Norie Campbell, Group Head and General Counsel, TD Bank Group, has been successfully leading high-impact inclusion efforts and focusing on real-world, practical strategies that recruit, engage and advance diverse candidates into leadership roles. She shares these strategies and describes how they are catalyzing change across the Bank and effectively connecting diversity and inclusion efforts to customer and community engagement.
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Charlene Theodore:
Hello, and welcome to the Work that Works podcast. I'm your host, Charlene Theodore. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that I'm recording this episode from the Dish With One Spoon Territory. I'm grateful to the original owners for taking care of this land, and I recognize the trees that govern it. Knowing that our listeners span the country and are tuning in from other areas with their own treaties and unceded territories, I encourage you to continue learning more about the indigenous history in your community. It is important history and a story that continues.
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Charlene Theodore:
By adopting inclusive practices, we hope to build diverse workplaces where people of all races, cultures, gender identities, ages, orientations and walks of life come together to contribute their distinct talents and perspectives. But can an organization truly claim diversity or for that matter, enjoy the benefits of it if the executive team remains largely homogenous?
Charlene Theodore:
I'm OBA President, Charlene Theodore, and this is the Work that Works podcast. Our guest today is someone who knows that no EDI strategy will have impact or staying power if the efforts don't apply to the upper echelons of the organization. Diversity in your top-level decision-makers and board members is crucial to creating a culture shift and a workplace that works for everyone. What's more, she has the strategies to catalyze this changing face of governance, capitalize on organization-wide diversity and continue to cultivate and promote leaders from different backgrounds.
Charlene Theodore:
Norie Campbell is Group Head and General Counsel of TD Bank Group and she is also chair of TD's Enterprise-wide Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council. In addition to crafting an impressive legal career, she has long been leading the charge in advancing equality in the workplace, and is a prime example of paying it forward. She has been awarded Canada's Top 40, Under 40 distinction, recognized as one of Canada's most powerful women by the Women's Executive Network, is a 2018 WXN Hall of Fame inductee and was recognized in 2019 as a Catalyst Canada Honours Champion Business Leader. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to talk with her today about how to be intentional in our commitment to diversity and inclusion at work from top to bottom.
Charlene Theodore:
Welcome, Norie. Thanks for joining us.
Norie Campbell:
Oh, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you.
Charlene Theodore:
So, I want to talk about the fact that you have a foot in both the financial and the legal sectors, and both are sectors that are known fairly or unfairly for having fairly traditional cultures and not overly enthusiastic about embracing major structural change. As someone with a foot in both camps, I wondered if that view is consistent with your experience?
Norie Campbell:
Well, I've been at TD Bank for 20 years. I just had my TD birthday in December.
Charlene Theodore:
Happy TD birthday.
Norie Campbell:
Thank you. I can tell you, I have seen a lot of change. So, maybe I could just tell you a little bit about our diversity and inclusion journey if you will. So, we really got started in 2005, and at that point I'd say our main focus was on building a respectful work culture. And I have to really recommend that as a foundational piece of diversity and inclusion, and we used to sort of refer to that as we were building a no-yell culture. This was an organization where you would come to where people's ideas and opinions would be respected.
Norie Campbell:
As we continued in our work on diversity and inclusion, I'd say the next phase of three phases was to add inclusion. We started on diversity, really focused on what is the diverse individual need to do, and so I felt like the addition of inclusion was a seismic change in how we looked at it. How has the power of this organization working to make the most inclusive place where everyone can be successful?
Norie Campbell:
And then I have the great pleasure now of leading our Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council, and when I reset the strategy for it, we have at the bank our purpose is to enrich the lives of our customers, our colleagues and our communities. And I thought the really important shift we needed to continue to try to be a leader in the diversity and inclusion space, which is our goal, was to say, "Our diversity and inclusion work must cut across customer, colleague and community," because it had been more of an internal piece, what are we doing for our employees? Very, very important, but to have a sustainable diversity and inclusion culture, we needed to be thinking, "Are we doing what we need to do for our customers? Are we doing what we need to do in our communities? And are we doing what we need to do for our colleagues?"
