The Power of Inclusion

Carly Dunningham, President of the Insurance Institute of Liverpool had been in discussions with Louise McEvely from the CISI since they both took on their Presidency roles last Spring. Carly said, ‘we both felt very passionate about inclusion and diversity in the workplace and were determined to put on an event to bring these issues to the fore’.
The event took place at One Fine Day, a trendy bar/café in Liverpool’s business district and attracted almost 60 attendees from across our professions. After much debate about the focus and content for this event, we agreed to base it mostly on gender diversity, especially with it falling less than a week after International Women’s Day.
Attendees heard a fascinating talk from Irene Afful, who was the first black female Inspector at Merseyside Police. Irene talked of her childhood in Liverpool, living through the Toxteth riots, suffering racial abuse and of the challenges she faced and overcame in her professional life.
During her time with the Police Service, Irene led a diversity and inclusion programme. She talked of the success of this initiative and the importance of diversity in the workplace, and particularly at board level. Studies have shown that firms with a more diverse board, are more profitable. Surely, this if nothing else, is a good reason for firms to review their diversity policies and consider how inclusive they are when they recruit for new people.
The event concluded with a fun picture quiz, with teams identifying influential women from history. There was a lot of healthy competition and the room was very lively, especially as there were bottles of wine up for grabs for the winning team! Everyone seemed to really enjoy this event and we’re hoping it will be the first in series of diversity based social events.