Positive About Inclusion was delighted to participate in the research completed by Castle Peake Group to inform their report ‘Progress Under Pressure – insights on diversity from the social housing sector’.
Castle Peak Group is an executive search firm focused on how organisations can embed diversity and inclusion and go beyond the standard recruitment approach for board and executive team
roles. Based in the North East, Castle Peak conducted interviews with industry leaders, including a number of their clients, to take a temperature check of the sector, looking to understand the current situation, plans for the future and how housing sector organisations are going about creating more inclusive environments.
The background to the research was that the housing sector is under a huge amount of pressure, from the purely financial to the need to improve housing stock or invest to reach net zero. It’s also a sector in the public eye, given high profile failings which have resulted in a changed regulatory regime. Central to the sector’s ethos is a need to understand and reflect the communities it serves, and a core component of that is having a diverse and inclusive leadership. Diversity in board and executive level appointments can support better decision making, and make organisations more efficient and effective – something which is vital in difficult times.
The report highlights the value that an independent, trusted provider can provide and spotlighted Positive About Inclusion as having been particularly praised by several contributors:
“There was particular praise from several contributors for the work of Positive About Inclusion, as not only knowledgeable about the ways in which organisations could shift their culture, but also having experience and understanding of the housing sector.”
As the report identified, Positive About Inclusion’s relevant housing sector support includes training for board and executive teams, culture diagnostics which can help organisations understand topics like authenticity and equality impact in their work, and engaging with stakeholders to help them be actively involved in diversity and inclusion efforts.
The report suggests that the specific insights in the research will come as no surprise to many, particularly those with responsibility for promoting diversity and inclusion in their workplaces. And the Progress under Pressure report provides the following recommendations:
- Collect data on your organisation, your customers and your community to provide a well-rounded baseline position
- Focus on all elements of diversity – including those like disability or socio-economic background which can be more hidden
- Hone your recruitment processes across all levels of your organisation, to ensure your practices reflect your culture, values and your aims for diversity
- Tackle unconscious bias across your recruitment practices, and make use of techniques like structured interviews and diverse panels
- But when it comes to senior level appointments, don’t assume that getting your approach to recruitment right will be enough, make sure you are also working cross-sector to reach new audiences and grow new talent ready to take on senior roles
- Work with trusted external partners to help you benchmark, identify best practice, and put in place programmes which can help provide pathways for talent development
- Always aim for improvement, diversity and inclusion is a journey that’s never over, there is always more you can be doing to be an accessible employer and to benefit from more diversity of thought, don’t wait for problems to occur, act now and reap the benefits
- Don’t lose focus on inclusion, even once you’ve added diversity to your leadership, to make sure your workforce can be their full selves and play an active role in your organisation
“The sector is naturally rooted in the communities it serves, and recognises the need to reflect them in its leadership. What’s especially heartening is that it remains true, even as the sector faces
some significant challenges – that’s why we’ve titled this paper ‘progress under pressure’, because that’s what’s happening.”James Carss, Chief Executive Officer, Castle Peak Group
To arrange a conversation about how Positive About Inclusion can support your organisation contact us.