Charlene Theodore:
Now, you mentioned in terms of there was a shift for TD in terms of working internally and then taking that shift externally to our communities, and I personally, just as a consumer, have noticed that shift. TD has a large presence in support of events for the Black communities, South-Asian community, and various other racialized communities in Ontario. But I've also noticed TD made a very... As part of its kind of corporates image, right? When you look at TD, what do you think? They did make it known that they were really focusing on Women in Leadership. And quite frankly, I think that's something that TD and banking has done very well. And I know you've said before that you were an early beneficiary of TD's focus on Women in Leadership. Can you maybe talk a little bit about the meaningful parts of that experience for you in building your career and your leadership skills?
Norie Campbell:
So, I had the privilege before I was leading our Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council, I led our Women in Leadership pillar for three years, and I wanted to tell you that we have 16,000 active volunteers within the bank focused on Women in Leadership. When I started our D&I journey, we had 28% of our women VP class were women at that point, and we just met our milestone of 40% that we had set for ourselves for the end of 2020. So, that's a lot of growth.
Charlene Theodore:
Congratulations.
Norie Campbell:
One thing with that sort of growth rate, we'd forgotten the men. We were on to that most of our events were focused only on having women, because maybe back when you had 28%, you had to get some men up on stage, and so that was something where we said, "Hey, we need allies. We need to re-engage and create some momentum on how are men supporting women to be successful in the bank?" And we know across diversity and inclusion, how powerful the role of allies is.
Charlene Theodore:
That's very important.
Norie Campbell:
I felt very strongly we needed to increase the diversity of women who were successful within the bank. Today, we'd call that intersectionality, we didn't know that word yet. [crosstalk 00:07:40] very important progress on this, so it's like we have to make sure that just like with any form of leadership, you're not saying, "This is what a leader looks like." Its like "This is a very broad array." And we really called on the women leaders to be saying, "Hey, we need to figure out how to make this more diverse, and we've made some good progress on that front." And then one that we spend a lot of time deciding was this the job of the Women in Leadership work or not was forward-thinking workplace programs say that's flex work or leaves.
Norie Campbell:
So, that was an issue where people had a lot of views, and they were divided. We have lots of people across the bank who may need leaves. Why is this a burden carried if you will, by the Women in Leadership group? But when we pushed through, we decided we have a role to champion this, and so we named it forward-thinking workplace programs for everyone. And we champion that out of the Women in Leadership pillar. And I think that's a really important piece, because if you can in your diversity and inclusion work, just create a better workplace for everyone. Great outcome, right? So, those were our big pieces.
Charlene Theodore:
You have famously cited that very important Catalyst Canada observation. There are more CEOs of S&P 500 companies named John than there are women CEOs. And so, I'm wondering if you could provide just a little insight on what measures we can adopt, our listeners can adapt to ensure EDI strategies are felt across the entire organization, top to bottom?
Norie Campbell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Diversity and Inclusion is the height of strategic. You need a compelling vision. You need people to rally to that vision, but whether or not you will be successful is the result of thousands of micro-decisions made across your organization every day. So, the number one thing I would tell people to do is understand your own data. What has happened in the last decade, the ability to know your own HR data has been revolutionized in the last 10 years. So, people have a lot of information at their fingertips, and so you can really dive into it and then you need to face it. You need to know what it says, and then you need to face what it's telling you, because that's one of the great things about numbers, even if lawyers prefer words, and it's a great thing about numbers.
