Driving culture change is key to ensuring gender equality

Single initiatives to promote gender diversity are unlikely to succeed without achieving cultural change, according to a new report by Tomorrow’s Company, the London based business think tank.

The Tomorrow’s Global Leaders: How to build a culture that ensures women reach the top report, addresses the question of how to achieve long-term business success through an inclusive culture.

Among its findings the guide says that top-slicing and redistributing the available talent is not a long-term solution and that the culture of organisations can only, ultimately, be changed by men and women working together, over years and across generations in order for organisations to survive and succeed. Change requires "interlocking and reinforcing" support for women from line managers and colleagues, coaches and senior mentors, executive leaders, and also family and society – which in turn means it’s not only businesses that need to change.

At the launch, Fiona Woolf CBE and Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman commented: “There has always been a moral case for Diversity and Inclusion, but there is also a business case - indeed, a business imperative, defined by constrained, finite natural resources and the uncertainties of climate change.

"In order to meet the challenges, and seize the opportunities, of a changing world we need to maximise the potential of our workforce – actually capturing the benefits of diversity for innovation and long-term growth. Changes need to be made – right now – if we are to build resilience, stability and sustainability, into our society.”

The report is based on dialogues and research in collaboration with leading businesses and networks including BAE Systems, British Airways, EY, City Women Network, Kingfisher, Linklaters, Lloyds Banking Group, National Grid, the Women’s Business Council, Women in Banking and Finance, and YSC.

You can download it here.