Driving organisational change- it starts at the top
For the most part, any kind of change within an organisation is often driven from the top. Wherever an initiative or idea starts within a workplace, the critical point of moving from good intent to action comes to fruition when a leader becomes the driving force behind it. The soon-to-be-released findings of our recent research project, which investigated the challenges employers are facing regarding disability employment, found that this is especially true when it comes to the recruitment of people with disability.
41.9% of employers* surveyed told us that the recruitment of people with disability occurred when a senior leader took the reins and actively encouraged change, as opposed to organically.
Additionally, they told us that it is far less often the result of an employee not in a leadership position advocating change (16.1%).
This also held true for organisations yet to proactively start recruiting people with disability.
Among this group of employers, three in 10 (30.8%) told us leadership that champions diversity and inclusion was one of the top three things that would encourage them to change.
Together these findings highlight the power and responsibility that senior leaders have when it comes to creating diversity within the workplace, for people with disability, or any minority group within our society for that matter. Edge are here to support, educate and assist leaders of all kinds to become part of the journey towards more equitable workplaces that are true representations of the communities that they operate within and support.
*130 West Australian employers were surveyed between 11th to 30th September 2020.
We are very excited to soon be sharing the rest of our findings with you. In the meantime, we wanted to share a recent interview that our Chairman, Terry Agnew, the former CEO of RAC, undertook with Red Emu.
In the interview Terry shares some thought-provoking insights into his journey as a leader, including his experience in driving change within an organisation, whatever that change might be!