Norie Campbell:
So, for example, one thing that we looked at is what I call cliffs. If you mapped your organization by level, then you could see across different businesses where they're cliffs. You are running along with lots of women or a visible minority, whatever diversity group you're looking at, at levels five, six, seven, and then a big cliff between seven and eight. If you could see that, then you can say, "Hey, what goes on in that level?" We're in a bank here, so say that is that when you have to face customers, is that when you need to lead a team, is there something about the difference in those jobs where there's barriers to whether people think your diverse candidates can do it or not? Absent data, you don't really know what it is you're facing, where the problems are, why are you not getting all the way to the most senior jobs with a great big full pipeline? So, I think data is a huge piece.
Norie Campbell:
I also think technology can be your friend. So, I just give you just one quick example on this. We're really disappointed that we were not getting any women to apply to certain jobs within our technology function, really focused on can we increase the number of women in technology, and we'd put job postings up and no women would apply. So, we learned about this software where you can put your job descriptions through the software, and it tells you what words within your writeup might be off-putting to applicants. So, then we took the job descriptions back down, did what the software told us, put them back up and had women applicants, and women actually ended up with the roles. So, you can take what is going on in the world to keep chipping away.
Charlene Theodore:
Technology is such a useful tool, but it's about balancing kind of that human intuition or that human innovation with the right tools to come up with the solution.
Norie Campbell:
Yes, definitely.
Charlene Theodore:
So, further to that, what differences have you noticed within TD as more women have gotten over that cliff, right? Have roles risen through the ranks to become top-level decision-makers?
Norie Campbell:
So, I'm personally not a big believer in saying women are like this, men are like that, but I do think that adding more diverse talent to our senior leadership team has made a big difference. And the reason I think that is because it says leaders at TD don't fit one mold. So, if you have a picture in your head, this is what it must be to be a leader at TD, rip it up. We're just opening up the aperture here, and telling you leaders come looking different, sounding different, different backgrounds, and I think that's the win. I think that's the way you start to really get momentum. So, we all know that expression, "If I can't see it, I can't be it."
Norie Campbell:
But I actually think it also applies if you are the hiring manager, you're the board of directors, you're the person giving out the corporate account. Because in that moment, if we have seen the woman as leader, we have seen the diverse candidate as the head of the account, then we believe it. And then other women and other diverse candidates can be it. And so I think that this is a very, very important piece. I also think there is the value of empathy. It kind of goes back to when you were asking me about how do I use my own experience to... I think empathy is a hugely important piece, and the respect piece that we talked about. I think as the nature of how every person got to the senior team is their own sort of unique path that breeds a respect environment that is really important to propelling diversity and inclusion.
Charlene Theodore:
100%. I want to talk about one of the many ways, factors that gets diverse variety of people to those top-level positions, and that is sponsorships. You've said before, when it comes to being a sponsor of women, racialized people of diverse individuals to make sure it's an assignment that really matters. Can you tell us a little bit for our listeners who don't know the difference between mentorship and sponsorship a little bit, what was sponsorship means to you? And what did you mean by that, specifically, make sure that's a assignment that really matters?
Norie Campbell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So, the best definitional difference I've heard between mentorship and sponsorship is mentorship kind of happening offline. It's like, "I'm going to talk to Norie offline, and I'll tell her." Whereas sponsorship is I'm in the room, and I'm saying, "Who you should think about for this? It's Norie." I find that the most useful way to try to think about the two. On the assignment that matters, I feel like I learn this lesson very early in my career, in this circumstance the idea was... This is maybe not the best expression, but if you could only have one man in the foxhole, I would pick this person. So, we can gender neutralize that, you and I. Only one person and then maybe no war analogy, but the notion really stuck with me. What does the leader do in the circumstance they can only choose one person on their team, who do they turn to? And how do you run yourself as that person on the team?
Norie Campbell:
And the reason I think that really matters is there's always things that are coming up for a leader that they have no home for it. Who's going to do that job? And if you are that person, you often end up with the new assignment, and those assignments often are show that you can operate well in ambiguity, you can take the tricky thing that no one knows how to get done. And those are really important pieces to growing. I've always found that kind of a useful idea. If you think about the world from your bosses' perspective and think, "When they have something they don't know who to give it to, how are you presenting as the person they should give that to?"
