Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Equality, Diversity and inclusion (DEI) aren’t just good practice they are essential to building resilient, high-performing organisations.

The real challenge lies in making DEI part of your organisation’s culture so it’s not just visible, but lasting. We believe meaningful change happens by design. It’s a deliberate, thoughtful process, one that must be shaped by intention, not left to chance.

That’s why we work with organisations to place ED&I at the heart of their people and business strategies. Our approach goes beyond compliance and protected characteristics. We help leaders think intentionally about how their behaviours, mindsets, and management practices shape culture building trust, engagement, and collaboration across diverse teams.

From insight to action, we partner with you to create practical, tailored plans and we stay with you to help make change happen. Whether you’re just starting out or ready to deepen your ED&I impact, we bring clarity, challenge, and support every step of the way.

We partner with organisations to ensure ED&I is not an add-on, but a core thread running through leadership, culture, and people strategy. Our approach goes beyond compliance or protected characteristics. We help leaders reflect on how their behaviours, mindsets, and everyday decisions create space for difference, build trust, and nurture belonging.

While gains have been made in recent years in relation to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, organisations and institutions alike still suffer a lack of true and fair representation. It is therefore vital that key stakeholders, and the customers we represent, work together to achieve diverse make-up within Boards and senior management teams.

What is unconscious bias and why does it matter?

While it is unlikely business leaders and hiring managers deliberately exclude certain people to the benefit of others, this nevertheless happens, albeit on an unconscious level. Of course, it is prescient and desirable to choose candidates based on skill, experience and professional values.

Unconscious bias is also a very real part of the hiring process and helps to explain why senior management teams and Boards in particular suffer from a lack of diversity, across all organisation types and industries.

We know that seeing a version of yourself reflected at you leads to feelings of familiarity and this can unwittingly contribute to a positive feeling about the person, leading to recruiting in one’s own image.

To reverse this mind-set, you must first understand the issue, why it is, and what practical steps can be taken to overcome it, including unconscious bias training, if needed.

The imperative to drive change and achieve fairer outcomes is not simply a moral one – research showing the positive impact of diversity on performance is now well-established.

For GWP ED&I is not a tick box exercise. We have multiple examples of placing senior hires from a range of diverse backgrounds . We will work with you to source talent from the widest possible pool, on merit alone, using open-source intelligence tools and psychometric assessment to locate and objectively filter candidates.

Diversity Matters

McKinsey & Co. has been examining workplace diversity for several years. The most recent McKinsey & Company diversity report is titled “Diversity Matters Even More”, and it was released in December 2023.

This report builds on their long-running series that began with Why Diversity Matters (2015), followed by Delivering Through Diversity (2018), and Diversity Wins (2020). The 2023 edition deepens the analysis by:

Showing stronger links between leadership diversity and financial performance
Exploring the holistic impact of diversity on communities, the environment, and workforce satisfaction
Introducing five levers for change to help organisations embed DEI into their core strategies

McKinsey outlines five Transformative Levers for Change, these actionable strategies help to embed DEI into business strategy:

Commit to a Systematic, Purpose-Led Approach – Make DEI central to mission and strategy.
Embed DEI in Company-Wide Initiatives – Integrate inclusion into all business functions.
Prioritise Belonging and Inclusive Practices – Foster psychological safety and authenticity.
Strengthen Leadership Accountability – Hold leaders responsible for measurable DEI progress.
Use Data to Drive Impact – Track outcomes and refine strategies based on evidence.

Cultural & Environmental Impact

Companies with diverse boards and executive teams tend to score higher on social and environmental impact metrics, suggesting that inclusion drives more responsible corporate behaviour.

The Grichan Whitestone Partnership will work with you to source talent from the widest possible pool, on merit alone, using open-source intelligence tools and psychometric testing to locate and objectively filter candidates.

Gender Diversity

While the original Davies Review ran from 2010 to 2015, its legacy continues through successor initiatives. The most recent update comes from the 2025 FTSE Women Leaders Review, published on 25 February 2025, which builds directly on the groundwork laid by Lord Davies.

Key Highlights from the 2025 Review:

43% of board positions in UK companies are now held by women—a major leap from the 6.9% recorded in 1999.
The UK has achieved gender-balanced leadership across FTSE 350 boards, though the report stresses that this progress was not organic—it required structured, strategic inclusion efforts.
The current target is 40% women in leadership roles across FTSE 350 companies by the end of 2025.

We readily acknowledge the importance of the role we play, as an Executive Search, Interim Management and Business Consulting practice, in supporting our clients as they take steps to increase the proportion of women on their boards.

Succession planning We support our clients in developing medium-term succession plans that identify the balance of experience and skills that they will need to recruit, in order to maximise board effectiveness. This allows a broader view to be established by looking at the whole board, not just individuals, meaning an increase in the flexibility in candidate specifications.
Diversity goals When taking a specific brief, we look at the overall board and senior leadership team composition in the context of the company’s agreed aspirational goals for gender balance and diversity more broadly.
Defining briefs We work to ensure that significant weight is given to relevant skills and intrinsic personal qualities and not just proven career experience, to extend the pool of candidates beyond those with existing board and senior leadership roles or conventional corporate careers.
Longlists When presenting longlists, we ensure that at least 30% of the candidates are women. If not, we explicitly justify why we are convinced that there are no other qualified female options, by demonstrating the scope and rigor of our research.
Supporting selection During the selection process, we provide appropriate support, in particular to first-time candidates, to prepare them for interviews and guide them through the process.
Emphasising intrinsic As clients evaluate candidates, we ensure that they continue to provide appropriate weight to essential requirements, supported by thorough referencing, rather than over-valuing certain kinds of experience.
Induction We provide advice to clients on best practice in induction and ‘onboarding’ processes, in addition to providing transition coaching services designed to help new board directors settle quickly and maximise their impact and contribution.
Embedding best practice We ensure that best practices in supporting and enhancing board gender diversity are well-documented and shared internally, and that adherence to the Code is effectively monitored.
Signalling commitment We signal our commitment to supporting diversity on boards through our marketing activity and invest time into developing a relationship with the pipeline under-represented candidates, such as women.