In our January 2021 Newsletter Morgan Latif took a multifaceted look at the biggest issues affecting modern leaders. We analysed a topic that continues to be a top priority for our clients, the wider life sciences industry, and the world as a whole: diversity in leadership.
Diversity in Leadership
We all know there is a moral and ethical imperative to achieving greater diversity at board level. Beyond this, there are substantial practical advantages to doing so. Diversity in leadership enables diversity of ideas, which is key to solving complex challenges in our globalised world.
However, history shows it has been one thing to speak about diversity, and quite another to deliver long-lasting systemic change. This is why diversity and inclusion should be rooted in an organisation’s culture, and must be constantly communicated both internally and externally.
Leadership in Transformation
In our podcast series, Leadership in Transformation, we speak to acclaimed coaches, psychologists, and business leaders about the biggest challenges and opportunities facing leaders today.
Unsurprisingly, diversity in leadership is an issue that has been discussed at length.
In Series 2, Episode 9, we spoke to Dr. Reinhard Schiebeler, an expert in operational excellence and building powerful leadership teams who has held leadership roles in companies including Philip Morris and Glatfelter.
Dr. Schiebeler told us about the power of diverse leadership teams, and discussed the conditions that are required for highly diverse teams to thrive:
“When you put together your team, they should be a very diverse team. This is what I strongly believe in. For that, you need different skills, different knowledge, experience, but even behaviour.
For success, it’s vital that they have common values. These they need to agree on, and especially they need to trust and to pay respect to each other. Mutual respect is a fundamental thing, which you need to implement in a company.”
Want to learn more? Listen to the full podcast with Dr. Schiebeler here.
An Actionable Approach to Building a More Diverse Workforce
In our latest blog, we note how – despite the myriad benefits of diverse leadership – many businesses are still falling short on D&I. Indeed:
- 79% of leadership engagement on D&I remains at basic or emerging levels
- Only 26% of organisations have D&I goals for leaders
- Just 17% have a C-suite diversity role, and nearly 30% have no D&I leader
We go on to detail five actionable steps to help organisations become leaders in diversity and inclusion:
- Testing to mitigate the risk of biased technology
- Involving managers to get buy-in for D&I strategy
- Building a leadership team with shared values
- Measuring performance to assess progress
- Communicating D&I plans effectively throughout the organisation
You can read the full blog here.
We’re interested to hear your thoughts on the key leadership themes and trends that are pertinent right now, so if there’s something you’d like to learn more about, or have suggestions on topics that you’d like to see discussed during the course of this newsletter series, then please get in touch and let us know.
