Read: Diversity matters - how businesses can learn from the education sector on developing diverse talent to level up Britain

Companies know that having diversity in their workforce from top to bottom is the right thing to do and, increasingly, the wider country now expects all organisations to reflect our broader society. But diversity isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing too. The evidence is clear - more diverse teams are more effective. They can challenge an organisation to adopt new perspectives, make better decisions and be more innovative. They can help improve employee engagement and collaboration and drive better retention rates. Ultimately, a more diverse workforce is likely to mean enhanced profitability compared to those that are less diverse.

The 14 Levelling Up Goals were launched earlier this year to provide the architecture for a truly levelled up country - essentially defining the ‘S’ in ESG for businesses. Levelling Up Goal 14 focuses on “Achieving equality, through diversity and inclusion”. It’s there because whilst we often talk about equality of opportunity in terms of geography - communities and places - it’s about people and groups as well.

Many organisations are working hard to become more diverse, but there is a ready-made wealth of experience in the area that it’s often easy to overlook -  in our education system. 

Last week I visited All Saints Catholic College in the heart of North Kensington in London, very close to Grenfell Tower. Its students are every bit as diverse as the capital city they live in. The school’s inspirational headteacher, Andrew O’Neill, has worked tirelessly with his senior leadership team to steadily turn the school around over the past five years. In doing so, they have been addressing the challenge of how to get the most out of the diverse student body they teach, and how their students can reach their potential. It’s the same challenge for employers - to get the most out of those young people as they reach adulthood and go into careers.

Similarly, University Vice-Chancellors like Professor Peter John of the University of West London are demonstrating the leadership and insight that is needed to help young people to thrive at a later stage in the education system. Many of their students come from a range of community groups and backgrounds and the university has also found ways to remove the barriers that can prevent their students from achieving their potential. You can look to other universities and Vice-Chancellors, such as Professor Shirley Congdon and the University of Bradford which I recently visited, to see other shining examples.

The challenges that these education establishments have learnt to rise to are, in reality, very similar to the challenges that employers also need to meet if they are to achieve Goal 14 and have a fully diverse workforce. So the smart thing is to share that insight widely. That’s why, through the Purpose Coalition, we are bringing our educators and employers together, facilitating an exchange of knowledge and best practice around diversity. Our educators already have many of the answers so there’s no time to waste on using that insight to help drive a race to the top on Levelling Up Goal 14.

Given the growing attention on diversity – whether on gender, ethnic minorities or socio-economic backgrounds – it will be those employers who work out how best to tap into the wider talent pool who will be the most successful. In doing so, they will contribute not only to their personal and organisational success but, crucially, to Britain’s success too, as the country emerges from the pandemic. We’ll be using the collective knowledge of those in the Purpose Coalition to help us all go further on diversity, faster.