Legal professionals from 10 countries gathered in Atlanta this spring for Working Wiser , a workshop which took a new approach to speeding diversity and inclusion in the legal industry. It was not your normal diversity event. Many organizations roll out programs to raise awareness but focus less on what each of us can do in practical ways. We wanted to move past the “Why diversity makes good sense” discussion to working in a more inclusive environment. Focusing on Leo Tolstoy's quote, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself,” we looked inward to ask what each of us can do to speed progress on inclusion.  Making that effort in a diverse group in terms of gender, seniority and culture evidently captured the interest of the 60-plus in-house and outside counsel that attended. They came from 34 companies, firms and government organizations.   This column shares what our participants found valuable about the ideas generated by our discussion and provides details of the Working Wiser program format. We hope that these ideas help drive your efforts to engage each and every one of your teams to truly understand and practice inclusion at work every day. 

What We Learned

Accenture's phrase “Inclusion starts with I” inspired us and we added a big dose of “We.” We focused our time on exchanging practical perspectives on the challenges and the actions that have worked best to achieve progress, as experienced in each participant's organization.   The result was inspiring: Working Wiser exceeded the expectations of 83 percent of participants. Justin Castillo, legal head of BT Americas and a panel speaker at Working Wiser , feels that the program's success is driven by law firms' and in-house functions' hunger to improve. “Corporate legal interest in diversity and inclusion is driven by our appreciation today that the more perspectives you have, the more likely you'll see things in new and different ways,” Castillo says. “The benefits are more satisfied people, better utilization of our workforce and impact on business growth.” According to Castillo, “We all struggle with the challenge of building a culture and an approach that allows us to filter and fuse diverse perspectives to enable action and progress. For that reason, it's helpful to hear what has worked for others.”

Need for Partnership Between Corporate Counsel, Law Firms

Gretchen Bellamy, a speaker and founder of Bellamy Management Consulting, brought her experience both as an in-house lawyer and then senior strategist for culture, diversity and inclusion across Walmart Inc. globally. “What stood out to me was our small table conversations with diverse people from around the world, talking about the challenges we face,” Bellamy said.  “The sharing of perspectives, and the vulnerability in the room, allowed us to openly recognize that this challenge needs a strategy that touches all parts of any business. A plan needs to be developed, with subsequent execution through deliberate trial, error and courage. We recognized it must be done in partnership between corporate counsel and law firms.”

How to Participate in the Change

Bellamy found that a "hot topic" is the inclusion of straight white men in the discussion, since they often hold positions of influence and power. At Working Wiser, straight white men from more than 10 countries were in the room. “Their perspectives are invaluable and being part of the discussion helps them to share their vulnerabilities. I think that inclusion can help men be more sensitive to others who may need assistance. Because they feel heard and included, they may better recognize how to participate in the change,” Bellamy said. “A key point that resonated with me from the Working Wiser event is that an environment must be open and safe in order to foster diversity and inclusion,” said Barbara Miller, associate general counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. “Without that environment in which to flourish, diversity and inclusion will simply not work,” she said. “I hope to be able to help create safe spaces with other employees and key stakeholders in order to allow people to be their authentic selves and share ideas that can add value to our business.”

Inclusion Requires an Open, Safe Environment

Miller said that after her conversations with peers at the event, “I am focusing on building my understanding of others by asking what they think rather than assuming I know or understand what they are thinking.” Comments from other participants included:

• “I liked best our brainstorming on both barriers and solutions, and listening to diverse perspectives, including geographically.”
• “I liked the anecdotes. They provide the best lessons.”
• “I liked that exercises were very collaborative and allowed for interaction with different people.”
• “I liked that we came from many different organizations and perspectives and that we were each really pushed to speak and contribute.”

Conducting Your Own Program

Several in-house counsel participants recommended conducting a version of this program internally in their functions, or with in-house legal teams in diverse communities. Miller of Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta said, “I would definitely recommend a similar event to my peers. It is critical that inside and external counsel work together to speed the process of diversity and inclusion.” Take ideas from the program from our recent Working Wiser event:

• A panel of three, plus moderator (including Heather Nevitt, Corporate Counsel editor-in-chief) who shared their experiences on the most successful components of their diversity and inclusion efforts, and why. Followed by a roundtable exercise on:

> Problems: What are the barriers? What slows us down? > Potential solutions: Ways to break down barriers and speed progress.

• Highly rated opening and closing keynotes, of less than  20 minutes each, from:

• Monica Howard Douglas, North America general counsel, The Coca-Cola Co.
• Walter Lancaster, deputy general counsel and global head of litigation, Accenture.

• A fast-moving exercise where each participant exchanged ideas at three different small breakouts with legal professionals worldwide. Facilitators guided and took notes on four themes:

1. Create an inclusive environment in internal and external meetings and projects.
2. Ensure that everyone understands the commitment.
3. Promote the business and culture of a diverse, inclusive workplace for legal services.
4. Identify, develop and promote talented people with a focus on inclusion.

We will be hosting a second Working Wiser event in the afternoon on Oct. 17  in New York City. Get in touch if you would like to participate. E. Leigh Dance is executive director of Global Counsel Leaders and advises global corporate legal and compliance functions from her bases in New York and Brussels. Vanessa Scott is a partner at Eversheds Sutherland in Washington, D.C., and is the firm's chief diversity and inclusion officer. For more info on the Oct. 17  event contact:  [email protected].