Our Strategic Director, Lucia, recently visited Imperial College London for the ‘Better Together: Building Inclusive Teams in CleanTech’ event. The event, hosted by Undaunted’s Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator programme, was set up to help move the dial on inclusivity and diversity in climate tech through honest conversations and real commitment from innovators in the sector. 

This event felt extra special to us because it was the first climate tech event dedicated to diversity and inclusion that Life Size has ever encountered. We want to share Lucia’s experience and some of the key points raised, to invite discussion and inspire positive change within our climate tech network.

The panel’s advice for building a more inclusive hiring process 

The event kicked off with a panel discussion led by Samson Olagbami (DEI Specialist & Contributor at a Global Corporation and London HE), Danna Walker (Founder & CEO of Built By Us) and Shruti Iyengar (Co-founder of Climate Mosaic & Investment Manager, Future Planet Capital). They each put forward honest, real and hopeful perspectives about the challenges of championing inclusivity in the climate tech space which was a very enriching experience. 

As the topic of inclusivity is usually kept at the margins of events – at best – it hardly ever receives the time to do it any justice. ‘Simply’ allowing that space and letting people speak on the topic was valuable and we hope for plenty more such opportunities. The more we get together to discuss it, the more we can learn from each other, implement and try practices and start to see real change.

During the panel, the group shared some practical advice on how to invite inclusivity into the hiring process:

• Hire people based on what they have done. When selecting applicants in the first stage of the hiring process, it can be easy to be drawn to impressive qualifications, universities or roles at big company names on CVs. While these details are a quick way of building a picture of potential employees, they should not be relied upon too heavily. Not everyone has access to the money and network needed to enter these spaces. By focusing only on these indicators, hiring managers are overlooking people who could be a valuable asset to a business. Instead, look at what people have actually done in their respective roles – people can show the same skills and potential through their work, regardless of the company or qualifications attached to these achievements. 
• Lead by example. Leaders have a lot of power and eyes on them, so it’s important to be self-aware and consider how you demonstrate your commitment to inclusion. An example of how you can display this in your day-to-day work is by communicating how you prefer to work on a project with the rest of your team at the start of the project. This not only includes less experienced team members by helping them understand your preferred working process, but demonstrates to others that they can similarly state their preferred working style when working with a new team or project
  

Becoming aware of our unconscious biases through an interactive workshop

The second half of the session saw us putting these ideas to the test in an interactive workshop led by Liana Fricker, Head of New Ventures & Founder Inspiration Space. Split into groups of five, we were given a budget, our business challenges for the coming years, a set of people’s profiles and the task of hiring the best team possible. In this scenario, the teams were acting as a founding team of a growing climate tech startup looking to expand the core team.

As the teams spent the workshop discussing who should be hired, it was interesting to observe how the team started unconsciously gendering the candidates based on their CVs, giving them ages and all sorts of other unknowable characteristics. The exercise showed that, despite our best efforts, biases are a reality we need to contend with and be honest and vulnerable about. Above all, it was a good opportunity to practise focusing on people’s experience above prestigious qualifications and impressive company names.

Lucia’s reflections

The content of the sessions definitely left Lucia with food for thought. The event highlighted the nuance required in efforts towards inclusivity: as much as removing labels, such as gender and ethnicity, from the hiring process helps, the fact remains that those from disadvantaged backgrounds will likely not exist in the hiring pool to begin with, or at least in much smaller numbers. To truly practise inclusivity, the climate tech sector must make space for those with potential, even if they can’t access the space through traditional routes. 

Going forward, in addition to internalising the tips given by the panelists and practised during the workshop, Lucia concluded that Life Size can further contribute to a more inclusive climate tech community now and in the future through coaching. Internally, coaching and personal development are already an important part of life at Life Size for all employees, so incorporating considerations about bias into our coaching processes will make our work more inclusive. This small but powerful action is a positive step forward.

From January 2025, some of the Life Size team will start coaching under-resourced young people to help them access top universities as part of The Access Project, an education charity in the UK. We will write about this journey and look forward to sharing our experiences with you.

Thank you to Samson, Danna and Shruti for leading this eye-opening session. And thank you Undaunted for putting the topic on the climate tech event calendar. We would love to see this happen more often. For anyone interested in improving inclusivity in climate tech and wanting to learn more, Climate Mosaic, a community that aims to empower underrepresented founders and investors in climate and is co-founded by Shruti, is a good place to start.

And if you want to share your thoughts on this blog – questions, concerns, advice – reach out to Lucia. We are always looking to deepen our understanding and commitment to inclusivity in climate tech.