diverse
candidates on succession plans.
Employee Opinion Survey: We use our annual
employee opinion survey to understand what is
working well or not in relation to diversity and
inclusion and how to improve.
Demographics: We have developed a global
diversity and inclusion dashboard which shows
the make-up of our organisation. It is reviewed by
region to demonstrate how representative we are
vis-a-vis each local community, customer base,
and industry sector. It also highlights potential
adverse impact in local application of processes
and policies. We have a good understanding of
our internal demographics and some areas are
externally benchmarked.
Employee Groups: This is a key area for us. We
have various ‘Employee Resource Groups’ (‘ERG’)
across the globe. ‘ERGs’ are involved in community
and education outreach, working with universities,
and of course, personal development, and
exposure to leaders in the organisation.
Ethics: Our global ‘Code of Conduct’ provides
effective guidance on unacceptable behaviour
in our organisation. We recently created a DI
dilemma which will be launched as part of ‘Ethics
Week’ in June and run for a whole month to drive
awareness and engagement on the topic .
We offer public support to the ‘WISE 10 Steps’ and
the ‘Your Life’ campaigns.
The impact it has
The business case for a diverse and inclusive
workforce has a positive impact on our:
§§ Financial performance
§§ Brand and reputation
§§ Access to a wider talent pool
§§ Proportion of diverse candidates being developed
and promoted
§§ Percentage of females being attracted into STEM
subjects, and pathways to careers in engineering
§§ Employee motivation, innovation and
productivity, all of which drive financial
performance
Leaders view diversity as a business imperative as
opposed to an HR initiative.
How people know that it works
Our organisation has a great reputation and our
retention rate is extremely high. Our female talent
at Board and Executive level is there for all to
see. We work hard to demonstrate the fantastic
female talent we have with schools, universities,
professional institutions, magazines, etc.
Lessons learned for others
thinking of doing something
similar
§§ If you are going to have champions and sponsors,
they need to be authentic role models to be taken
seriously. DI needs to be led and role modelled
from the very top. Gain senior sponsorship and
role models to embed key programmes of work.
Go where the energy is at senior levels but also
drive this at management level. Ensure that you
educate leaders and give them responsibility to
lead and drive the change.
§§ Align DI to the strategic needs of the business.
Know why it’s business-critical to leverage
difference.
§§ Treat this as you would any other issue affecting
your core business. Come from a positive focus
on opportunity not a problem solving approach.
Share learning and good practice.
You can spend lots on
implementing many
initiatives, but if the
organisational culture
is not right, nothing
lands. Everything has
to be connected and
integrated into the core
strategy and culture.

16.
16
What our organisation does
successfully and why
We believe we benefit from a diverse make-up,
including an overall balance of backgrounds,
knowledge, and experience. We have a diverse
Board, but know there is more our organisation
can do to reflect our future strategy, changing
markets, and customer demographics. We know
that gender balance across all levels helps us meet
the diverse needs of our customers and employees,
and to realise our commercial potential. That’s
why the focus on increasing diversity in talent
populations is owned by the Board and Group
Executive ‘GE’ who regularly review progress.
Each component has an Executive level sponsor,
with the overall agenda sponsored by the Chief
Operations Officer. The wider senior leadership is
engaged and stimulated to take action through
sessions hosted by GE members. Sponsors and
senior leaders are accountable for delivering
outcomes and progressing our diversity agenda.
We have established a programme of activities to
accelerate women’s development and strengthen
gender balance, aligned with our organisational
culture and talent principles, including:
§§ Focussing on talent conversations to identify and
develop potential at an earlier career stage and
address barriers to progression
§§ Working in partnership with Executive Search
partners to ensure diverse candidates
§§ Establishing a women’s development network to
support career development at all levels
Building on these foundations, our more recent
activities develop confidence, competence and
connections for our most senior female leaders.
Three interlinking components reinforce the
development impact:
Internal coach development:
Furthering the learning of our internal coaches
means they can support the specific factors
important to help women progress. This includes
frameworks, such as executive presence, preparing
to be a Non-Executive Director, and creating a
strong network.
Developing Board readiness:
Our curriculum for developing Board readiness
recognises the criticality of outside appointments.
The aim is to encourage women to develop Board
experience in preparation for Executive Team
and FTSE Board appointments. Board members
sponsor and participate in the sessions, including
Board governance, securing an appointment, and
learning from others’ experiences. We are creating
internal board opportunities, as well as making
external ones more accessible.
Sponsorship:
We enhanced our mentoring programme by
introducing sponsorship, based on evidence of
sponsorship’s positive impact in accelerating
female progression. We ran a pilot to test the most
effective way for sponsorship to work within our
organisation, which involved tools, communication
and support around matching.
Line managers are directly engaged in this agenda.
They are supported through training sessions,
webinars and career conversation guides so that
they can be active change agents in:
Board readiness at a global savings and investment firm

