My D&I Journey with:
Sheree Atcheson,
Group Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion,
Valtech
My D&I Journey with:1. What was your journey into diversity and inclusion?
I began by journey at university, many years ago, whilst studying Computer Science. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t many young women on my course so I did work with my uni on outreach. When I graduated, I started to delve into sustainable and long-term changes I could implement, and that’s when I began leading the UK expansion of Women Who Code – the world’s largest non-profit dedicated to women in tech. Back then, the organisation had around 3,000 global members – they are now approaching over 300,000 and run free monthly meetups in all of their locations. I led that expansion across the U.K., building remote teams and creating partnerships with all different companies, working to change the face of tech. I did all of this whilst having a full-time software engineering role so it wasn’t easy. But then I moved into full time D&I work at Deloitte… and the rest is history!
2. How would you describe a typical day in your role?
My role is about helping all of our almost 5,000 Valtechies collaborate globally on inclusion, whilst implementing regionally and locally. My job is to listen, learn and react proactively. I create global frameworks that map to all of our regions, and help all of our wonderful local teams implement in tailored ways that make sense for them. There is no one-stop solution here. We fully respect all of the cultural differences and nuances we have in our offices, represented in 22+ countries. I use data as a guiding principle for everything I do, and all of my time is spent analysing what I’ve found from our engagement and D&I pulses, and creating initiatives and pivots off of that – listening, reacting.
3. What is the best part of your job?
I love working with all different people from all different regions. There is so much to learn from different people and I love hearing what is important to them and how I can perhaps leave things better than we found them. I always have things to learn and it’s a real privilege when people feel comfortable enough to share with me.
4. What advice would you give to someone looking to move into D&I?
Passion and skillset are not the same thing. Remember that and remember that passion is finite. Also remember that lived experience isn’t enough to work in D&I strategy because if we create strategies that answer only to our own experiences, then we leave out huge groups of people who are already marginalised. Spend time educating yourself, delve into data analysis and be open about what you do and don’t know – assuming what works for what you identify with will work for everyone else is one of the biggest pitfalls I see over and over again.
5. What are the main challenges faced by D&I professionals at the moment?
Assumption-based strategies that attempt to map globally, yet still have a North America or EMEA-led focus. This doesn’t work, for many reasons. Additionally, a lack of awareness from stakeholders that things will change very quickly – they won’t. This takes time – a lot of it, and when stakeholders expect quick responses, everything falls apart. Be ready to manage that.
6. Name three skills that support you to succeed in D&I
1. Stakeholder management
2. Data analysis and reporting
3. Intelligent & focused listening
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