Championing change
Richard Johnson and Professor Sankalp Chaturvedi – Imperial College Business School
Richard Johnson, Faculty Operating Officer at Imperial College Business School, and Professor Sankalp Chaturvedi, Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Imperial College Business School, lead the work to respond to feedback from the staff survey and EDI.
Richard Johnson
“As the Business School’s Faculty Operating Officer, it is my responsibility to support all areas of the Business School. My role is to help encourage as many people as possible to respond to the staff survey and then work with stakeholders across the School to think about how we respond to the feedback from it. At the Business School we take the staff survey seriously and each department thinks about what they’ve learned from it and works to address issues.
“One of the main types of feedback that came out of the 2022 staff survey was issues around career development and progress.
Secondment opportunities
“Over the last year and a half, we have trialled a secondment programme for staff. We want to encourage staff in the Business School to apply for opportunities when they become available such as project work, maternity cover roles or when someone is going away for a long period of time such as sabbaticals. It gives staff the chance to step up into a more senior position, expand their skillset and learn more about the Business School.
“We have also started using All Staff meetings to showcase staff who have utilised career development opportunities offered by the Business School. Kim Foxwell, Head of Strategic Operations, shared her experience at one of the staff meetings. She talked about combining work with a part-time MBA at the Business School – an opportunity that is open for all Imperial staff to apply for. She also spoke about secondments she has taken, firstly within the Alumni team before beginning the MBA, and then into the Dean's office, a role that was eventually made permanent.
“We also had Toby Emmerson, Senior Employer Relations Manager, who talked about his experience in the career office. The feedback was very positive, and the talks were well received. A lot of people approached them to say thank you for sharing their stories, and to learn more about the support on offer which can help them develop their own careers.
I think the staff survey has given us a good snapshot and overview about how staff are feeling. It allows us to dig deeper and explore more about why staff feel a particular way when issues come up and where to prioritise efforts.
Careers appointments for staff
“Within the Business School we have a careers team available for students. They provide coaching, development activities and career advice. Each year, there’s a period of downtime for the team and Lisa Umenyiora, Executive Director of the Career Service, and others in her team offer their services and expertise to Business School staff. We are expanding this in the coming year to carve out dedicated time each month for staff to consider and act on their own learning and development goals.
“We partnered with the Empathy Museum to create a podcast series where six members of staff at the Business School talked about how their careers developed and how they were supported during their time at Imperial. We worked with the Empathy Museum to make sure that we were telling these stories in a sympathetic way and we made them available to all staff.
“I think the staff survey has given us a good snapshot and overview about how staff are feeling. It allows us to dig deeper and explore more about why staff feel a particular way when issues come up and where to prioritise efforts.”
Professor Sankalp Chaturvedi
“My research background is on organisational behavior and leadership, and I have extensively studied issues related to leadership, mindfulness, employee motivation, and performance.”
“Improving ‘culture and inclusion’ in the Business School was a priority for staff and that was reflected in the 2022 Staff Survey.
“I was appointed Associate Dean for EDI in September 2022 and one of the first things I did was to review the staff survey feedback. I saw that there were a lot of culture issues identified which needed in-depth understanding and investigation. It became evident that there was a need to think values (fairness and respect) associated with EDI in a structural and strategic way revolving around principles, processes, and people.
We are focusing on areas where we need to make improvements and implement even more changes. The staff survey has served as an important awareness tool.
Cultural Taskforces
“To achieve this, I first looked at our processes and how to make them more equitable and inclusive. With the support of Business School staff, we have formed EDI Committee of individuals nominated by their network, who are recognized as values-driven role models. EDI Committee is also contributing to the Cultural Taskforces using Design Thinking methodology to relook four key areas – Selection, Performance, Development and fulfilment, and Institutional identity.
“By the end of July we are hoping that we will have results to share and initiatives from each of the taskforces that we can pilot in the Business School.
Championing diversity
“Another priority for me is to bring more diversity into the hiring process, especially at the academic level. The university has the Provost’s Visiting Professor programme – a programme which brings together leading academics from diverse backgrounds to Imperial – and is something that we are trying to recreate in the Business School. We do not have a single Black Professor and that’s something that I want to change.
“We are working with the PhD Project which is a US based organisation that focuses on improving diversity in the workplace. All our vacancies are advertised through them. We have recently launched a visiting PhD scholarships scheme for students of Black heritage.
The aim is to recruit students to work with our faculties for three to four months and hopefully they’ll consider us as a potential employer.
“We are focusing on areas where we need to make improvements and implement even more changes. The staff survey has served as an important awareness tool.”