17.
17
§§ Talent and succession reviews, discussing
diversity in line with future business strategy
§§ Career conversations with individuals on
potential and development, recognising
individual aspirations and career stage
The impact this has
The measurable impact of our women’s
development network on supporting female
progression has been significant:
of members have better development
conversations with their managers
feel more empowered to discuss their
career development
have more stretching development goals
Increasing Board readiness:
external appointments across the public,
private and voluntary sectors
Diversity in our talent pipeline has
significantly increased:
overall female representation at
graduate and emerging leader levels
and 31% at senior leader level
of successful female nominations to
this year’s emerging leaders’ talent
programme and 42% to our senior
leader programme
of employees felt that ‘the company
understands and appreciates differences
among employees, including gender’
(2015 Employee Opinion Survey). This
is 3% higher than Hay Group’s Financial
Services benchmark
We have also delivered several commercial and
strategic benefits, using the women’s development
network as a customer focus group.
How people know that it works
Internally: Coaching, mentoring and sponsorship
have become more available by formal and
informal means. Focussing on development and
embedding career conversations at all levels of
the organisation has been a key focus over the
last 12 months. Supported by the introduction of
technology, enables our people to tells us more
about their experiences, competencies and what
they aspire to do in future.
Externally: We are increasingly sought out by
external contacts to share our experience. We
have established a ‘network of networks’ and co-
founded a leadership diversity forum in Scotland
in the last year. We launched ‘#Savesmart’ events
– events for our female customers – in the spring
of 2015. These have been positively received –
raising financial transactions with our company
increasing social media engagement and leading to
customers inviting us into their worlds. The second
round of ‘#Savesmart’ happens over the summer
of 2015.
Lessons learned for others
thinking of doing something
similar
The distinctiveness of our approach lies in the
collective benefit of evolving and combining
interlinking parts which specifically fit our culture.
These are regularly reviewed for effectiveness. The
main lessons we have learned are:
§§ Criticality of Executive level sponsorship,
involvement and role modelling
§§ Importance of linking directly to business
strategy, customer expectations and future
growth plans
§§ Value of inclusion of different groups and levels
to gather diversity of perspectives
§§ Positioning a broad range of stakeholders to
have a multiplier effect and extensive reach
§§ Pulling multiple levers is key
Our curriculum for
developing women’s
Board readiness
recognises the
criticality of outside
appointments.
97%
50%
58%
78%
76%
73%
62%

18.
18
What our organisation does
successfully and why
We have a proud history of inclusion, diversity
and respect that is pursued in every aspect of the
business. One of our most-successful initiatives
has involved two targeted programmes to develop
the impact, profile and business leadership of
our women. The primary aim of these programs
is to increase the number of female voices and
improve the visibility of senior female leaders in
the business community, as well as within our
organisation. The secondary aim is to get our
female leaders active on social media and lead our
transition to a social business.
Before 2014, we were largely a silent bank. Staff
had no access to social channels. Our leaders,
except for the CEO, media spokespeople and a few
economists, were reluctant to engage externally.
Our female leaders showed the most resistance.
Many avoided appearing and speaking in public
and did not use social media. They were non-
contributors to internal forums and to external
media. Worse, some female leaders were blocking
other women from being visible by actively talking
visibility down and not acting as role models.
Shifting this mindset was highlighted as a
challenge for the bank, especially as women saw
lots of downside to being visible. The aim of the
program was to move from the ‘why’ to show
women ‘how’ to be visible. The theory was that
once these women experienced the benefits, their
mindset would change and they would actively
seek out visibility opportunities, build social-media
profiles, and accept opportunities from new and
old media to express their views and opinions.
Fifty female leaders were invited by our CEO
to participate in visibility sessions focused on
key themes including; defining global expertise,
building a profile on social media, engaging in
new and old media ,and building relationships
with journalists. Producing authentic content,
what to do when things go wrong, and how to
work with communications professionals were also
a focus. The programme also focused on business
value and their expertise was aligned to the bank’s
topic pillars.
In 2015, we expanded our focus to younger
generations of women in the bank through our
‘Aspiring Notables’ programme. This programme
was aimed at women in the organisation aged
between 30 to 40 to encourage visibility internally
and to get them ready to become ‘Notable Women’.
The impact this has
Data from the first cohort of ‘Notable Women’
graduates show the programme to have been a
complete success.
Our ‘Notable Women’ went from doing almost
no events to more than 100 events between
September and December 2014. Eleven appeared
in traditional media, 14 on external panels, two
gave keynotes speeches, and five wrote stories
for ANZ’s external media platform. In a survey,
participants told us:
said they had viable social profiles and
were committed to visibility plans
said they were more likely to put their
hands up to speak as an expert
said they had a better understanding
of expertise
Raising the profile of women at a global financial services organisation
100%
91%
89%

