It’s not just good for our people, it’s good for business
We recently spoke with Joy, head of IS Security Advisory in the London office. Joy participated in dbBOLD, our Black Opportunity Leadership Development program, which is one of the initiatives that will be instrumental in helping us reach our goals of greater diversity in leadership positions. As Deputy Chair of the UKI Black Leadership Forum (BLF), Joy was also responsible for advertising and promoting the dbBOLD programme.
Advancing women in leadership positions is a top priority for our organisation’s diversity and inclusion efforts. We know gender balance will help us deliver sustainable growth – and add critical voices and skill sets to the bank. To accelerate progress, we’ve implemented a wide range of approaches and programmes to support talent within the organisation. These efforts will be vital to our broader goals, as we strive to more closely reflect the diversity of the communities in which we live and work.
Accelerating the path to greater representation through dbBOLD.
dbBOLD is Deutsche Bank’s Black Opportunity Leadership Development programme. After a successful launch in the Americas, it expanded to UK and Ireland in 2021 and celebrated the completion of its first cycle in February 2022. Joy was one of the many talented people who participated in this inaugural effort.
dbBOLD includes online lectures, assessments and networking sessions – as well as provides exposure to leaders throughout the bank, including Executive Committee members and Black managing directors and directors.
“A lot of us were saying that it felt like it was a refresher from our business school or master's degree courses. It was nice to be able to think about some of the skills that you studied, but don't necessarily use daily; or conversely, the skills that you learned about in theory, but now you're using them in practice. That was quite positive,” said Joy.
dbBOLD also established networking groups made up of both Deutsche Bank colleagues and peers outside of the bank from a wide range of industries. While the programme has a defined beginning and end, the impact is sustained - especially via relationships that have continued to grow and evolve.
At the end of the day, I was able to get to know some of the individuals from my Deutsche Bank cohort a lot better. It also helped me network with leaders in the organisation who I knew peripherally but hadn't engaged with fully – especially with the previous restrictions of the pandemic. And the opportunity to meet people outside of the organisation was a plus. We still do calls to this day – both with our broader group outside of the bank and my Deutsche Bank-only group. There are people who are in the city that I hadn't met before, or I'd heard their name on a call. So that was the aspect I appreciated most – having those connections, reflected Joy.
Connections are a common theme that has come out of dbBOLD, on both sides of the Atlantic. There are countless stories that demonstrate the ongoing impact of the programme and the essential value it provides.
“I walked away with some great mentors. Sam Caley is one of them,” said Joy. “He's a Managing Director running our cloud programme and he has been a really helpful person and a big support. I had already crossed paths with him prior to the programme, but it was just on the periphery. I felt like this programme helped bring people much closer.”
Joy continued, “There have been studies that have shown it's often acquaintances who can help you move ahead faster. So, it's that person you have a coffee with twice a year or your best friend's cousin. People are more successful when they have better access to the people who are on their periphery and have opportunities beyond one’s inner circle.”
Shining a spotlight on diverse talent.
While dbBOLD is a structured programme with learning and development components as well as networking opportunities, at a broader level, it provides a greater exposure to, and elevation of, an underrepresented population.
“dbBOLD functions as a platform. It showcases the existing Black talent in the bank. We have individuals who are highly educated – nearly everyone in my group had a master’s degree or MBA. We have individuals who are already successful and who are accomplishing great things by leading their teams to success.” Joy continued, “It's been shown time and time again that teams that are more diverse generate more revenue, make better decisions, and they step away from the groupthink.”
We see dbBOLD as a critical part of our journey to continue to embed diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our organisation.