Investigo Network Event | Top tips on 'what works' in a business

A practical approach to how we can ensure our recruitment process is inclusive was the focus of yesterday’s Diversity and Inclusion workshop which we hosted at the South Place Hotel. Dan Robertson, from Vercida Consultancy and Kate Headley, Director at The Clear Company, joined us to bring their experience and insight to over 90 attendees.

Kate launched her first D&I group back in 2011 and, over the years, she has become well regarded within the D&I space - and today’s session showed us precisely why. Her animated insight into how we can all start the journey of making our recruitment processes more inclusive hit a note with all of our attendees. Are our job descriptions written to encourage applicants, or discourage them? How do we go about talent sourcing, where are we looking? Are we asking evidence-based questions that help us discover competence over confidence? And, finally, are we giving hiring managers the right tools and training to do all the above? Kate brought case studies to the table that had seen leading businesses turn their processes upside down, with an unquestionably positive impact on both diversity and inclusion.

Dan did a quick re-cap on the session he hosted with us back in October on Unconscious Bias and inspired all with his favourite quote from Daniel Kahneman, “We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to how little we know.”

Dan also stressed that despite positive movement to promote both diverse and inclusive organisations, there was still much more to be done. He also questioned the extended collective activities which are providing us with the outcome we need.

Focusing on 'what works' to achieve these outcomes he encouraged the room to think about a number of key areas, including:

People analytics: Collecting, tracking and analysing data to identify trends and patterns covering a range of decision-making areas: hiring, project allocation, time with senior leaders etc.
Checklist: Suggesting that the human brain simply can't be trusted, Dan advocates using checklists for smarter decision-making
Role models: Have portraits of diverse role models in meetings rooms and recruitment campaigns.
Increasing transparency in decision making: Accountability attached to a set of KPIs is likely to produce our desired outcomes

Finally, with a view that agile working should arguably be the norm, Dan continues to drive forward our conversations here at Investigo and are well on the way with organising our next event to ensure we are all moving forward in the direction.

This Investigo Network event is part of a series of events we are hosting to bring insight to our clients and candidates, on topics that are relevant in today’s business world. Our next event is on Workplace Mental Health.

If you would like to learn more about the events and publications being released for the Investigo Network please contact Lisa Holberton on lisa.holberton@investigo.co.uk.