Right. I hereby call this board meeting to order. Harriet?

Right. I hereby call this board meeting to order. Harriet?

Present.

Present.

Thank you, Harriet. Lovely new clubs. Charlotte. Can you confirm your attendance please?

Thank you, Harriet. Lovely new clubs. Charlotte. Can you confirm your attendance please?

Here.

Here.

Beautiful drive, Charlotte. Right, Olive?

Beautiful drive, Charlotte. Right, Olive?

That's me, present. Now, what's item one on the agenda?

That's me, present. Now, what's item one on the agenda?

If I'm not mistaken Olive my love, I think it's the same item as last month and the 23 months preceding that. HR wants us to build more diversity into the executive leadership team.

If I'm not mistaken Olive my love, I think it's the same item as last month and the 23 months preceding that. HR wants us to build more diversity into the executive leadership team.

Oh, diversity. It is so important. Uh I love the diverse.

Oh, diversity. It is so important. Uh I love the diverse.

I mean, call me absolutely bonkers. Would we start by having someone who lives in a different suburb to us?

I mean, call me absolutely bonkers. Would we start by having someone who lives in a different suburb to us?

Oh, I love it. Or, or what about somebody who doesn't play tennis at the club?

Oh, I love it. Or, or what about somebody who doesn't play tennis at the club?

Now, you're cooking with gas, Charlotte. But uh do you know any of them?

Now, you're cooking with gas, Charlotte. But uh do you know any of them?

I mean, not personally, but we have said they're very welcome.

I mean, not personally, but we have said they're very welcome.

They do know where to find us.

They do know where to find us.

Right-o then. Great progress for today. Let's table diversity for next month and uh adjourn to the 19th hole. Brilliant, job done, ladies. Meeting, dismissed.

Right-o then. Great progress for today. Let's table diversity for next month and uh adjourn to the 19th hole. Brilliant, job done, ladies. Meeting, dismissed.

The old golf course meeting. Hopefully a thing of the past. A few years ago, we saw the start of a big push toward inclusive hiring, mostly in entry or lower level roles. But since bringing those entry level employees through the door, how many have moved up in their organisation? And do leadership teams of Australian companies and government departments reflect our community? From Jobsbank, this is Getting It Right . And I'm Rae Johnston. In season two, we're helping you diversify your workforce in every aspect and on every level. Peter Mousaferiadis works with organisations like Amazon, the UN and BDP International. He's the CEO of Cultural Infusion and founder of Diversity Atlas. He looks at a company's diversity and what they can do to improve it. So, Peter, why is it so important that there's a range of people on the leadership team of any organisation?

The old golf course meeting. Hopefully a thing of the past. A few years ago, we saw the start of a big push toward inclusive hiring, mostly in entry or lower level roles. But since bringing those entry level employees through the door, how many have moved up in their organisation? And do leadership teams of Australian companies and government departments reflect our community? From Jobsbank, this is Getting It Right . And I'm Rae Johnston. In season two, we're helping you diversify your workforce in every aspect and on every level. Peter Mousaferiadis works with organisations like Amazon, the UN and BDP International. He's the CEO of Cultural Infusion and founder of Diversity Atlas. He looks at a company's diversity and what they can do to improve it. So, Peter, why is it so important that there's a range of people on the leadership team of any organisation?

If there's no diversity in the leadership team, then organisations can also put themselves at risk and we see this again and again and again where when organisations don't reflect, not only the entire organisation but the communities, there's a disconnect and tension builds. Diverse perspectives offer, you know, a broad range of ideas, different voices and experiences that can avoid group think. If everyone is the same, then no-one is thinking.

If there's no diversity in the leadership team, then organisations can also put themselves at risk and we see this again and again and again where when organisations don't reflect, not only the entire organisation but the communities, there's a disconnect and tension builds. Diverse perspectives offer, you know, a broad range of ideas, different voices and experiences that can avoid group think. If everyone is the same, then no-one is thinking.

So say there's an organisation that is bringing in diverse staff, but it's all at entry level. How do you shake up that leadership team? How do you make sure you get diverse people in decision making positions?

So say there's an organisation that is bringing in diverse staff, but it's all at entry level. How do you shake up that leadership team? How do you make sure you get diverse people in decision making positions?