19.
19
had received positive feedback about
their increased visibility
Graduates told us:
said they understood the need for
a professional profile in a socially
mediated world
said they had a much greater
understanding of the importance of
social media for the bank
said they were now more likely to
speak in a jargon free, direct way
said they could now cope better with
negative feedback
said the programme had helped them
better meet their key performance
objectives
How people know that it works
The launch of the ‘Notable Women’ programme
created positive media coverage for the bank
as well as a spike in representation of female
organisational representatives in the media. Data
gathered after graduation of the first cohort of
‘Notables’ show the programme has created more
effective, authentic, authoritative communicators.
Overall, our Notables are more active on social
media, are willing to help lead social media culture
change and better understand the value to the
business and themselves of female media presence.
Internally, the increased level of female role
models in the bank is also a success. 91% of
graduates say they are now willing to help
younger women to be more visible and almost
all are keen to be more involved in helping
encourage visibility in other women. Perhaps most
importantly, 81% feel the programme inspired and
made them more confident about taking on senior
leadership positions at the bank.
Lessons learned for others
thinking of doing something
similar
A key challenge for companies looking to
implement similar programmes will be to
overcome the ‘why change?’ attitude in some
well-established companies and to get buy-in from
women themselves.
Like many large organisations in highly regulated
sectors, we operate largely within a ‘command and
control’ model. CEO endorsement and involvement
in the ‘Notable Women’ programme was crucial to
provide a green light.
The creator and face of the program has to be
credible. Notable Women was spearheaded by our
Head of Digital and Social. With 30 years’ experience
in business media as a CEO, publisher, editor and
journalist, she speaks from experience. She is very
clear about how hard it is to get women to be
visible, how it is an essential part of the modern
leader’s tool kit, and how male leaders successfully
use visibility to build power, and influence, create
business value, and so get promoted.
Dealing with an increased media workload is
another learning. As ANZ’s ‘Notables’ built visibility,
they began to field more requests to speak. A cheat
sheet was created for ‘Notables’ to run past their
media team contact, as the already busy media
team became concerned at the extra work load.
Perhaps the biggest lesson learned was how to
handle some of our male colleagues’ reactions.
Some appeared threatened by female leaders
taking their topics and their space. We held extra
sessions for communication teams to explain to
their bosses that there are many new platforms,
many more opportunities and many niche
audiences out there. We were forced to reiterate
to the bank that our experts were competing for
expert space against other banks – not each other.
Our female leaders
showed the most
resistance. Many
avoided appearing
and speaking in public
and did not use social
media. They were non-
contributors to internal
forums and to external
media.
72%
100%
92%
89%
74%
50%+

