73. How to Become a Competent DEI Practitioner: { Gill Cooke }
06/08/23 • 16 min
In this episode, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue interviews Gill Cooke, a DEI practitioner who, at the time of the recording, worked at Three UK and Three Ireland, leading diversity, inclusion and belonging and hybrid and flexible working. In addition to this role, Gill leads a community called STEMConnext which focuses on connecting minorities in STEM, celebrating, championing and supporting each other. Gill now works as an independent EDI consultant and advisor.
“ Demonstrate what you've added, the value that you've added, how you influence that programme, what was the benefit of that, and just show your understanding of what it is to deliver, diversity inclusion. It's not just about transactional, so processes policies, but it's about transformative as well. So how have you moved hearts and minds, and behaviours and mindset, and values and that sort of type of thing. It's hard to demonstrate that, I'll be honest, you know, on a piece of paper, but again, bring that right up to the forefront of your LinkedIn as well. So that you, anyone who puts in something around diversity, inclusion will put something in a search engine, that then you'll come up. ”
Episode Highlights:
● How can project management skills lead to success
● The importance of having transparency within the team
● Measuring and tracking measurements and data can contribute to success
About Gill Cooke:
Gill's dedication to inclusion and putting people first is inspiring, and her passion for creating a space where everyone can become a better human being through education, awareness, and kindness is remarkable. She understands that through true inclusive culture,;diversity, well-being, and equity will follow. Her experience in program management enables her to work effectively with stakeholders and leadership, and she consistently delivers results. Gill is experienced in collaborating with global stakeholders, analysing key metrics and data to deliver improvements in recruitment, policy, people services, learning and development and strategy and best practices across UK and Ireland, reporting, influencing and communicating with senior management and the board.
She is an award-winning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practitioner and thought leader with experience of delivering complex, cross-geography and cross-functional diversity programmes and projects including hybrid & flexible working and Zero Tolerance, Gender health propositions and inclusive policies.
She led Three Ireland in achieving Investors in Diversity Gold within a year and Three UK to achieving Investors in Diversity within 18 months and winner of Diversity Steering Group of the Year 2022 and named top 100 most inclusive places to work by the National Centre of Diversity and Financial Times Top.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmcooke1/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stemconnext
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stemconnext/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/STEMConnext
If you would like to apply to be a guest on the show email: [email protected]
If you would like to schedule a capability briefing call with our team, email: [email protected]
If you would like to apply for DEI PRO Coaching, email:
Stay Connected with Ashanti:
LinkedIn: Ashanti Bentil-Dhue
In this episode, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue interviews Gill Cooke, a DEI practitioner who, at the time of the recording, worked at Three UK and Three Ireland, leading diversity, inclusion and belonging and hybrid and flexible working. In addition to this role, Gill leads a community called STEMConnext which focuses on connecting minorities in STEM, celebrating, championing and supporting each other. Gill now works as an independent EDI consultant and advisor.
“ Demonstrate what you've added, the value that you've added, how you influence that programme, what was the benefit of that, and just show your understanding of what it is to deliver, diversity inclusion. It's not just about transactional, so processes policies, but it's about transformative as well. So how have you moved hearts and minds, and behaviours and mindset, and values and that sort of type of thing. It's hard to demonstrate that, I'll be honest, you know, on a piece of paper, but again, bring that right up to the forefront of your LinkedIn as well. So that you, anyone who puts in something around diversity, inclusion will put something in a search engine, that then you'll come up. ”
Episode Highlights:
● How can project management skills lead to success
● The importance of having transparency within the team
● Measuring and tracking measurements and data can contribute to success
About Gill Cooke:
Gill's dedication to inclusion and putting people first is inspiring, and her passion for creating a space where everyone can become a better human being through education, awareness, and kindness is remarkable. She understands that through true inclusive culture,;diversity, well-being, and equity will follow. Her experience in program management enables her to work effectively with stakeholders and leadership, and she consistently delivers results. Gill is experienced in collaborating with global stakeholders, analysing key metrics and data to deliver improvements in recruitment, policy, people services, learning and development and strategy and best practices across UK and Ireland, reporting, influencing and communicating with senior management and the board.
