Diversity and Inclusion Summit – creating an inclusive culture

Welcome and introduction

Sara Drake, CEO, The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland

Keynote: The importance of D&I at all levels - top down, bottom up

This session will focus on the need for diversity and inclusion to become a cultural movement felt throughout your entire organisation, rather than a tick-box exercise. Our speaker will explore effective initiatives organisations can implement to cultivate an environment of inclusion through education, awareness and celebration of diversity.

Speakers:
Asif Sadiq MBE, Senior Vice President, Head of Equity and Inclusion, WarnerMedia International
Justine Lutterodt FRSA, Director and Leadership Consultant, Centre for Synchronous Leadership

Gender diversity in the boardroom

What will the next five years will look like for gender diversity in the boardroom? In this session our panel will discuss the representation of women in leadership positions, touching on studies such as the recently announced FTSE Women Leaders review, with the latest report set for publication in February 2022.

Pannelists:
Scarlett Brown, Director, The Board Intelligence Think Tank
Laura Sercombe, CEO, Girls Friendly Society
Samira Sadeghi, Head of Academies Governance, Governance Professional for the Board of Trustees

Beyond unconscious bias and performative allyship: practical ways to create an inclusive culture

This session will encourage you to evaluate your current D&I practices and identify the next steps in your organisation’s D&I journey. Our experts will provide you with the tools to effect real, practical change in the workplace and place inclusivity right at the heart of your organisation’s values.

Speaker:
Latha Poonamallee, Management Chair, The New School and Thought Leader, Management and Social Justice

Practical ways to create an inclusive culture

The benefits of cognitive diversity

A recent report co-authored by Scottish Widows and Dr Johanne Grosvold, ‘Great minds don’t think alike’, explored the critical role of cognitive diversity in ensuring long term success. This session will take its cue from that and other studies and consider how organisations can draw benefit from different ways of thinking.

Speaker:
Johanne Ward Grosvold, Senior Lecturer, University of Bath

Case Study – empowering talent to future proof your organisation

In 2021, the Institute of Hospitality won the CGIUKI Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) award for two outstanding initiatives; the Diversity Shield and the launch of its first ever Youth Council in its 84 year history. Their purpose was to educate and inspire their 13,500-plus global membership and the wider industry, to adopt the attitudes and actions that will promote hospitality as an open, welcoming, caring and inclusive place to work in. In this session we examine the value of social mobility in peoples’ entry level careers and the importance of employers developing inclusive practices and initiatives to identify, develop and empower talent for a more agile and sustainable organization.

Speaker:
Robert Richardson, CEO, Institute of Hospitality

Tea and Networking

Anti-racism and achieving racial equity: amplifying black voices in the workplace

The most recent data from the Parker Review, published in March 2021, found that significant progress was being made on improving ethnic diversity on FTSE 100 boards. Moving beyond statistics, in this session our speakers focus on how organisations can be actively anti-racist and promote racial equity.

Pannelists:
Rob Neil OBE, Director, Krystal Alliance
Olivea Ebanks, Learning & Development specialist, Governance Forum Associate
Lanre Sulola, Leadership Coach, Inner Ambitions

Neurodiversity: Creating an inclusive workplace

This session aims to provide a general overview and awareness of managing inclusivity with a focus on neurodiversity.

Overview:

• Clarifying the spectrum of neurodiversity as hidden disabilities
• The Spikey profile
• Identifying and engaging individual strengths and skills
• Sharing practical strategies to work together inclusively

Outcomes:
By the end of the session, you should gain an overview of neurodiversity. You’ll also gain some practical strategies of how to effectively communicate so that people can perform at their best.

Speaker:
Angie Alderman, Executive Coach, Genius Within

Understanding power dynamics for an integrated, sustained and impactful approach to D&I

The session will share adapted power frameworks that nonprofits have used to inform programmes and campaigns addressing inequality for years. The aim will be to provide participants with 2 of the following:

• Common language and frameworks to understand and address power dynamics and how they relate to D&I
• A framework that helps articulate positive and responsible power dynamics
• Insight about how a power lens can enable organisations to address intersectionality

Speaker:
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Founder, Power and Integrity

Closing remarks and end of Summit