Senior Leaders' Pledge

1. Providing visible and proactive leadership to improve D&I in my organisation

• Being personally involved in, and contributing to, D&I projects and events
• Putting my name to a public statement of the organisation’s commitment to D&I and of its D&I objectives, strategy and policies

2. Taking D&I seriously at the highest level

• Including D&I in my organisation’s corporate strategy and business plans
• Allocating corporate budget to D&I work
• Acting as, or appointing, a D&I champion at board/partnership level
• Including D&I as a standing agenda item at board/partnership meetings

3. Embedding and valuing D&I throughout the organisational culture

• Building a culture in which the whole of my organisation is involved in the quest for D&I
• Encouraging and allowing time for staff to work on D&I-related projects and training (including outreach and wellbeing initiatives)
• Ensuring that internal communications regularly include D&I-related content

4. Building trust and safe spaces throughout the organisation

• Establishing an internal D&I forum with representatives from all roles and all levels within the organisation
• Introducing a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and harassment
• Setting up informal mentoring or buddy schemes so that all staff have a trusted friend to speak with one-to-one, separate to their line manager, if they wish

5. Educating myself and my colleagues about D&I issues

• Adding key D&I-related awareness dates (eg LGBT+ History Month, Black History Month, International Women’s Day) to the organisation’s internal calendar and encouraging staff to learn about and mark those dates

6. Sharing my privileges

• Involving my organisation in some form of outreach scheme to improve access to the IP professions (eg a work experience, internship, sponsored placement or similar scheme), working where appropriate with outreach charities and community interest groups
• Encouraging staff in all roles and at all levels to get involved, and leading by example with my own involvement
• Ensuring that staff in the organisation are aware of, and ideally involved with, IP Inclusive’s Careers in Ideas outreach initiative

7. Insisting on equity

• Establishing fair, diversity-enhancing recruitment and promotion procedures throughout my organisation
• Regularly reviewing the procedures with HR colleagues to evaluate their impact on D&I levels in the organisation and if necessary improve them

8. Working closely with HR and management colleagues to achieve this

• Involving HR personnel in board/partnership level decision making on D&I-impacting issues
• Allowing them access to D&I-related training and professional development and valuing the expertise they acquire from it
• Giving them the mandate to effect D&I-related changes in the organisation, and providing visible and proactive support for their work

Nick McLeish   Senior Partner                     Alex Frost        Managing Partner                   Andrew Little    Chief Operating Officer

Matthew Spencer         Partner (D&I)                           Susi Fish       Partner (D&I), co-chair of IP Inclusive’s Women in IP Group