20.
20
What our organisation does
successfully and why
We are an international organisation. We have
employees, customers and suppliers in many
countries. We recognise that our heritage, cultures,
traditions and rituals will not be the same.
However, by valuing these differences we can
cultivate inclusive environments that engender
respect, understanding, camaraderie and passion.
We see this culture as essential for high performing
teams and ultimately, our competitive advantage
for our organisation.
We often hear organisations say that people
are their most important asset. Our company’s
DI vision is to have an inclusive global work
environment where all individuals are respected.
Recruiting and retaining a culturally diverse
workforce where people bring different and
complementary values, attitudes, talents
and knowledge to their jobs has been central to
our strategy.
We frequently use powerful imagery of our
products. However, during our UK DI week
we wanted to put our people at the heart of our
communication. We featured employees on a
number of striking posters to the theme of ‘I Am...’
The posters and intranet banners featured real
employees, who in their own words described
who they are – their whole self, not just a job title.
We use these images as learning opportunities,
for example, each month in the US, we feature an
employee’s ‘I Am’ story – who they are, how they
define their identity, and what is unique to them.
For many of the posters we developed more
detailed case studies where people shared their
story as a way of inspiring others. The posters
have featured both men and women. We feel it is
important to tell the whole story of men, who are
fathers, partners, brothers, and balance their work
and family life just like their female colleagues. We
have also featured female role models from across
the organisation to ensure we raise the visibility of
women in a variety of roles including engineering,
operations and IT.
The impact it has
When we launched the posters and on-line visuals,
we also provided a template to enable people to
upload their own ‘I Am…’. Hundreds of employees
uploaded their own images and stories within the
first week of launch. There was significant traffic
on our DI intranet site, with 11,210 additional
hits in one week. This demonstrates how a large
number of our employees engaged with the
campaign and wanted to be included in the
discussions.
We have had very positive feedback as to how this
has opened up conversations, e.g. “I didn’t know
you played badminton – me too!” and connected
people, who are now collaborating for the first
time. We have also been told by employees that
they have been empowered by some of the case
studies. They have reached out to employee
networks or colleagues for support on personal
issues after finding out that someone else has been
in their shoes.
How people know that it works
Employees are continuing to upload their profiles
and demonstrating their continued engagement
and support for the ‘I Am…’ activity. We are
continuing to receive feedback from our graduate
Valuing individual difference in a global engineering conglomerate

21.
21
and apprentice population telling us how the
posters inspire them and that they want to
see more.
Employees are choosing to include their
“I am’s” in their e-mail signatures in order to be
open and transparent about who they are. The
imagery has also had good feedback and has
caught people’s attention and brought to life what
a multi-faceted, multi-skilled group of people our
organisation employs.
Instilling a sense of pride has been another
positive. Individuals have also gained a deeper
awareness of what diversity and inclusion means
for them, participated in local activities, and gained
a stronger sense of belonging and support within
the business.
Lessons learned for others
thinking of doing something
similar
Ensure you have a way to allow this to grow
organically or ‘go viral’ across the organisation. The
initial response was a (pleasant) surprise!
Provide easy access to templates for online
uploads. Encourage teams to make opportunities
to talk about ‘I Am…’ profiles, e.g. as part of team
meetings. This boosted participation.
The beauty is in the richness and diversity of
content. Be honest and always use photos of
real employees. Do not be tempted to use stock
imagery or airbrush images. Allow people to use
their own voice/tone in their story, without trying
to standardise or make it feel too corporate.
Be mindful of those employees who do not have
easy access to computers. Make sure they can
participate and don’t feel excluded.
Posters, television screens, notice boards,
screen-savers, are an effective way of engaging
with changing communities across the workplace.
Maintain participation by updating and
refreshing regularly.
We see this culture
as essential for high
performing teams
and ultimately, our
competitive advantage
for our organisation.

22.
22
What our organisation does
successfully and why
We work to unlock the combined potential of
women in our organisation by inspiring progress,
leading change and driving success through the
our women’s initiative. One of the ways in which
this initiative fosters mobility and development
for women is through a leadership development
programme.
The programme is offered in conjunction with
the Office of Global Workforce Diversity and the
UCLA Anderson School of Management as a paid
service provider. The 3 day classroom training uses
a cohort of professors from UCLA and a series of
internal executives who role model behaviours
and share stories of successes and challenges.
The programme is designed to bring together a
group of highly valued female leaders for dialogue
and learning around career development. The
programme is global, targeting high performing
female leaders at the Director level and is run 3
times per year with 40 women attending each
session. To date, there have been 19 classes that have
trained over 670 women since the launch in 2008.
The impact this has
The programme is intended to prepare its
graduates for further career advancement. By the
end of the programme, participants have further
developed their personal skill base, built their
network, prioritised their development and career
planning, and gained an understanding of the
roadmap to becoming a successful executive in our
organisation. We hear many anecdotal stories from
programme graduates regarding the impact of the
programme. Recently we asked three graduates to
share their experiences.
We designed the programme to develop several
key leadership skills and these were specifically
referenced by the three graduates. The program
focuses on executive presence and how to
gain credibility. Participants also learn how to
effectively manage their network, especially
in challenging situations or when asking for
help. A third skill is increased organisational
awareness and ability to get things done within
our complicated and highly matrixed structure.
Given that the programme materials are grounded
in academic research, the programme also gives
participants the vocabulary and data to discuss
unconscious bias with other male and
female colleagues.
All three graduates also referenced a change in
their mindset after attending the programme,
particularly when considering future career
mobility. Each referenced how the programme
prepared them for a career transition, either by
giving them the confidence to take on a new
challenge or by providing them with a way to link
the impact they make in their current role with a
future opportunity. Additionally, they reference
how inspiring it is to connect with other ambitious
and successful women participants.
How people know that it works
The programme graduates have generally outpaced
their peers in promotions and have stayed with the
organisation in higher numbers, as demonstrated
in a recent longitudinal study. Each class year of
programme graduates (since the programme’s
inception in 2008) has been compared with control
groups of high performing male and female
employees with the same role title.
Leadership development in a global financial services organisation

