The Hybrid Leader with Bruce Owen (Part 2)
In the second part of this series around ‘Leading into the Future in partnership with The Business Transformation Network, Bruce Owen (Vice President – Employee & Community Impact at Equinix) looks at how Equinix measures diversity and inclusion efforts.
Equinix’s key belief is transparency. They break up the elements of diversity, inclusion and belonging so that they are not merged.
Diversity is measured through key metrics. Internal placemats are published every quarter that then goes out to all senior leaders that represent all aspects of diversity that they can measure. Some include gender, race, ethnicity and more.
Inclusion is heavily relieved on survey data. Poll surveys are used every quarter to get a sense of where their employers are. Bruce then explains how they look at what is the experience of people from under representative communities at Equinix’s and how do they take action to create a more inclusive environment. They identify which pockets of the organisation have higher levels of inclusion and which ones have lower levels. Bruce states…
“You cannot make progress until you’re willing to be vulnerable and transparent”
The conversation then moves on to the different ways we can develop future leaders and create a comfortable place to work. According to Bruce, there are 4 main ways that this can be done:
- Creating an environment where others look like you at all levels of the organisation.
- Creating an environment where you are believed.
- Being valued for your perspective, such as having a different opinion.
- Fun. Create an environment where people want to grow, develop and lead.
