Successfully diversifying the leadership landscape
Organisations large and small represent and interact with multiple and diverse communities every day. The need to adequately represent those communities with the leaders they choose and the people they employ is appropriately important.
Our people are committed to seeking out, supporting and developing senior leadership talent from all backgrounds of life. Our diversity initiatives are proven to offer clear and results-based approaches to help our clients find, keep and enhance their leaders of tomorrow.
No stone unturned
For our clients we know how important it is to support and expand an inclusive organisational culture which values diversity in all its forms. We have designed our strategic approach to Executive Search and Leadership Advisory to help them achieve this. Whether it is challenging and removing bias; sharing our learning and shaping theirs; devising effective strategies to reach, attract and secure diverse talent from many different backgrounds; or in mentoring and nurturing leader development, we partner our clients through the whole process.
Our intensive research method is central to our candidate selection process and is always undertaken with an inclusive approach.
Diversity First
Diversity and Inclusion is embedded in our business and our people. We can always better ourselves by thinking and acting differently, and we are so passionate about this that we have a dedicated group of engaged individuals to help drive this approach. This group promotes internal and external initiatives to inform and develop our colleagues and clients, as well as prompt discussion around diversity issues.
As a diverse group we like to acknowledge communities of our own and others around the world. Each year we all come together to celebrate many key events including Pride, Black History Month, International Women’s Day, Ramadan and St Patrick’s Day as well as taking part in workshops to learn more about mental health.
Being part of a firm that is committed to finding diverse and brilliant leaders is refreshing and exciting, so I am proud to be part of the Saxton Bampfylde family and really making a difference.
Pamela Leonce, Partner & Consultant
Inclusion & Allyship:
Our Opportunity
Our thought piece explores how to be a good ally with practical tips on how to develop an inclusive organisation.
The reflections emerged from a webinar discussion held between Althea Efunshile CBE, Chair of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing and Non-Executive Director of Channel 4, and Pamela Leonce, Diversity Advisor at Saxton Bampfylde. Althea and Pamela spoke with honesty and openness about the challenges they had faced in organisations and in society.
STEP
We have a pivotal role to play in the development of diverse leaders, and particularly those at a point of transition to executive leadership or board level. We are proud to launch STEP, a holistic coaching, development and career development programme offering for individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
REACH
The REACH Programme has been created in partnership with the Civil Service to help support colleagues with disabilities to maximise their career potential.
Together, we aim to provide mentoring partners exclusively for colleagues with either a mental health or physical disability. Each mentor is an executive level leader in their own right from outside the Civil Service, who either has a lived experience of disability or who has been involved in shifting the dial on improving development opportunities, career progression and the wider workplace environment for people with any form of disability.
Helping others OnBoard
The path to a Board position is not always an accessible and inclusive one. We are proud to be part of OnBoard, a new non-profit mentoring programme designed to support talented individuals from disadvantaged and non-traditional backgrounds to begin the journey to becoming Board members.
We have a broad range of interests across our Diversity & Inclusion initiatives. We have showcased a few of these and would be happy to share more. Please get in touch.
Awards
We are proud of the work we do and the diversity of leaders we find who make a difference in all they do. When we are recognised for this work with award wins, it makes us even more proud.
In 2020 REACH won the ‘Making a Difference’ category at the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative Awards (RIDI). In that same year REACH was also the first recipient of the ‘IDEA Award’ by the global Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC). The recognition came for Saxton Bampfylde’s outstanding contribution to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA).
The RIDI awards bring together leading change makers in the recruitment sector to celebrate the very best of disability confident recruitment. The Making a Difference Award highlights those who have excelled in levelling the playing field for disabled candidates in the recruitment process. It identifies those who are implementing appropriate reasonable adjustments at every stage and working hard to swiftly remove any barriers.
The AESC IDEA Award was established in 2020 to support the goals of the AESC Diversity Pledge, signed by more than 100 CEOs of leading executive search and leadership consulting firms. The award recognises initiatives within the executive search and leadership consulting profession that demonstrate an exemplary and excellent commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access.
