| A belated Happy New Year to you all! Many of you would have recently spent time reflecting on how the year went for you. The highs, lows, challenges, achievements, and perhaps setting of new goals for the year ahead. Some of you would’ve done this individually, with loved ones, your team or even as a whole organisation. If you would like one of our qualified coaches to support you in the reflection process, feel free to drop us a line and we can arrange this for you. We want to thank you for being part of our 2018 We trained over 850 people with Unconscious Bias, which we see as the first stage in raising collective awareness on a journey to embed D&I culturally within organisations. We collaborated with Creative Equals to host #DiverseMinds, the marketing and advertising’s industry’s first neurodiversity conference. (See below for #DiverseMinds 2.0!) We co-hosted our second ‘Masculinity In The Workplace’ event with Token Man and Men were in the majority! Despite these highlights and many more, the IPA Diversity report shows that as an industry, we still have many barriers in our way. Having read over the latest IPA Diversity report, it is very clear that despite improvements, we still have a long way to go before the advertising industry meets its targets, let alone is reflective of our society. “if we believe in this, we need to be bolder in creating inclusive cultures and using the different systemic levers which are shown to work, such as targeting interventions to moments of truth (eg: returning from parental leave) and sponsoring people through scalable programmes.” ~ Lisa Westbury, Associate Coach There has also been a decline in member agencies participating in the census. When we see individuals declining to show up and be counted, we look to what within the system or culture might be holding them back; this then speaks to us of shame and lack of courage. “In times of stress and uncertainty, biological organisms contract, freeze and return to what is known.” – Kevin Mascarenhas, Facilitator Looking to common barriers across the industry that can help to address cultural change on an organisation by organisation basis include:Parents in workplace/flexible workingNot enough employee Mental Health supportInclusive Recruitment & talent development for BAME talent Knowledge & practical support for Neurodiverse talent Further details on how we are currently helping businesses with these barriers can be found here. In 2019, we’ll be strongly championing inclusive behaviour, from the top down and as the top is still disproportionately Male and White, we’ll be challenging Male Leaders to Dare to Lead™ with Inclusion; we’re focusing on preventative Mental Health awareness training for line managers and in removing the barriers for Neurodiversity. Neurodiversity - #DiverseMinds 2.0 We feel the conversation has been started about Neurodiversity and now it’s about more practical support. DiverseMinds kickstarted a conversation about Neurodiversity in our industry. Following the conference I visited a number of agencies, including R/GA, Tribal, BBH and Mediacom, to talk about the book Diverted and received a heartfelt response. There are a significant number of people in our industry who have autism in their families and who have been quiet about their situations. The resonance of my talk and the emotional response was unexpected and humbling. In the people who thanked me for writing the book and for speaking, I witnessed struggle, but also courage, determination and pride. It is these people who are poised to act as bridges, who will, by speaking to people who are #actuallyautistic, create a more inclusive workplace for everyone. As I visited agencies to deliver Unconscious Bias training or to speak to HR Directors, I could see that action was happening on the ground too. Jennie Child (AKQA) told me how they had invited Pip Jamieson (the dyslexic founder of The Dots) and Ellie Gerszt (one of our speakers with Asperger's Syndrome who works at NABS) in to speak to their agency and were rethinking their recruitment process. Alistair MacCallum (CEO, M/Six) told me about their work with the Autism Exchange (which predated DiverseMinds), whereby they created three long term internships at M/six, one of whom has been given a permanent contract. The Hobbs Consultancy piloted training for line managers at Wavemaker, exploring how coaching could be used to enhance the strengths of those that are ND, whilst also taking an individualised approach to any challenges they might face. BIMA are embarking on a census of the digital industry and have ensured that questions about neurodiversity are included so we can quantify the difference that exists. Finally, one of the most exciting legacies of the conference is the launch of The Future is ND by Lucy Hobbs - a networking group for those who are ND in our industry. Nancy Lengthorn (Mediacom) says, 'For us, Diverse Minds changed things. After attending, it made me realise this wasn't something I needed to tiptoe through for fear of doing or saying the wrong thing. No action was worse than possibly making a couple of mistakes. So since then, we've had autism training in the agency, we've taken on an Intern who has autism and we are in the process of changing our talent pipeline to ensure we are targeting neurodiverse talent. We also co-host the brilliant 'The Future is ND' sessions which has really helped to boost the sense of inclusion within the agency'. Sally Boulton (Tribal) says, '100% DiverseMinds planted the seed for us. We are doing more this year around Inclusion following on from last years success with the series "These are our stories' for National Inclusion Week. Thank you for the inspiration'. Liz Nottingham (R/GA) says, "HR have a key role as the change makers and influencers in agencies to encourage business to pay close attention to this broader approach to the diversity agenda to disrupt employment in all places and spaces." At #DiverseMinds 2.0 we’ll have workshops from Genius Within and A Place With Purpose, a panel of diverse minds from within the industry and engaging speakers: Jessie Hewitson – The Times Journalist and Author of ‘How to raise a happy autistic child’ Laura James – Telegraph journalist and Author of ‘Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World’ Lucy Hobbs - founder of the Future is ND networking group Xavier Rees - CEO of Havas London and Havas Helia Victoria Buchanan - Exec Creative Director of Tribal While last year was about raising awareness, the focus on this year's #DiverseMinds will move from insight to action. Click here to get your tickets. 2019 dates for your diary The Daring Way™ for Female Leaders Jan 30th & 31sttickets here Apr 3rd & 4th Oct 9th & 10th The Daring Way™ for Male Leaders Feb 25th & 26thtickets here Jun 15th & 16th #DiverseMinds 2.0 March 13th tickets here Dare to Lead™ May 22nd & 23rd As the UK continues to experience political uncertainty remember that uncertainty can unleash our greatest creativity and innovation. Rox |