23.
23
Lessons learned for others
thinking of doing something
similar
Before adopting a similar programme, we feel
that other companies should weigh the following
programme considerations.
University Partnership: Since its inception, the
programme has been conducted in partnership
with the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
After co-developing the programme materials,
we effectively ‘outsourced’ the ongoing content
management to a highly capable vendor. To
ensure the programme remains connected to the
day-to-day realities in our organisation, we include
internal speakers and a panel of our executives.
We have the ability to adjust our faculty roster and
topics if programme feedback indicates there is
scope for improvement.
Whilst the ongoing partnership with UCLA
presents as an expense, we have determined the
partnership is worth the investment. This is an
‘easy’ programme for us to run and to scale, as
most programme administration and coordination
is handled by UCLA. Our responsibility is to
provide the venue and participants. If there
is any new, relevant research, our faculty
partners will include any updates in their course
materials. Also, because all programme faculty
are university professors (rather than internal
trainers), we know they are deeply knowledgeable
in their field and have extensive experience in
classroom management. Before creating a similar
programme, we recommend companies assess the
viability of an outsourced model.
Programme exclusivity: Another important
consideration for implementing a similar programme
is the notion of exclusivity. There is an ongoing
tension between keeping the programme limited
to high-performing employees and increasing the
number of participants. Due to the selective nature
of the program, participants (and their managers)
consider it an achievement to be chosen to
participate. However, we recognise that more
women would like the opportunity to take part
in and reap the benefits of the programme. We
are currently considering adding a fourth session,
increasing yearly participants to 160.
We recommend that companies consider their
culture to determine whether there is an appetite
for a selective, ‘invitation only’ programme, or
if their programme would be better offered to a
broader population of women (e.g. self-nominated,
specific level).
Target participants: As mentioned earlier, for
this programme we target Director level women
(the second highest level after Managing Director).
We consistently apply this nomination criterion
globally; however, we have found that certain
geographies or business lines have a limited
number of women who meet this requirement.
These geographies and business lines have
requested that we allow them to nominate
participants from deeper in the organisation. This
poses a tension, as we would like both to create a
cohesive cohort of women with similar experiences
and to have proportionate representation of
women across the geographies and businesses.
We have tried to balance these goals by reviewing
nominations on a case-by-case basis.
We have determined
the partnership is
worth the investment.
This is an ‘easy’
programme for us to
run and to scale.
Before creating a
similar programme, we
recommend companies
assess the viability of
an outsourced model.

