Gender-diverse organisations are a force to be reckoned with. Companies with gender diversity in leadership outperform their less diverse peers and make better business decisions.
Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency says workplace gender equality is linked to improved productivity, increased organisational performance, enhanced ability to attract and retain the best and brightest people and enhanced reputation.
We asked Fiona McDougall, General Manager – PreContracts, and Chair of our Gender Diversity Working Group, about gender diversity at Ventia.
What inspired you to take up the role as Chair of our Gender Diversity Working Group?
Before I applied for the role, I gave a lot of thought as to whether I could see a way of making real change or whether the role would just be a source for frustration to me. After a great deal of deliberation, I decided that this was an opportunity to make real change. We need to make the issue of creating true gender equality and diversity personal to everyone; not just women.
Was gender diversity always a burning issue for you?
Actually, no. Through school, university and the early years of my career I had no cause to doubt that women could have everything. It wasn’t until I had children in my mid-30s that I started to notice the little things that made it harder to juggle a career and the additional responsibilities I had at home.
What is Ventia doing to address the gender balance?
I’m proud to say our company is genuinely committed to improving gender equality and diversity across our business. That’s significant when you consider we work in a traditionally male-dominated industry. We’re building a gender inclusive culture that leverages and increases the representation of women in our workforce. The introduction of the Gender Diversity Working Group has provided an important platform from which we can promote change.
What does the Gender Diversity Working Group do, exactly?
The purpose of the working group is to ensure that everyone at Ventia has a fair go, and that everyone has an equal opportunity to go as far as they want and be supported in the company.
Areas we’re focusing on include: ensuring gender equality is embedded into business practices and reflected in our policies; removing unconscious bias, removing gender pay gaps, and supporting career advancement of women. We also seek to engage with all employees, not just our female employees.
What are some of the working group’s achievements to date?
We’ve been developing our emerging female leaders through training programs such as Women in Leadership.
We’ve also introduced leader workshops to help leaders facilitate inclusive engagement and recognise the unconscious bias that can sometimes creep into decision making.
Other achievements have included our support for International Women’s Day and our alignment with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
We need to make the issue of creating true gender equality and diversity personal to everyone, not just women.
Fiona McDougall, General Manager – Pre-Contracts and Chair, Gender Diversity Working Group.
BUILDING CAPABILITY
Ventia invests in the development of all our employees though formal and informal development opportunities. Given the need to increase gender representation at senior leadership levels, we additionally invest in training and development initiatives such as our Women in Leadership program. Our Essential Leadership Program is open to all leaders.
Ishu Gautam, Senior ITS Project Engineer in our Telecommunications business, was one of 14 current and emerging female leaders to graduate from our inaugural Women in Leadership program.
The program delivers a combination of faceto-face workshops, coaching sessions and online learning to support the development of authentic leadership styles.
“During the program I learnt a lot from the great leaders across our business – and I will continue to keep learning from all of my colleagues,” she says.
Her takeaway advice to our aspiring talent is that while some leaders are born with competencies to handle certain situations, “it is clear that leadership can also be developed”. “That means everyone can strengthen their skills and abilities to lead and influence,” she says.
Jessica Smythe, the Workforce Planning Manager on our City of Sydney contract, is one of 140 recent graduates of our Essential Leadership program.
Her manager Jeff Kennedy says he could see Jessica ‘grow’ throughout the program. “It has really helped Jessica to enable her team, creating a division of the business that understands its objectives and shares her drive in making things happen,” he says.
Jessica says the program gave her amazing tools to lead effectively. “I’m thankful to Ventia for investing in my professional development and to my leaders supporting me and helping me get where I am today,” she says.
CHAMPIONING GENDER DIVERSITY
Taylor Cougle is an Operations Coordinator, Gender Diversity Champion and a proud transgender woman. With a career spanning over 30 years across a multitude of industries including telecommunications, manufacturing and professional services, Taylor joined Visionstream in 2009 and worked as a Systems Programmer.
When an opportunity at Ventia came up in 2017 to work on a major technology project for the business, Taylor made her move.
“I had started my transition in 2016 prior to my new role and although it was not without its challenges, I am grateful to Ventia for supporting me through my transition on all levels. she said.
Taylor is a passionate promoter of diversity. As a member of our Gender Diversity Working Group, Taylor has worked to help make Ventia a more diverse organisation.
Outside of work, Taylor recently modelled for ‘This Is Me’, an International Women’s Day event that celebrated the diversity and power of women and raised funds for women’s support groups and shelters.
I am grateful to Ventia for supporting me through my transition on all levels.
Taylor Cougle
If you would like further information on Diversity, please contact your Leader or your P&C Representative. Watch our video about celebrating and embracing diversity at Ventia
