‘What makes an inclusive leader?’ is not a new question. I particularly like the Deloitte answer, in the form of articulation of ‘six signature traits’ all starting with ‘c’.
Reflecting on these, and the changes that I have seen happen in Browne Jacobson in the last 10 years, I have outlined how our senior leadership teams have embraced these characteristics to establish a progressive and inclusive culture which has DEI at its heart:
Courage
To me it is the characteristic that is most important at the start of any organisation’s DEI journey. If you are yet to embed DEI, then you need someone, or preferably a group of people, to challenge the status quo and advocate for change.
Our Senior Partner, Caroline Green, was our first female Senior Partner, and stood for election on a platform which had DEI at its centre. Her election was a watershed moment for the firm, showing that a majority of the partnership wanted to prioritise DEI more than we had up until then.
That is not to say that change had not begun before Caroline’s election, we had already achieved changes to our partnership deed’s maternity and adoption policies, for example.
Commitment
If leaders are brave enough to speak out, it generally follows that they are committed to the change they want to see. But that commitment must be unwavering, and must be sustained through the inevitable mistakes, backlash and contrary views.
Commitment to achieving an inclusive culture, even in the face of adversity, is key. At Browne Jacobson we have made plenty of mistakes on our journey, but we’ve learnt from them, regrouped and pushed on again.
Cognizance
Another tool which we used to drive real change was investment in significant training for our leadership on conscious inclusion and anti-racism – the training has subsequently been rolled out to the whole firm on a compulsory basis.
It was not easy to confront our own bias within those sessions, and to recognise that to deal with those biases we needed to be open to be challenged on them. This led us to seek to adopt a culture where issues can be ‘called out’.
In addition, we have put in place processes in a number of areas to protect ourselves from our own bias, such as having a policy that all CVs coming into the business do so totally “blind” of any information which could identify any protective characteristics.
Curiosity
Following George Floyd’s murder, members of our REACH community spoke with our senior leaders and shared their own lived experiences as Black people in a way which moved and educated.
Following that profound experience, we established ‘Courageous Conversations’ as a way in which communities, or individuals, can voluntarily share their lived experiences with a wide audience within the firm. These sessions have been crucial in helping us understand the different lived experiences that people have and how our own privilege protects us in certain situations.
Inclusive leaders foster a culture in which people can seek to understand those around them with empathy, and our courageous conversations have facilitated this brilliantly.
Cultural intelligence
An attentiveness to other cultures and the ability and willingness to adapt as required.
To have cultural intelligence you should seek to understand and learn about other cultures, whilst fostering an environment in which all cultures are welcome and respected. This can be challenging when the cultures of different groups conflict, however, our leadership group have cultivated a culture of respect and kindness meaning conflict is generally avoided or resolved.
Collaboration
Perhaps most important for the ongoing success of inclusive leadership. No-one can keep ahead of DEI without the help and support of others. We have embraced this wholeheartedly, learning from our clients and contacts; and working with them on joint initiatives whenever we can.
We have run our award-winning FAIRE scheme jointly with Welsh Government Legal Services three times since we opened our Cardiff office 18 months ago, and the collaboration has enhanced our FAIRE programme for our Welsh students immeasurably.
Our greatest success at Browne Jacobson has been making DEI an endeavour for the whole of our leadership, and one we consciously invest in. This has ensured that DEI sits at our very core and underpins our culture and behaviours.
