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Diversity should be at the heart of every Board.
Having diverse representation among the Board will ensure that varied perspectives and experiences are shared so that the business can make the best and most informed decisions to help them prosper going forwards. According to a study by Deloitte, 93% of business leaders agree that diversity plays an integral part in the decision-making process, particularly at Board-level. Despite this, the same report revealed that just under 16% of leaders consider diversity a priority when recruiting new talent onto the Board. Numerous companies, including Domino’s Pizza, Lloyds Banking Group and Ocado, have been outed in this report for their alleged lack of gender diversity at the top. However, one company has expressed a commitment to supporting and developing female employees on their journey to accessing more senior roles in the business.
Late last year, Stonegate Pub Company launched a new Female Mentoring Programme which was sought to increase the representation of women in senior roles across the business. After the company analysed the gender split in job roles, it became apparent that, in some areas of the business, there were barriers stalling internal career progression for women. Tim Painter, HR Director at Stonegate Pub Company told HR Grapevine that internal company research unearthed some commonalities hindering the progress, including a lack of self-confidence and self-belief which was stopping women from accessing senior roles in the business. So, they introduced a new programme to fix this. “To address this, we partnered 31 high-performing females within head office and sites, with a mix of senior executives across departments,” he explained.
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However, there is something about the structure of this mentoring programme that makes it unique. Rather than the session’s agenda being set by the mentor, it is set by the mentee and focusses on what they want to achieve at the end of it. To facilitate this, several goals and actions will be set at the end of each meeting and the programme continues until the mentee has been able to reach their goal. The reason for allowing the mentee to set the agenda, in Painter’s words, is that the mentor isn’t responsible nor accountable for the individual performance of an employee. “A mentor is someone who takes on the role of trusted adviser, teacher, coach, supporter and wise council of another person,” Painter explained. “The mentor is engaged in the potential of the person to progress and be successful and gives support by helping the person to think, provides information, advice and assistance in a way that empowers.” For this reason, the HR practitioner explained that it is crucial that the mentor remains “unattached” to any specified agenda or outcome. “In this way, the agenda is driven by the mentee, allowing them to manage their own growth and providing them with an increasing sense of empowerment,” he added. And this will allow the mentee to unlock their true potential.