She is an award-winning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practitioner and thought leader with experience of delivering complex, cross-geography and cross-functional diversity programmes and projects including hybrid & flexible working and Zero Tolerance, Gender health propositions and inclusive policies.
She led Three Ireland in achieving Investors in Diversity Gold within a year and Three UK to achieving Investors in Diversity within 18 months and winner of Diversity Steering Group of the Year 2022 and named top 100 most inclusive places to work by the National Centre of Diversity and Financial Times Top.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmcooke1/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stemconnext
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stemconnext/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/STEMConnext
If you would like to apply to be a guest on the show email: [email protected]
If you would like to schedule a capability briefing call with our team, email: [email protected]
If you would like to apply for DEI PRO Coaching, email:
Stay Connected with Ashanti:
LinkedIn: Ashanti Bentil-Dhue
Previous Episode
72. How to Become a Competent DEI Practitioner: { Emma Taylor-Steeds }
In this episode, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue and Emma Taylor-Steeds, the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Innovate UK KTN, discuss how she entered into the world of DEI, and helped to make an impactful cultural change in higher education and research.
“Empathy helps us to understand where colleagues or other people are at, and why they are where they're at. And it's about having the humility to listen and to try to understand and then really use that curiosity to learn, and then more importantly, to do something about it.”
Episode Highlights:
● What skills have had to be developed in order to succeed as a DEI practitioner
● The importance of empathy and pragmatism in DEI
● The importance of doing research and self-educating
About Emma Taylor-Steeds:
Emma is the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Innovate UK KTN. Emma has a breadth of experience delivering Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy and impactful cultural change in higher education and research. Emma's experience has seen her leading and delivering cross organisational strategic programmes, including policy, equality charter marks, and EDI strategy to drive forward EDI work. Emma is a scientist by background, with a PhD in polymer science, an STFC EDI Advisory Board Member, is a mother and outside of work can be found baking and going for countryside walks. Emma lives her passion for inclusivity and equity creation through the work she does every day.
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmataylorsteeds/
If you would like to apply to be a guest on the show email: [email protected]
If you would like to schedule a capability briefing call with our team, email: [email protected]
If you would like to apply for DEI PRO Coaching, email:
Stay Connected with Ashanti:
LinkedIn: Ashanti Bentil-Dhue
Next Episode
74. How to Become a Competent DEI Practitioner: { Lucy Ferguson }
In this episode, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue interviews Lucy Ferguson, a DEI practitioner and author who has been working for many years as a gender specialist and trainer, providing gender equality training to various organisations and individuals.
“ All of the people who come on our courses are very skilled in their particular knowledge area. But the main thing that they say is that they lack confidence as a trainer. So I tried to give them that confidence through giving them the theory and the practice and the chance to put it into practice. We create together a very horizontal learning environment where everyone feels safe to make mistakes. So you make the mistakes in this friendly environment, and get very good, solid, constructive feedback about how you can improve. Then you get the chance to practise several times so that you come out feeling much more confident. ”
Episode Highlights:
● What gender equality training is and why it's important
● What it means to be a good trainer in the virtual environment
● The importance of being accessible and inclusive
About Lucy Ferguson:
Dr Lucy Ferguson is a specialist in training for gender equality. She has designed and delivered training on gender equality for a wide range of organisations, including: UN Women, World Health Organization, UN World Tourism Organization, OSCE, Indian Ocean Rim Association and Commonwealth Secretariat. She has produced a range of academic publications on this topic, including her book "Gender Training: a transformative tool for gender equality (Palgrave, 2018). She is the author of the UN Women Training Centre working paper series, including topics such as feminist pedagogies and evaluation of gender training.
Recent and upcoming trainings include "How to be a Gender Trainer" and "Applied Theatre for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion", delivered via Cynara.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyferguson/
If you would like to apply to be a guest on the show email: [email protected]
If you would like to schedule a capability briefing call with our team, email: [email protected]
If you would like to apply for DEI PRO Coaching, email:
Stay Connected with Ashanti:
LinkedIn: Ashanti Bentil-Dhue
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