DEI expert interview: Lisa Perkins (Wesleyan)

At the FAIRER Conference, ,Lisa Perkins, HR Director at Wesleyan , answers some of our most pressing questions about the DEI landscape. Watch or read the interview below.

Q: What makes a truly inclusive leader?

Someone who is aware of the issues, aware of the barriers that exist, and is proactively seeking to solve them, and somebody that is truly committed to the D&I agenda.

Q: What makes a DEI strategy successful?

Fundamentally, you have to understand –your data, you have to understand the areas which you need to focus on. At Wesleyan we've done a great big deep dive on all of the areas – of recruitment, pipeline, recognition, pay, performance scores – and we've collated all that data together to get some really interesting insights that then drive the actions that we need to take. For me, the strategy depends on the business and it depends on the barriers within that business.

Q: What's the biggest challenge DEI faces?

It's getting leadership within the business to feel and act truly accountable rather than it being seen as an HR issue, seen as an executive board problem. So, it's really getting leaders at all parts of the organisation to truly understand the business case and understand their own accountabilities to drive it forward. 

Q: What are your hopes for DEI over the next five years?

I think most organisations – pretty much like ours – started off looking at targets, so focusing on the representation. I think that’s important, but for me, we need to now focus on the inclusion element. So, what does it mean for everybody in your organisation to feel that, regardless of any protected characteristic or anything broader than, they truly belong?