The Big Interview: Suki Sandhu, CEO and Founder of INvolve and Audeliss

THE INTERVIEW

In keeping with our theme of ‘people matter’ and our continued celebration this Pride month, we feel privileged to share our latest interview with you.

Suki Sandhu is recognized as one of the most influential figures in the LGBT+ community, alongside the likes of Graham Norton and Stephen Fry, he was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year Honors for services to diversity in business, has worked on high-profile events in the House of Lords in partnership with the Commonwealth Office, delivered at the UN Gender Equality Summit and featured everywhere from the BBC to City AM and The Gay Times.

What is your background?

I grew up in Darby, in a working class Sikh household. My parents emigrated from India and ran a grocery store. They had a great work ethic and their willingness to work hard for their family was instilled in me from a young age. I joined the recruitment industry after university, initially working for a large and respected firm where I found the culture to be very macho, white and middle class. I came out as gay in my early twenties – it was a different time then and there wasn’t as much acceptance or understanding at work or in wider society. However, I found that I thrived in recruiting, broke company records and became the company’s top consultant.

From there I moved to a boutique firm where they focused on wanting to change representation at senior levels in UK companies. It was a complete eye-opener, it made me want to work and level the playing field through targeted and committed recruitment. I chose to focus on a larger agenda; in 2011 it was a given that chairmen and CEOs wanted to hire women, but what about race, LGBTQ+ and socioeconomic diversity? This led me to start Audeliss, an executive search firm that focuses on recruiting with this range of diversity in mind. Two years later, I also founded INvolve, which will focus on empowering leaders and change-makers to build more successful and empowering organizations where everyone can thrive.

Who is INvolve?

INvolve is a diversity and inclusion consulting firm and global network that empowers leaders and change-makers to build more successful and empowering organizations where everyone can thrive. We work with businesses committed to diversity, equality and inclusion to transform workplaces and mindsets and enable them to put their promises into practice wherever they are in their DEI journey.

Over the past decade, we’ve built a team of strategic consultants and thought leaders who affect tangible change for clients, driven by both empathy and hard data, and inspired by an unrivaled network of diverse business leaders.

Who are your “customers”?

We work with over 100 global businesses, ranging from leading banks like Barclays to huge corporations like Google. We have supported organizations across multiple sectors and regions with their unique DEI challenges, providing them with customized solutions to improve their DEI outlook.

Looking at the retail sector, we worked with several companies, including a well-known retailer, to create fully customized in-house diversity and inclusion core training that could be rolled out across the business via a train-the-trainer model. This has allowed inclusive thinking to be implemented throughout the organization, from senior management, through head office and down to the production floor.

In 2020 I co-ordinated a letter from some of Britain’s most prominent business leaders, including the bosses of giant retailers Tesco, Sainsbury’s and John Lewis, called ‘If not now, when?’, calling for action to promote black inclusion in business in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. This letter grew into an action-driven campaign that now has over 80 signatories from UK CEOs and organisations, including retail giants such as Sainsburys’, M&S, Selfridges and John Lewis, who are working to create more inclusive workplaces places for their black employees.

There is great work being done by retailers such as Tesco, another of our If Not Now, When? signatory that has developed a Diverse Talent Community (DTC) initiative that aims to remove barriers to progression faced by underrepresented groups in the workplace. The introduction of DTC with a specific focus on black colleagues was one of the key four pillars detailed in the Black Action Plan to increase black talent at Tesco by 3% by 2030.

The work carried out by some of the signatories is published in an annual report, providing a snapshot of some of the inclusion initiatives that organizations are undertaking and an insight into their future inclusion goals and aspirations.

Why should businesses embrace inclusion?

Everyone deserves to feel included and supported at work, and employees increasingly expect their workplaces to have strong positions on inclusion and fairness. For example, research shows that 77% of Gen Z workers consider it important that their company supports diversity, and 82% emphasize the importance of mental health days. The number of Gen Z employees in the workforce is of course increasing, so now is not the time for businesses to focus their efforts on embracing inclusion.