Charlene Theodore:
That's great. I am definitely a sponsorship evangelist. It's been cited in countless studies, including I think the most recent Lean In , the Women in the Workplace report that black women are over-mentored and under-sponsored, something that I advocate for at every opportunity. I'm just wondering, based on your experience, if you could give our listeners some tips on how legal workplaces and legal employers can ensure that their sponsorship programs are high impact and truly meaningful?
Norie Campbell:
Well, I think that the easiest way to do sponsorship well is because it really aligns with what you, as the sponsor need to deliver. That's the simplest way to get there. It's like, "How do I, in my role as sponsor really make sure that I am finding people within my organization that I need to keep growing and developing?" I think when you move into a more formalistic role, which I think is also quite important, then you have to say, "How am I within my organization creating that as a true expectation of that leader?" Because if you don't do that part, I think it's hard for people in the world of competing priorities to make sure that they keep it front and center. So, how might you do that? I think that is about trying to take the requirements on a person's plate, and see what could be up for grabs for a sponsorship opportunity?
Norie Campbell:
So, say as the person's boss, you're trying to motivate this in your team, it's like, "I can see that you could take this slice of what I've asked you to do and ask somebody within the team to do that with you." I think that's really the best way to get there. It's hard to sponsor unless you have more free time than I do to sponsor outside of your responsibility set-
Charlene Theodore:
Yeah.
Norie Campbell:
... but it's not that hard to choose to do it within your responsibility set. So, it's like, "Can you think that through?" The other thing I would just say, if you would indulge me for a second is I also sometimes worry to say, "Oh, the trick is a mentor. The trick is a sponsor." Because it's not totally within an individual's control, whether they get a mentor or they get a sponsor. So, I'd like to just share one other story if I could, which is I had this strategy given to me, maybe 15 years ago. And I really think it's very powerful, which is every person can do this, whether someone's going to be there as their mentor or sponsor or not, which is to say, "Okay, this is the job I want."
Norie Campbell:
So, say in my history, I say, "I want to be the general counsel of the TD Bank." I take a blank sheet of paper, and I make some shapes on the paper that represent, what does that job I actually do? It goes to the board. It provides advice to the most senior leaders. And then I look at that page and I try to say, "What is that on that page do I already know how to do, everyone would agree I already know how to do?" And I color that in. And then I'm looking, how much is left on the page white. Now, I'm not going to make the mistake that many women make to say, "The page must be totally covered and I'm not ready." We know that's not true, right?
Charlene Theodore:
This is true.
Norie Campbell:
We know that's not true. But what could I ask my boss to do next that would color in another area? And then I'm advancing myself. I'm thinking, "What is it that I would look at if I were the next layer up? Do I believe the person could do the role and I'm making progress against it?" And what I like about that is it puts the power in your own hands to own your future. And I think that's such an important part of career development.
Charlene Theodore:
That's amazing. And I love that that's a visual tool, because again, a common mistake that people make is like you said, thinking that they're not ready, but I think that when you have it there as a visual diagram, I think at that first go round, some people may even be surprised at how much they color in. I think that would be a happy surprise. Quite frankly, I may do that as well. So, kind of coming back full circle to the top of our conversation, we talked about that shift from diversity, inclusion internally to external, not just to your clients and the customers, but to the communities, which I just think is great. I want to talk a little bit more about how TD invests in the communities it serves, and what was the thinking behind that? What was the desired impact, if you could share?
Norie Campbell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, I appreciate the question. It's a huge passion of mine. I have a remarkable team and they deserve all the credit that leads our TD Ready Commitment. And what we did say, "We've always had a great history of giving money at the bank, but we could do it and achieve more outcomes for the people that we serve if we did it with more of a lens of what goals are we headed towards." So, we said by 2030, we wanted to give our money, actually a billion dollars we would give over a decade, want to give our money to make a more inclusive future for everyone. And then we said, "What would you actually have to do to do that?" And we created what we call four interconnected drivers of change. You need to have people have financial security, better health, connected communities, and a vibrant planet.
