Hi all!
Social Mobility Day is coming up on the 11th June and this year's theme is Stories Matter.
I really like that theme because social mobility often gets reduced to numbers. How many people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds make it into leadership positions? Which sectors are improving? How many organisations are collecting data?
According to the old adage, 'what gets measured gets done', so these numbers are important. They're also probably the hardest to measure out of all of the diversity metrics, but that's an issue for another time. But story matters too. Stories shape what we believe is possible, and how we feel about belonging. They also shape the stories we tell ourselves.
I grew up in a single parent family and had free school meals at primary school. I still remember a school trip where I did not have enough money for an ice cream (those who have been on my Dare to Lead workshops will know I share this story as an early shame experience!). It sounds like such a small thing writing it down now, but I suspect many people reading this will know the feeling. I still find asking to borrow money excruciating.
Then later my world shifted. We moved south and I received a scholarship to a private school. Looking back, I had this really strange experience of existing in two very different worlds. I gained access to opportunities, education and aspirations I would not otherwise have had. But I also never felt entirely like i belonged - I was quite different to the other girls there.
If I am honest, I still sometimes notice that I can feel slightly out of place in more middle class environments. Yet in other settings I was teased for sounding too posh because I had been to a private school.
Social mobility is often presented as a straightforward journey upwards. Work hard, get opportunities and progress. For me, and others I guess, it was more complicated and there was a fair amount of luck involved. Sometimes you gain access but still do not entirely feel you belong. There may be invisible work involved in navigating spaces that were not necessarily designed with you in mind.
During our research for our e-learning we found that social mobility is a recruitment issue AND a retention issue. There's a 'class' ceiling, as much as there is a glass ceiling. We also found that the chances of being 'better off' than ones parents is declining rapidly against the economic challenges we are currently up against.
This September I am swimming the Serpentine for Turn2us, a charity working to tackle financial insecurity and support people facing hardship. So to mark Social Mobility Day I wanted to do something practical.
I am offering workplace talks on or around 11th June sharing my own story alongside some practical thinking around how organisations can better understand, measure and support social mobility at work. The talks are £350 with all proceeds going to Turn2us. Email us at [email protected] for more info. We also have the e-learning option at £25 per person, from which all proceeds will also be donated.
Rox x