Not only that, but an inclusive work environment has also been found to be directly related to employee engagement, a critical component of productivity and financial performance. The business case doesn’t even end there, with inclusion initiatives also increasing employee retention as people feel more valued and thrive in their organization.

For those just starting their DEI journey, how do you start building an inclusive culture?

Transparency is key and businesses need to know what areas for improvement are before implementing initiatives that may not address their specific challenges. Developing a detailed understanding of the current workplace culture determines where work needs to be done and also gives organizations tangible goals from which they can track progress. INvolve can enable organizations to learn more about their challenges and areas for improvement by implementing our RADAR benchmarking tool, which examines all core functions within a business.

Building an inclusive culture also requires data, without which companies cannot gauge how successful their inclusion initiatives are or even understand what their employees specifically need. Start collecting data or refine your current processes to ensure you can paint a picture of your organization and also hold senior leaders accountable for change.

Invest in training and seminars that provide all your employees with basic knowledge on specific DEI topics. Whether it’s equipping them with tools to discuss issues of race or LGBTQ+ inclusion, or setting up hiring managers and leaders for success by implementing inclusive leadership and recruiting workshops, inclusion must be a priority and making what he learned widely available throughout the business.

Talent development programs that aim to create a fair and equitable playing field for diverse talent are also critical because they are rooted in the understanding that not everyone starts their career on a level playing field. Elevate your diverse talent through talent programs and set them up for success.

Why are business role models important?

Shining light on those who go above and beyond and breaking glass ceilings that hinder progress is so important. This not only gives them recognition and allows them to reflect on the positive impact they have on others, but also inspires others to engage in similar work. We should look to them as examples of how we can all contribute to breaking down barriers and creating businesses where everyone can thrive.

At INvolve, we publish three sets of annual role model lists: Empower, Heroes, and Outstanding, which showcase business leaders who are breaking down barriers at work and working hard to break the ceiling for people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ communities.

We also published our first ever HSBC-backed Role Model List this year, which shines a light on 20 incredible role models using their personal experiences of disability, mental health or neurodiversity to drive change in these spaces. The Role Model Lists aim to showcase the wide range of impactful and innovative work being done on inclusion across countries, organizations and sectors, and to celebrate the range of inspiring people who have made it their personal mission to make a difference.

What is equity and what role does it play in creating an inclusive culture?

Equity is key to creating and maintaining an inclusive culture and is based on the understanding that diverse talent faces barriers in the workplace from the moment they enter. Creating an equitable workplace requires the organization to reflect on the fact that there are systemic barriers and obstacles that prevent the success of different employees. To affect systemic change in the workplace, businesses must ensure that their policies and practices reflect this understanding and actively work to support and enable their diverse talent to succeed.

In practice, this looks like investing in talent development programs for diverse talents to give them the tools they need and deserve for career success. Mentorship and sponsorship are also key to creating fair and equitable opportunities and require allies to democratize their learning and share it with others, as well as advocate for a variety of high-potential emerging leaders when they are not in the room.

What’s on the horizon for INvolve?

We have a lot in the pipeline for INvolve this year. Our first ever Role Model List will launch in May and will highlight people with personal experience of disability, mental health and neurodiversity who have made it their mission to improve the prospects for others at work.

Shortly thereafter, we will publish our 2023 EMpower Role Model List, which continues to showcase business leaders who are working hard to improve the experience of people of color at work around the world.

It’s been an exciting year at INvolve so far with the launch of our Enable and Empower role model lists and the announcement of an exciting new partnership with YouTube. Nominations for our YouTube-powered lists of outstanding LGBTQ+ role models are now open, and we’re already receiving some fantastic submissions from LGBTQ+ leaders, future LGBTQ+ leaders, and allies for global LGBTQ+ employees.

We are looking forward to implementing more RADARs and of course we will soon deliver even more talent development programs such as our RISE program and Inclusive Leadership program. We also design and run training and workshops across a wide range of organizations and it’s great to see these businesses really investing in DEI as a priority.

We are also so excited to launch a new emerging leaders cohort program in September 2023, which will see diverse talent from different global organizations participate in modular development programs that will support them in their career development.