Leading Women in Property Breakfast
Part of the diversity challenge is ensuring that people are judged on their merits, rather than factors such as race or gender. Our latest Leading Women in Property Breakfast explored whether traditional definitions of merit are affecting decisions about recruitment and promotion.
Erin Feros, State Chapter Chair of Chief Executive Women and Allens Partner – Sector Leader, Mining, gave a presentation on recent research completed by Chief Executive Women and the Male Champions of Change, challenging guests to rethink how they define ‘merit’. The ‘In the Eye of the Beholder: Avoiding the Merit Trap‘ report explores past definitions of merit and provides recommendations on how organisations can change how they operate to avoid falling into ‘the merit trap.’
Erin’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Dr Corinnne Manning, Deputy Director Diversity and Inclusion at Latrobe University and Ineke McMahon, Principal Consultant at Davidson. The session was moderated by Kathy Mac Dermott, Chief Operating Officer – Property Council of Australia.
Corinne took guests through her journey from academia to assisting the Chief of Army realign the culture of the Army. She shared many lessons on speaking up in an intimidating male-dominated environment, noting she was there to challenge current ways of thinking, not to go along with the status quo.
Ineke looked at the merit issue from a recruitment and promotion point of view, providing tips for success and highlighting common traps. Ineke emphasised the need to develop ‘success profiles’ rather than ‘position descriptions’ to avoid a focus on past performance instead of what candidates are capable of.
The Property Council is committed to building a diverse and inclusive industry. A video has been developed to showcase the initiatives being pursued, and progress made to date. Members are encouraged to share and promote this video to their networks.
Along with all of the speakers and moderator, the Property Council sincerely thanks Allens and Architectus for their support of this important event.
Photos from the event can be found here.
Sponsor:
Event Host:
