INspiring greater diversity in leadership
April 2022.
We spoke to Sotaro Kita (a Professor of Psychology of Language in the Psychology Department) and Parvez Islam (Director of Environmental Sustainability) about INspire, a programme designed to support leaders who face well documented barriers getting into top leadership positions.
What led you to apply to the INspire programme?
Kita: I was looking for a new challenge and thinking about how it would be to join the senior management of the University. I wanted to meet others who have similar career vision.
Parvez: Curiosity around what the University felt like it needed to do to develop greater diversity at senior leadership level and how it would be helping individuals such as myself to be able to achieve career progression within the organisation.
What impact has participation in the programme had on your professional development?
Kita: The most significant is the network that I built with people among the current senior management through various events and sponsorship programme, and also with other participants in the programme. This enhanced my understanding of how the university works and gained deeper insights into different parts of the University.
Parvez: The interaction with colleagues, especially with Peer Coaching, along with having an Executive mentor has helped provide me with different perspectives on situations and has allowed me to try different approaches to succeed in achieving things in my job role.
How do you feel the INspire programme is meeting its main objectives of creating leaders who are inclusive, reflect the diversity of our communities, challenge traditional practices and inspire others to help Warwick achieve our 2030 strategic objectives?
Kita: The programme gave people from ethnic minority backgrounds a platform to think about the university level issues and make connections to the senior management and other leaders in the University.
Parvez: The programme is helping to highlight the opportunities individuals have in order to make a difference at Warwick. With regular interactions with senior Executive and Council members, including the Vice-Chancellor, the programme shows that the interest in creating an inclusive and diverse environment at Warwick is strong. Inspire is particularly giving a platform for ethnic minorities but it needs to be broader in terms of capturing other key groups but also driving more diverse and inclusive thought across the organisation.
Which aspect/s of the programme did you find particularly valuable?
Kita: Sponsorship and Peer Coaching.
Parvez: Peer Coaching was extremely helpful in getting to see a colleague’s viewpoint and the challenges they face in performing their role, especially when they are in a different part of the University. Their insight into how they tackled issues was deeply enlightening. The sessions with senior members of the organisation was also insightful and increased my knowledge of how challenges were faced at that level.
Why should those eligible for the scheme apply?
Kita: You will meet leaders in the senior management and in various departments, whom you will never meet otherwise.
Parvez: Inspire is definitely a programme to benefit from in many ways, not least from hearing from fellow colleagues from a similar minority group and being able to have constructive discussion with them. It has helped me develop better in how I perform my role at the University and it has benefitted me in being able to change my role and take on additional responsibilities as a result.