Diverse Leadership, It’s in the Balance - The PPG UK WLC Launch

In November 2016 a selection of employees from PPG AC UK attended the launch of the PPG UK Women’s Leadership Council (WLC).

This one day event, Diverse Leadership – It’s in the Balance, took place at the prestigious F1 Williams Conference Centre in Oxford and was attended by both male and female staff from Architectural, Aerospace, Automotive, Refinish, Packaging and Industrial Coatings, together with members of European Leadership Team.

The aim of the day was to raise awareness of gender diversity and its business case and to introduce the WLC’s mission:

Kathryn Halstead, WLC UK Coordinator introduced the day then presentations began with Isabella Ercole, the President of WLC EMEA, taking attendees through statistics on gender within PPG EMEA which showed a small improvement over recent years in the gender balance but highlighted the still low percentage of females in senior roles. Cristina Bianchi, from Enhance Training & Development then presented a really interesting presentation on the Business Case for Gender Balance.

Did you know that research demonstrates?

• Women are a growing force in the talent pool, and in Europe more women graduate with bachelor’s degrees than men?

• Women are often the main consumer, with most major purchases either done by or influenced by women?

• There is a direct link between higher numbers of female senior executives and stronger business performance?

• Women are naturally more skilled at problem-solving and innovation?

A lively panel discussion followed: Going to the Top – The Journey And on the panel were Steve Pocock, Susan Clarkson, Marianne De Muynck, and Johanna Fagerlund who described their career progression and answered questions on experiences and barriers to progression.   The delegates then split into workshop groups and worked in teams on the main areas of focus highlighted by the 2012 WLC Diversity survey.

• Positive influence for women

• Work / life balance

• Career management

• Unconscious bias

The day finished with a summary of the workshops which included some great ideas that would help women overcome some of the barriers that prevent career development. The day was a huge success and the event received really positive feedback:

The next steps are to kick off the WLC UK Country teams, based on “affinity groups”, who will work on taking these ideas forward. Lots of the attendees volunteered to be part of these groups on the day and the individuals will work with Kathryn Halstead on the UK WLC Strategy.