I think it's about taking stock, coming back to that question about who are we? And the only way you can do that is by looking at the data, what does the data of reveal and then the data will start to show us what those opportunities are. So when you start to bring people on board in an organisation, is the culture, is the organisation ready to be able to include people from a range of different backgrounds into that organisation. So that's gonna require some training, not only at a board level, but throughout the whole organisation, not just at one level. So I think it's critical for organisations to embed the value that diversity can bring to an organisation. And more importantly to how it builds human capacity, how it builds capacity in the environments that they're working in.

I think it's about taking stock, coming back to that question about who are we? And the only way you can do that is by looking at the data, what does the data of reveal and then the data will start to show us what those opportunities are. So when you start to bring people on board in an organisation, is the culture, is the organisation ready to be able to include people from a range of different backgrounds into that organisation. So that's gonna require some training, not only at a board level, but throughout the whole organisation, not just at one level. So I think it's critical for organisations to embed the value that diversity can bring to an organisation. And more importantly to how it builds human capacity, how it builds capacity in the environments that they're working in.

Are there any good reasons why we shouldn't just bring more diverse people straight into leadership positions?

Are there any good reasons why we shouldn't just bring more diverse people straight into leadership positions?

So if you just bring in and appoint a diverse leadership board, right from the very beginning and it's not reflective of the community, it's, there's a disconnect. So yeah, you might bring someone into an organisation and start to move them very quickly through the organisation into a leadership position or point them in a leadership position, but they might not even stay there for too long if the culture of the organisation isn't inclusive from the very beginning, and that requires work. That requires looking at biases, you know, every organisation has biases. So how do we start to see these biases and how they play out in an organisation and how they impact on recruitment processes as well?

So if you just bring in and appoint a diverse leadership board, right from the very beginning and it's not reflective of the community, it's, there's a disconnect. So yeah, you might bring someone into an organisation and start to move them very quickly through the organisation into a leadership position or point them in a leadership position, but they might not even stay there for too long if the culture of the organisation isn't inclusive from the very beginning, and that requires work. That requires looking at biases, you know, every organisation has biases. So how do we start to see these biases and how they play out in an organisation and how they impact on recruitment processes as well?

Who's doing it right? Do you have examples of companies that have made really positive progressive steps and created a more diverse leadership team?

Who's doing it right? Do you have examples of companies that have made really positive progressive steps and created a more diverse leadership team?

Cast your mind back 30 years ago, you look at marketing technologies. They were very basic, they were all geared around, you know, gender, maybe age, where people lived. Now, they've become so sophisticated, they know what the buyer is going to buy before the buyer has worked out what they're gonna buy. They know the consumer so well, but these organisations didn't know themselves well. And they realized that. Now a lot of the major organisations out there, you know, Microsoft developed its LEAP initiative which stands for Leading Ethnicity and Accessibility Project. So they've started to move people into leadership positions. Intel spent something like $300 million back in 2015 to start to get people, make the organisation not only more inclusive and more diverse, but start to develop active programs where they, they were engaging in communities. Sudeco was a similar company where when they were setting up shop in India, the Global DEI director, Rohini Anand , whom I know, she was trying to get more women, just more women to come in and into leadership positions and it was impossible. She said it wasn't just enough to hire these people, but they needed to actively engage, not only with the communities but with the families. So they started a whole range of programs where they got the families interested in what the daughter was doing. So we can't see an organisation, we can't see a company as operating in a vacuum. So they need to extend out into the community. They need to start to drive recruitment strategies. They need to start to develop pathways so people can come into organisations.

Cast your mind back 30 years ago, you look at marketing technologies. They were very basic, they were all geared around, you know, gender, maybe age, where people lived. Now, they've become so sophisticated, they know what the buyer is going to buy before the buyer has worked out what they're gonna buy. They know the consumer so well, but these organisations didn't know themselves well. And they realized that. Now a lot of the major organisations out there, you know, Microsoft developed its LEAP initiative which stands for Leading Ethnicity and Accessibility Project. So they've started to move people into leadership positions. Intel spent something like $300 million back in 2015 to start to get people, make the organisation not only more inclusive and more diverse, but start to develop active programs where they, they were engaging in communities. Sudeco was a similar company where when they were setting up shop in India, the Global DEI director, Rohini Anand , whom I know, she was trying to get more women, just more women to come in and into leadership positions and it was impossible. She said it wasn't just enough to hire these people, but they needed to actively engage, not only with the communities but with the families. So they started a whole range of programs where they got the families interested in what the daughter was doing. So we can't see an organisation, we can't see a company as operating in a vacuum. So they need to extend out into the community. They need to start to drive recruitment strategies. They need to start to develop pathways so people can come into organisations.

