The Dentons Model

AFFINITY GROUPS

The Dentons Model

In this edition we hear from Dentons on its understanding of affinity groups, the importance of recognising inclusion, diversity and equity work through e.g. allowances of billable hours and its ABC model.

Studies have shown for a while now that women and people from other underrepresented groups are often penalised for engaging in diversity-valuing behaviour in the workplace.1 "Diversity-valuing" behaviour can be anything from mentoring a more junior colleague, to speaking at an internal Black History Month event, to being a member of the organisation’s women’s Affinity Group. Not only are women and people from other underrepresented groups often not rewarded when they participate in these activities, they are often actively penalised for their efforts.2

This state of affairs is compounded by a tendency to place the responsibility for solving the challenge of underrepresentation on members of underrepresented groups, further burdening them with “extra work” which their majority group colleagues are not expected to take on.

With this as the backdrop, it is critical for law firms to actively promote and reward diversity-valuing behaviour— such as contributions to inclusion, diversity and equity-related (ID&E) activities as part of performance expectations and recognizing contributions in compensation processes. For example, in many of our regions at Dentons, we have policies that support billable hours for engaging in ID&E at the firm.

To mitigate against the tendency to overburden women and colleagues from other underrepresented groups, at Dentons we are explicit in stating that it is the firm’s responsibility to drive greater ID&E in the places where we live and work.

At the same time, we also understand that Affinity Groups have an important role to play in helping us advance our objectives in a way that is meaningful for our people. They also provide crucial avenues for connection, unity and contribute to a sense of belonging.

As such, we use an "ABC" Model to guide us in defining how Affinity Groups contribute to our shared commitment and effort, while ensuring that we do not place the burden of responsibility for progressing ID&E on our women and people from other underrepresented groups. Rather, that responsibility lies with: (1) the firm; (2) full-time colleagues, like me, who work in the ID&E team; and (3) all firm members who, through demonstrating allyship in the workplace, drive inclusion every day.

Dentons Women is Dentons’ firmwide women’s Affinity Group. The group is made up of the leaders of our Regional Dentons Women groups from across the firm and is led by our Global Inclusion & Diversity Officer. Like all our Affinity Groups, the Global Dentons Women Affinity Group raises awareness, advocates for positive change and functions to ensure we have the right priorities and are building effective strategies to meet those priorities. Dentons Women also creates a space for belonging and connections.

In our monthly conversations with the Global Dentons Women group, we identified sponsorship as critical to driving career opportunities and advancement at Dentons. With those discussions in mind, our Global ID&E team designed and developed Dentons’ first Global Women’s Sponsorship Program, a pilot program for high-achieving women partners across the world to broaden their business networks, build critical relationships and realise the benefits of our global firm. We leveraged the ABC model with our Global Dentons Women group throughout all stages of development of the pilot program. The ID&E team led on implementation and worked to gain support for the programme. The Global Dentons Women Affinity Group provided guidance and support throughout, ensuring that the programme was addressing the right need and would yield meaningful results.

We recognise that we still have a long way to go to achieve our ID&E goals. Our ABC Model seeks to reinforce and embed ID&E-valuing behaviour across Dentons and ensure that we are not overburdening our colleagues; instead, assigning those responsibilities to everyone across the firm. ■

Romana Bruderer-Schwab

Romana Bruderer-Schwab

Global Inclusion & Diversity Manager

Dentons

1. Johnson, S. K, Hekman, D. R. March 23, 2016, Women and Minorities are Penalized for Promoting Diversity, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/03/womenand-minorities-are-penalized-for-promoting-diversity

2. Ibid.