24.
24
What our organisation does
successfully and why
Like most service-focused companies, we are in
the business of people. Our employees are the
beating heart of the company and each one of
them plays a key role in delivering and building
our success. This is why since our early days, we
have invested in developing the capabilities and
skills of our people. One of our key values – ‘we
grow when our people grow’ – directly calls out
the company’s focus on providing learning and
development opportunities for our nearly 69,000
employees. When we embarked on the journey
of articulating our Employee Value Proposition,
the unanimous response from everyone we spoke
with – employees, alumni, candidates, clients,
headhunters – was that learning is what defines
our promise as an employer.
Across each of our locations we have skilled
trainers who deliver different training programmes
based on the aspirations and skills of our people.
Each training module has one common goal – to
strengthen our people and allow them to grow.
We have successfully balanced our deep focus
on process and operational excellence with our
passion for people development. Thus, even when
it comes to driving gender balance, especially at
leadership levels, here too training is pivotal. We
see this as a key differentiator. We take a holistic
approach across attracting, developing,
advancing, and accelerating the growth of high
potential women.
Over the past few years, our organisation has
grown rapidly. It has been important to build
strong operational leaders quickly. This led us to
launch an ‘Operations Leadership Development
Programme’.
The programme focused on preparing high
potential managers for leadership roles. An internal
benchmarking study indicated that those business
units with more women in their leadership teams
exhibited a higher financial performance and
better employee retention. As part of our diversity
agenda, we further leveraged this programme
to identify and grow future women leaders for
large operating roles. Traditionally, women in the
corporate world have often been pigeon-holed
into softer skilled, more relationship-based roles.
We wanted to help our female employees break
through these barriers and excel in a domain that
had been male-dominated.
Program construct: We run an 18-month
structured development program that includes
three job rotations of six months each. Participants
are exposed to a world-class curriculum and
sessions with top leaders. The training modules
are designed by external partners in consultation
with internal teams and business leaders. The
use of advanced technology enables learning
through gamification and simulation by re-
creation of real time challenging workplace
scenarios. The flexibility of the programme design
and support practices, cater to diverse employee
groups, specifically women. We ensure maximum
participation of women in the programme
by proactively making our programme more
inclusive, e.g. we use a local crèche at the facility to
accommodate children of participants during
the programme.
The impact it has
Programme participants are the first choice for all
leadership roles especially in new projects where
Broadening women’s experience at a global business process outsourcing conglomerate

25.
25
fresh thinking is needed. Successful graduates
become part of the global leadership team.
Our programme has been used as an industry
case study. It won the ‘Brandon Hall Awards’
in 2013 and 2014 for best integration of talent
management and of a learning programme.
The programme fared well in an external study on
ROI on leadership development (by Linkage Inc.
Noel M Tichy, University of Michigan):
§§ Programme participants average impact on
revenue was $1.2 M per participant; $323K more
than non-participating peers
§§ Programme participant’s average EBIT was 23%
vs 21% for non-participating peers
§§ The programme’s net promoter score (user
recommendation) stands at 100%
§§ Attrition stands at 3% for programme
participants compared with 18%+ for others
within the same band
§§ Our most recent cohort has 43% female
participation. This cohort is actively involved in
RFPs worth more than $10M and has already
generated additional business worth more
than $6M
How people know that it works
Our numbers tell a good story. However, the true
driver of success is participants’ experiences.
Each year, the programme brings 80 diverse
employees together - men and women of different
nationalities, working across global geographies.
Despite their diversity, they share similar, positive
and encouraging feedback about their journey.
Participants cherish:
§§ The holistic nature of the programme that focuses
on their personal development
§§ The ability to build a wide global and diverse
network across a cohort of 80 peers
§§ The learning and professional growth that comes
with role rotation
Lessons learned for others
thinking of doing something
similar
The programme was launched in 2006 and has
had its share of challenges. Initially, the biggest
challenge was reluctance from the businesses to
release their top talent for the programme, as it
required moving a key player to another business
for a period of 6-12 months. However, the team
came up with creative solutions to address this
challenge:
§§ The business impact of the programme was
widely publicised. This led to business buy-in to
subsequent cohorts
§§ The programme was adapted so that participants
could rotate within the same business unit if
differentiated roles were available, thereby
keeping the top talent within the business whilst
still supporting their development
§§ Selection criteria changed over time to include
a larger proportion of participants from high
growth businesses

26.
26
This is a collective effort by many people, all
of whom have busy day jobs. We cannot name
everyone personally, but particular thanks are
owed to:
§§ 30% Club Steering Committee – for sharing the
Everyday Inclusion portal across their networks
§§ Joanna Santinon, EY – for sponsorship of the
Everyday Inclusion portal
§§ UK 30% Club Balancing the Pyramid Working
Group – for advice, guidance and support
§§ Francoise Higson, Newton Investments – for
project administration and liaison
§§ US 30% Club Steering Committee – for
encouraging US submissions
§§ Catie Faison, Bloomberg – for US:UK liaison
§§ 30% Club media team – for spreading the word
§§ YSC design team – for Everyday Inclusion design,
branding, and publishing
§§ Reed Smith – for legal advice
§§ Made by Hippo – for setting up the Everyday
Inclusion portal
§§ YSC Online – for collecting and aggregating
the data
Most importantly, thanks to everyone who has
contributed their story to Everyday Inclusion
so far…
ACCOUNTANCY EDUCATION/
ACADEMIA
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
LEGAL
MARKETING/
ADVERTISING
MEDIA/
BROADCASTING/
PRESS
MINING/
UTILITIES/
ENERGY
NOT FOR
PROFIT/MEMBER
ORGANISATION
PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES/
CONSULTANCY
BUSINESS
PROCESS
OUTSOURCING
MANUFACTURING/
PRODUCTION
Everyday Inclusion submissions (to end June 2015) from 47 global organisations employing over 1.9 million people.

