Women in IP Annual Event: Overcoming Invisible Barriers

We’re always finding ways to support IP Inclusive and their communities so were keen to make the journey to London to attend the annual Women in IP annual event held last week. The evening was a panel discussion inspired by Michelle King’s book ‘THE FIX: Overcome the Invisible Barriers that are Holding Women Back at Work’, followed by an audience Q&A and networking. There were also regional events happening across Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Oxford, and the London discussion could be accessed on line.

The event was moderated by Stephanie Kay,?Managing Associate at Lewis Silkin LLP and the panellists were Esther Crew,?Founder and CEO of Performance Engagement – DEI Consulting, Susi Fish,?Partner at Boult Wade Tennant, Lucy Johnson,?Chairperson at HGF Limited, and Mark Jones, DEI & Wellbeing Lead at Lewis Silkin LLP. The panellists tackled topics covering diversity and inclusion initiatives, women in leadership, and workplace culture through discussing their personal experience and exploring their own thoughts and views surrounding these important topics.

The discussion kicked off with the panel highlighting the difficulty of addressing issues if you don’t pinpoint the individual barriers within each organisation. The risk could be that effort is focused in areas that potentially aren’t the most efficient and effective for that particular company and its individual employees. Bespoke research must be conducted and the results need to be acknowledged. It was agreed that sometimes the uncomfortable truth can be skirted over and the views of the minority aren’t necessarily reflected in the outside perspective of the organisation. Those responsible for asking the pressing questions may not be listening to the answers, and asking simply isn’t enough. Change needs to be actioned and sometimes the views of the few, and not the many, invoke the most improvement.

Following on from this the validity of statistics in the early recruitment stage was challenged, arguing that in order to truly understand what is going on internally then the entire career lifecycle needs to be in focus. Insight into who is being promoted and length of service can help uncover the true diversity of an organisation. We need to be willing to change and use different tactics if things aren’t working. We shouldn’t be attempting to ‘fix the women’ but empowering them instead. ?However, the responsibility should not be solely placed on the empowered women in leadership. All leaders need to be given a voice so that a variety of experiences and opinions are available to all to make informed decisions going forward. Allies needs to feel like they are also being seen, and it was agreed that they are more likely to stand up for a cause if they in a position of feeling fully invested, educated, and included themselves.

When discussing work life balance the concept of ‘full’ and ‘part’ time was addressed, especially in light of more recent times where flexible working is much more common. For example, someone historically considered ‘part time’ probably was, and still is, putting extra hours in to (unconsciously) compensate. Working life has become a lot more fluid and employees are effectively inviting their colleagues into their homes with video calls and Teams meetings. We are showing our full selves – curious cats, piles of laundry, and all. This is something which is seen as an important shift in career evolution and the introduction of authenticity being an extremely important trait looked for in leaders.

During the audience Q&A, the topic of keeping in contact in times of extended absence, such as maternity leave, was covered. It was suggested that leaders need to become comfortable with people’s boundaries and learn the most effective way in order to support them, whether that be regular contact during the absence, or potentially none at all. The main point being that the employee spending time away from the office shouldn’t be any less valued.

Overall, the discussion was engaging and interesting with a range of perspectives and experiences ensuring there was plenty to take away and digest. These events really do promote thought-provoking conversation, which is so important in forming the foundation for actioning change – the more we talk about it, the more it becomes the norm. So, next time you see an IP Inclusive event near you or on line please try and attend and continue the conversation!

A video of the full event can be viewed here, and further resources will be posted on the IP Inclusive website here.