Norie Campbell:
And then we set about to say, "Okay, well, those are your goals and this is where you're headed. Where should we give our money, and how would we interact with the amazing not-for-profits that existed in our footprint?" And then we said, "Well, let's not stop at money. We have a lot of other resources at the bank." And so we have our TD Ready Commitment Ambassador Network, which is how we give our hours of volunteer time matched to the charities that we serve, but also said, "Sometimes our colleagues are very passionate about things that we may not have found yet," so we have a way to match grants to volunteer hours from our colleagues.
Norie Campbell:
If I step back and say in banking, we know we are only as strong as the communities we serve. You must be very focused on this. It makes a ton of great business sense, which is really good as a motivator. I'm not shy at all about things making good business sense. That's a great, great outcome, but we also have a lot to give. So, how do you give more than write a check? How do you get involved with these organizations and really help them do the things that they're so amazing at?
Charlene Theodore:
I love that strategy. I've been involved in volunteer and charitable organizations that use that model. Bidding time in an auction, and so if you win the piece, you get a piece of art. I think corporate, not just encouragement, but structural support of volunteerism is great. I'm wondering if you can maybe give some tips to some fundamentals for our listeners who have other legal workplaces, smaller ones, perhaps with fewer financial resources, maybe just some kind of a blueprint for the tools and how they can benefit, and invest in their communities in ways that benefit both the people that work for those organizations and the people that they serve?
Norie Campbell:
Well, I think that your question has the finger on the exact right question. There's an amazing uplift of engagement from the people that work with you, either because they're very excited about the initiative you're going to take on, or because they are very excited that the organization wants to do good. So, I think the real part, it's just the same, what we did when we said about to set the TD Ready Commitment, we went around to a lot of our employees and a lot of our leaders and said, "What has made you really proud about what we have done before? And what would you like us to do going forward?"
Norie Campbell:
And you could do that in a smaller organization too. And then I think it is getting this combined power of whatever financial resource you want to give, but your people resource, which is very, very valuable. And of course, we're talking about law firms, while the legal skills, very valuable in the not-for-profit sector, but even just the problem solving skills of lawyers, very valuable and then not-for-profit sector governance, all those sorts of pieces. And so, I think it's just a great idea to ask what are people interested in doing, and then align your charitable giving to your people. And many ways, it's about just start, just do something, just start.
Charlene Theodore:
100%. And I think the impacts are the same, because from the community-facing side, you're benefiting your community. And I think that you're seen as part of your community as opposed to a business, big, smaller or otherwise that's set apart from community. I think that makes obvious business sense, but from the workplace that works perspective, when you have young lawyers that are looking to say, "Where am I going to start my career?" We've had a whole episode on millennial lawyers, and what their wants, needs and desires are of new workplaces. And I think that is something that new lawyers are looking for. It is part of the thing that they're evaluating. So, I think that that's great.
Charlene Theodore:
I'd like to talk a little bit about corporate social responsibility now, which banks are known for. We've spoken on this podcast before about the link between a lawyer's desire for meaningful work, the way to the workplace and their organizations' demonstrable commitment to responding, not just publicly, but compassionately in response to global social issues that may arise. What are some of the examples and initiatives around corporate social responsibility the TD has taken, either in day-to-day operation in response to global events? And how do they make TD a workplace that works?
Norie Campbell:
So, I think the question of where you should use your voice externally is a very interesting and evolving question to the point that you're raising. I always think you're well-served to think about, "Why am I the trusted voice on this topic and choosing to speak out on matters? Or have I actually earned the right to speak on this matter?" And that goes back a lot to some of the things that we've talked about before on really listening and really understanding, and that's not fast. That's something you have to work on. I would say for example, one thing where we really felt we could make a difference externally, we're all obviously really impacted by COVID, and of course, some disproportionately more than others. When we could see this at the beginning of this crisis, we started something called the TD Community Resilience Fund.
