This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is one that has resonated so well with us both. Since 2019, we have been attempting to #BreakTheBias here at Deltra by hosting events that were unheard of at the time in our industry. Even now, when we see the leaps and bounds that have been made by companies on the matter of both equal rights and consideration for women and diversity as a whole, we take some pride in knowing we’re part of the action, but also recognise there’s a long way to go.

Deltra’s Women in Transformations events

We kicked off our first ‘Women in Transformation’ event in 2019, which then led to multiple face-to-face events where women could discuss the challenges they’ve faced, offer support and motivation to each other and for us to better understand how we can help the situation improve.

The reaction we received was truly heart-warming and further proved to us that forums like this are crucial in the fight for equality. We think it really stepped up a notch when we invited male attendees and speakers – after all, buy-in has to be from all of the senior leadership, right? People agreed, disagreed took comfort and perhaps even took exception to points raised. Debate was always healthy and thought-provoking. And as we now come out of the Pandemic, we’re excited to develop and expand our existing WiT network into wider ED&I.

We’d be naïve to think that by hosting these events and getting the right conversations going that we’d played our part; we know that our role, like many others, has only just started. There is a long way to go and even in our events series we know there is an opportunity to have better representation from all groups. If we’re to take WiT seriously then we need to encourage all women in the transformation space to be heard, and especially those from minority groups.  

Mentoring Programme

Started in 2020 following our third Women in Transformation event, Deltra’s mentoring programme is designed to support women in having the confidence and the power to make the right move for them. So often we have found that women know what they want from their career and personal lives, but not how to get there, which is where we come in to assist.

After an hour-long discovery call, we will connect you with a mentor from the network who we think would be the best pairing for you. It’s completely informal and it’ll be someone from outside of your organisation and maybe even your sector, but they will know how to help you and what advice to give. There’s no pressure – a lot of our pairs aim to meet once or twice a quarter as a minimum, but it’s whatever works for you. We are proud of the results so far which have included new roles, promotions and pay rises.

Our plan for this scheme is for it to get bigger. New mentees and mentors are joining every week, and our aim is to make this as accessible as possible.

Events

We’re all aware of how these changed over the pandemic, but moving our events to Zoom or Teams meant they were more accessible. We managed to get the best of our network virtually discussing and debating with each other across the country at a time that the market was proving unstable and people needed a platform to sense-check their experience. During 2021, it was apparent that this wasn’t enough in the longer term.

We really do think it’s time to get back to face-to-face events however. And here is where we want to put the question back to you: What would you like to see? What is there not enough of? We want to focus on #BreakTheBias across the topic of Diversity and Inclusion. How do we make sure that we cover everything?

Recent events in the media regarding world politics have heightened our awareness to pre-existing biases that exist amongst us. Though it may seem a far-away topic from recruitment or change and transformation, could we all be using our skills for the greater good and to #BreakTheBias?

Is the industry doing enough to help people with disabilities find new opportunities? Should there be a greater emphasis on creating a truly diverse workforce? We are in touch with some agencies doing some great work around disability inclusion and If you would like any more information on this, please do not hesitate to contact us. As disability inclusion is an area that Emma and I feel passionate about, we would like to bring something to market that actually feels like a value-add.

There are so many avenues that can be explored, and as mentioned before, we would love you to help us identify what we can tackle together!

Breaking the bias in recruitment every day 

It would be remiss of us not to talk about our day jobs at this point. Our industry has a slightly problematic reputation, doesn’t it? Perhaps sometimes we haven’t helped ourselves. Neither of us are claiming perfection here, but one of my favourite things we hear about Deltra from candidates and clients alike is that we’re different. Realistically, we aren’t going to place everyone we meet with, but if we have added value to your job search, provided insight into the market, or given you helpful advice that you wouldn’t otherwise have had, then we’re happy.

We’re also conscious that not everyone will have had this experience, so help us break the bias in recruitment and let us know how we can improve. Our emails are emma@deltragroup.com and pujan@deltragroup.com. Please put the subject line as #BreakTheBias and we would love to hear from you.