27.
§§ Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness,
Richard Thaler, 2009
§§ Transforming Behaviour Change: Beyond nudge and Neuromania, Jonathan
Rowson, RSA, 2011
§§ Diversity Inclusion – Fringe or Fundamental?, CIPD/Bernard Hodes Group, 2012
§§ Innovation, Diversity and Market Growth, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Melinda Marshall
Laura Sherbin, Center for Talent Innovation, 2013
§§ Actions Men Can Take to Create an Inclusive Workplace, Catalyst, 2014
§§ Continuing to Shift the Needle: a Guide to Sponsorship, Work Allocation, and
Agile Working, 30% Club Professional Services Firms’ Initiative, 2014
§§ Inclusive Leadership, Opportunity Now, 2014
§§ Cracking the Code, 30% Club Balancing the Pyramid Initiative, KPMG/YSC, 2014
§§ Gender Diversity in the Boardroom: Reach for the Top, CIPD survey report,
February 2015
§§ Inclusion Matters, Catalyst, March 2015
§§ Inclusion Nudges Guidebook: Practical Techniques for Changing Behaviour,
Culture and Systems to Mitigate Unconscious Bias and Create Inclusive
Organisations, Tinna C Nielson Lisa Kepinski, April 2015
§§ Inclusive Leadership: a Systematic Review of the Evidence, Maria Nitu and
Doyin Atewologun, OP Matters, June 2015
§§ https://www.harveynash.com/inspire/diversity-toolkit
§§ https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/consultancy/industry-led-ten-steps
§§ http://www.speakers4schools.org/
27

28.
The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity.
Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is
received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a
thorough examination of the particular situation.
© YSC Ltd. YSC is the trading name of Young Samuel Chambers (“YSC”) Limited. Registered in England at 50 Floral Street, London, WC2E 9DA.
Company Number 2402857
June 2015
We want to share as many examples of success as possible. Please tell us if you know of an
organisational initiative that has led to more gender diversity, or a working environment where
men and women can succeed. Please tell us if you have been on the receiving end of a positive
experience at work, where you felt valued and encouraged to succeed.
We urge everybody to spread the word and share the Everyday Inclusion hyperlink with your
contacts. We want to hear from as wide a range of people and organisations as possible.
We are the world’s premier independent
leadership consultancy, helping organisations
achieve commercial success by releasing the
power of their people. We work with clients
across their entire people agenda to build a
strong, sustainable pipeline of talent. This
involves helping clients get the right people
into key roles, identifying and unleashing
potential and helping to accelerate people’s
growth at all levels. We also help our clients
develop high performing teams, implement
business change and embed the values
and culture necessary to achieve strategic
business goals. Core to our work is developing
deep psychological and behavioural insights.
We are distinctive in going below the
surface and in creating interventions that
drive real and profound transformational
change whether at the individual, team or
organisational level.
For more copies of this booklet, contact:
info@ysc.com or alternatively view online at
bit.ly/everyday-inclusion
www.ysc.com
The 30% Club is a group of Chairs and CEOs
committed to better gender balance at all
levels of their organisations through voluntary
actions. Business leadership is key: this takes
the issue beyond a specialist diversity effort
and into mainstream talent management.
The Club launched in the UK in 2010 with an
aspirational goal of 30% women on FTSE-
100 Boards by end 2015. We do not believe
mandatory quotas are the right approach.
Instead the 30% Club is aiming for meaningful,
sustainable change: our objective has
broadened to aim for at least 30% women at
all senior levels.
The 30% Club is now becoming an
international business-led approach. The
efforts are focused on accelerating real
measurable change, complementing individual
company efforts and existing networking and
diversity groups. The UK experience suggests
that business leadership combined with a
measurable goal can create a paradigm shift.
To get involved with the 30% Club’s
Balancing the Pyramid Working Group,
contact:
Pavita Cooper –
pavita@moredifference.com
Rachel Short –
rachel.short@whywomenwork.com
For more information about the 30% Club,
contact:
Francoise Higson –
francoise_higson@newton.co.uk
www.30percentclub.org
28