Norie Campbell:
And we did that because we could see that some of the not-for-profits that we normally worked with and some that we never had before were serving communities that were disproportionately impacted. And we thought that was a way we can get out and say, "We care, and we want to try to help you in this time where your normal funding just isn't covering what needs to occur." We do this thing, I'm very proud of it. We do it what we call the TD Ready Challenge. And this is every year, we take $10 million of our charitable giving, and we make a challenge on innovation in the not-for-profit space, because sometimes it's very hard to fund innovation and we make it topic. And so this year our topic was COVID response. And we asked for people to submit their ideas of what would they do. And then we gave away many grants under this piece really need.
Norie Campbell:
What we know for certain is that those who are closest to our customers within the bank know best how to solve their problems. The charitable organizations that are closest to the people in need know best how to solve their problems. So, we need to knit their amazing ideas with the funding and that's what this work really does. The day we choose our winners, we do a big day of it. It's my most favorite day of the year
Charlene Theodore:
That's awesome.
Norie Campbell:
It's just so inspiring how amazing the ideas are.
Charlene Theodore:
So, one last question for you Norie, if our listeners could do one thing tomorrow, so our listeners who are legal employers within their organizations, whether in-house or in private practice to break down a barrier, whether it's to recruitment, engagement, or promotion of diverse employees, what's the one thing that you would recommend?
Norie Campbell:
We have a process at the bank, we call talent review. It comes up every year at this time. And it's really when you figure out who has the potential to do other roles, and how are we helping them get there? So, on the eve of kicking this off, I just did a session yesterday with my team about how can we put the diversity and inclusion lens even more into this activity this year? And so, I just wanted to share what I said to them, see if this is helpful to your...
Charlene Theodore:
I love getting the inside scoop, let's do it.
Norie Campbell:
So, what I said is, "I want you to think about what you do when you are asked to fill a role on your team? How would you think about that?" And I said, "You would not be alone if you thought about the incumbent." You likely think, "Oh, I like my incumbent. They're doing a great job." And so then you would maybe seek to replicate that incumbent. But if you did that, likely your team, five years from now looks a lot like your team today. So, could you picture another way that you would sit back and you would say, "What skills do I actually need five years out to do that job?" Maybe the market's going to change as people in my team beyond lawyer, so maybe the market's going to change, maybe the tools you're going to need to do the job, they're going to change. Maybe the expectations are going to change. Maybe it's a bionic job, human part machine. Then what do you picture you need?
Norie Campbell:
And I think not only is that good planning, but that breaks you out of the mold, they're kind of lazy mode of I picture mind incumbent or the mental shortcut, I picture my incumbent and I seek to replicate. And I think if we did that, we would really open up the likelihood of a more diverse applicant being successful to that new role. So, I think there's a real opportunity in there. If that looks a little bit too esoteric, I'll give you a tip instead of that sort of more like a-
Charlene Theodore:
No, I think it's not esoteric at all. I think it's a great, innovative practice, but keep the tips coming.
Norie Campbell:
The tip, what I actually did myself about 15 years ago, we were talking about it, have been working on Women in Leadership for a long time. Is a little bit grumpy, I don't see that they are hiring enough women. And then I sat back and said, "What are you doing, Norie? What are you doing to make sure more women are hired?" And so I made a pledge to myself that day. I will not make a recommendation when someone asks me or I have a task, I have an assignment, I have a job promotion. I have an opening. I will not respond until I have thought of a diverse candidate. I would put in the job myself, and I can actually look across TD and actually beyond TD and see how that has played out. And I think if people did that, it's not hard, but you could do it. You could do it every time. So, that's my tip.
Charlene Theodore:
Some of my OBA colleagues, we think the same way, but I know that there are men across law that have made a similar commitments when they're asked to speak on panels.