Do leadership targets work, because there's been a lot of debate as to whether they help or not.

Do leadership targets work, because there's been a lot of debate as to whether they help or not.

Yes, targets do work. I've seen with some companies we've worked with, they're developing these 10 year goals and they're putting targets in place where they can incrementally work towards achieving those diversity targets. So take, for example, mining companies when they go into new communities and they're working in those communities, often there's a huge disconnect where you might end up having 2000 people working for a mining company and they almost have no people from an Indigenous background working in a mining company and that creates massive resentment and disconnect. So what needs to even go on before the company's established itself in that new community is engage the community, consult with the community, and work beforehand to see if it can start to find people from those communities to come into that organisation. So they need to already have that in the back of their mind. They need to be framing their whole workforce around how they're gonna get there. Now, they might not be able to move into a community and say, 40% of that community identifies as being Indigenous. We're not going to be able to get there overnight, but they can start to go, OK, we're gonna work towards maybe getting to 20% over a 10 year period. Now, what do we need to do to get to that 20%? But it's not just about bringing in the people at a, just at a lower level, but it's also engaging, you know, with tertiary providers, engaging with other community stakeholders, and starting to create pathways. So people are not only just coming in at an entry level from that community, but they might be coming in at a coordinator level or at a management level or maybe even at a director level.

Yes, targets do work. I've seen with some companies we've worked with, they're developing these 10 year goals and they're putting targets in place where they can incrementally work towards achieving those diversity targets. So take, for example, mining companies when they go into new communities and they're working in those communities, often there's a huge disconnect where you might end up having 2000 people working for a mining company and they almost have no people from an Indigenous background working in a mining company and that creates massive resentment and disconnect. So what needs to even go on before the company's established itself in that new community is engage the community, consult with the community, and work beforehand to see if it can start to find people from those communities to come into that organisation. So they need to already have that in the back of their mind. They need to be framing their whole workforce around how they're gonna get there. Now, they might not be able to move into a community and say, 40% of that community identifies as being Indigenous. We're not going to be able to get there overnight, but they can start to go, OK, we're gonna work towards maybe getting to 20% over a 10 year period. Now, what do we need to do to get to that 20%? But it's not just about bringing in the people at a, just at a lower level, but it's also engaging, you know, with tertiary providers, engaging with other community stakeholders, and starting to create pathways. So people are not only just coming in at an entry level from that community, but they might be coming in at a coordinator level or at a management level or maybe even at a director level.

That's Peter Mousaferiadis from Cultural Infusion. If you want to find a stack more resources and helpful tips on procurement and how you can shape a dynamic, diverse workforce, head to the Jobs Bank Resource Centre at jobsbank.org.au. Getting It Right is a podcast from Jobs Bank and it is produced by Dead Set studios. I'm Rae Johnston. This episode was recorded on the unceded lands of the sovereign Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri peoples and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. It was produced and edited on the lands of the Turrbal and Jagera people and we wish to pay our deepest respects to their elders past and present. And we ask that you too acknowledge the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander lands that you're listening from.

That's Peter Mousaferiadis from Cultural Infusion. If you want to find a stack more resources and helpful tips on procurement and how you can shape a dynamic, diverse workforce, head to the Jobs Bank Resource Centre at jobsbank.org.au. Getting It Right is a podcast from Jobs Bank and it is produced by Dead Set studios. I'm Rae Johnston. This episode was recorded on the unceded lands of the sovereign Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri peoples and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. It was produced and edited on the lands of the Turrbal and Jagera people and we wish to pay our deepest respects to their elders past and present. And we ask that you too acknowledge the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander lands that you're listening from.