A University-backed initiative designed to help ethnic minority employees to enter leadership roles within the social housing sector is celebrating a major milestone with the graduation of its second cohort of candidates.
The BOOST programme aims to address under-representation of colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds in leadership by breaking down barriers to recruitment and progression and creating a context where talents of ethnically diverse leaders can thrive.
The partnership, which is partly funded by Innovate UK with academic support from Manchester Met, aims to make organisations more inclusive with senior leaders that are representative of Greater Manchester’s diverse communities.
Julia Rouse, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Manchester Met and Lead Academic on BOOST, said: “BOOST is a powerful journey for all of us involved. As a white person, I have learnt so much about the lived experience of our ethnically diverse colleagues, as have the mentors on our programme.
“That is really powerful in enabling us to see how our organisations can improve, and how we can be part of healing increasingly divisive communities. I am continuously bowled over by the talent and growth of our mentees and their courage in sharing their experiences with the BOOST movement.”
Southway Housing Trust leads the BOOST programme for the Greater Manchester Housing Partnership (GMHP) and Chief Executive John Bowker welcomed housing leaders from across the region to the cohort’s graduation.
He spoke about successes and highlights from the last year, which saw members build on the inclusive recruitment projects of Year 1 with new ideas, which have included looking at succession planning, facilitating job shadowing and providing further development opportunities.
Charlie Norman, Chief Executive of MSV and Chair of GMHP, presented the 19 mentors and 19 mentees with their certificates. Some of them shared their experiences, including their mentoring relationships and what made them want to take part.
Guest speakers were Sharon Amesu, co-founder of She Leads for Legacy, and Professor Rouse.
As part of the programme, mentors and mentees have monthly sessions where they work towards the mentee’s goal.
Reciprocal learning is a key part of the BOOST model which enables the movement to be more disruptive in creating change. To support this, the mentors have learnt about the experiences of the mentees and their experiences at work, particularly in regard to race.
The success of this year’s scheme has seen five mentees gain new roles, three of which have been internal moves. The other two have earned roles at new employers.
Three other mentees are undertaking new qualifications, while two more are doing professional development including the Housing Diversity Network’s trainee board programme.
John Bowker said: “BOOST is a fantastic project which is really helping to improve the chances of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds to get into leadership positions. I was delighted to see the mentees and mentors receive their certificates at the graduation ceremony and hear their success stories.”
Cohort 3 for BOOST started earlier this month, with 19 new mentors and mentees joining the programme.