Norie Campbell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. That's a good one.
Charlene Theodore:
The second vice president, he won't speak on a panel until he finds out who else is on there? And until they diversify it, whether it's suspected gender, race, gender identity, it's a practice that he started. I adopted it and many of my OBA colleagues have adopted it as well. And so it's something that whether it's a job posting or internal working committee within your job, or if you're going to speak... If we have access to speak at some of these amazing conferences and panels, we do have a lot of power to make sure that they are diverse, compelling, and sometimes new voices on the stage. And so, I take that advice, I'm implementing in my own way. And now that it's on this podcast, the word is going to spread, so that's great. Thank you so much for chatting with me today. It's always great to chat with you, and thank you for your time and all your helpful advice.
Norie Campbell:
It's been my absolute pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you very much.
Charlene Theodore:
Norie has challenged all of us in the legal workplace to ask not what they are doing to foster greater diversity, but what are we doing? And she's given us the problem solvers and the strategists some great places to start. Begin by creating a culture of respect on which to build your inclusion strategies. When advancing your D&I efforts, implement them broadly, engage your allies, and remember that you're seeking to enrich not only the lives of your colleagues, but of your clients and communities to. D&I has to cross all of those spaces. Your forward-thinking programs like flex work and leaves may ultimately benefit some groups more than others, but design them for and promote them to everyone.
Charlene Theodore:
Understand your own data. It's not enough to collect it and categorize it. You have to face it in order to fix what's broken. Norie reminded us to look for cliffs in the career progression of diverse employees in order to identify barriers unique to them. Are they stalling or dropping out when confronted with a rule that is client-facing, or when they need to lead a team? Is there some reason their managers or they themselves think they won't succeed? Technology can be helpful in identifying gaps. When Norie wasn't getting women applying for a tech related role, her team ran the job posting through software that identified the language that was off-putting to women candidates. When they addressed that issue, applications from qualified women came pouring in. Meaningful mentorship and sponsorship can both have an impact on individual careers and diversity across the organization. But sponsorship is a more visible form of support, because while mentorship happens largely offline, sponsorship takes place right in the room.
Charlene Theodore:
As a leader, when opportunities are discussed among your counterparts, that is the time when you put sponsorship into action, putting forward names of women, particularly those from equity-seeking groups will have an immediate impact on your efforts to diversify your leadership team. The same is true for any assignment or opportunity that crosses your desk. It's important not to replicate homogeneity out of habit. When looking to fill a role on your team, it's natural to think of someone who resembles and shares the skill set of the incumbent, who succeeded in the position. Break free of this mold by imagining what skills and tools the role will require five years from now. That's how you're able to picture what and who it is you really need.
Charlene Theodore:
If you have any part in procuring services in your organization, make sure that diversity is a part of that process every time. When it's your own career, you're seeking to advance, try Norie's suggestion of drawing shapes on a piece of paper to represent every skill or qualification needed for the role you're seeking, then coloring the ones you've already acquired. See which of them you can ask your boss to help you attain, put the power back in your own hands. Becoming active and entrenched and doing good in your communities makes good business sense, but the benefits are exponentially greater than just dollars and cents. We're only as strong as the communities we serve, and employees increasingly want to work for and engage in organizations that are giving back that they can be proud to be associated with.
Charlene Theodore:
There are so many not-for-profits who know what the community needs most, and who could certainly make use of the unique and valuable skills that lawyers bring. Seek their expertise and align your charitable efforts with your people. Ask them what causes matter to them? Skills and time can be valuable contributions. As you set out on this path, you will make mistakes, but falling into analysis paralysis or avoiding uncomfortable conversations means risking stagnation or worse. Discomfort is part of the process, as Norie says, "Diversity and inclusion is a learning journey that your organization gives you." When someone corrects you, consider it a gift. It means they know that you want to get it right, and will keep going and growing until you do.
Charlene Theodore:
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Charlene Theodore:
(music).