1. Webinar: Leading approaches to social mobility
EUGENE BLAVO
Operations Director
Making the Leap
STEPHEN HOGAN
Director
Exogeny Consulting
ROSIE TOWE
Manager, ICRS Secretariat;
Partner, Carnstone
Webinar: Leading approaches to social mobility

2. What “Social Mobility?”
Address the fact that millions of children don’t get a chance to succeed, not because they are lazy, not because they don’t want to or not because they don’t have the ability, but simply because they happen to be born poor
uksomo.com

3. 5 Things Organisations Can Do
Have a look at what you are currently doing
Be aware of others
A social mobility strategy
Shout about it
Enter the UK Social Mobility Awards
uksomo.com

4. About “Making the advancement of social mobility a key
part of how organisations are run in this country”
uksomo.com

5. Organisational Categories
Organisation of The Year
Community Programme of The Year
2017
2018
2017
2018
uksomo.com

6. Organisational Categories
Recruitment Programme of The Year
Progression Programme of The Year
2017
2018
2017
2018
uksomo.com

7. Organisational Categories
Innovation of The Year
Leadership of The Year
2017
2018
2017
2018
uksomo.com

8. New Categories School/College of The Year University of The Year
Local Authority of The Year
uksomo.com

9. Individual Categories
Champion of The Year
Rising Star of The Year
Chris Rix Deloitte
2017
Matthew Coats Cabinet Office
2018
Jonathan Andrews Reed Smith
2018
uksomo.com

10. Individual Categories
Mentor of The Year
Outstanding Contribution to Social Mobility
Lorcan Lennon KPMG
2017
Matthew Coats Cabinet Office
2018
Melanie Richards KPMG
2018
uksomo.com

11. Judging Panel
Chaired by Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, Lord Lieutenant of London. Judges include leading figures from business, the public sector and charity sector
uksomo.com

12. Key Dates 29th April 28th June 1st - 12th July 15th July July
NOMINATIONS OPEN
28th June
ENTRY DEADLINE
1st - 12th July
SHORTLISTING
15th July
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED
July
JUDGING DAYS
10th October
AWARDS NIGHT
uksomo.com

13. Stephen Hogan Exogeny Consulting
How to develop a leading social mobility approach - and tell your story
Stephen Hogan
Exogeny Consulting

14. Stephen Hogan and Exogeny
Exogeny Consulting
Ex-Head of Social Mobility at PwC
Developed PwC’s first social mobility vision and strategy
Also led the strategy, reporting, operations and evaluation for PwC’s corporate responsibility programme
Wrote numerous publications and successful award entries for PwC, including Social Mobility Employer Index and UK Social Mobility Awards
Focusing on strategy, change, impact and reporting
Including research, writing and communications

15. A gathering momentum
Much more prominence for social mobility issues in recent years
Business, government and society
Increasing number of social mobility initiatives
Social Mobility Business Compact and Champions Group
Social Mobility Employer Index
Opportunity Areas programme
DfE Skills Partners programme
Inclusive Economy Partnership
UK Social Mobility Awards
More opportunities to get involved in social mobility and more visibility for social mobility initiatives
Expectation, opportunity, recognition

16. Make the case for social mobility
Understand the external context
Government, competitors, societal
Ensure your reasoning for action is relevant to your organisation
be prepared to educate – social mobility is complex and not always well understood
set out why social mobility is important to your organisation
outline the things that your organisation could do
articulate the potential benefits (e.g. reputation, engagement, retention, performance)
Get support and buy-in from across the business
learn from other areas of diversity
set goals and targets to focus minds and direct activity
engage early and allow strategy to be formed by operational experience and expertise

17. Social mobility strategy development
Recruitment
Who does your organisation recruit? How?
What do you know / ask about the social backgrounds of your new hires?
Do you have a work experience programme? How does it operate? Is it fair and open?
Development and progression
What do you know about the backgrounds of your current staff?
Do you track differences in performance / retention / progression for different social groups?
Do you have any programmes in place to support people from diverse backgrounds?
Community
What kind of community outreach programmes do you currently operate?
Where do they operate and how do you decide where your community investment goes?
Do you support social procurement?
Advocacy
What’s your social mobility story?
How do you want to tell / create that story internally, to get people engaged?
What sort of alliances / partnerships / external profile will be important for your organisation?

18. Telling your story – some lessons
Choose your award entries carefully
think about profile, relevance, potential time and work involved
get agreement / approval about which award entries to prioritise
Don’t underestimate the work involved
allocate enough time to plan, gather required information and write a thorough entry
ask for help as early as you can!
Think about the audience
take the time to understand what the questions are asking
tell the story of the problem(s) you tried to solve, what you did and focus on impact (what has changed as a result of what you did)
if multiple people are involved, make sure the award submission speaks with one voice

19. Writing a successful SOMO entry
Decide early which category(ies) to enter
think about the strength of your story for this year
consider how it may compare to previous category winners
use the judging criteria to help you decide which category(ies) to enter
Block out / allocate the time to complete the submission
think about who is going to write the entry and what support / information they need
if you need data / input from different parts of the business, get the requests in early
hold time in diaries for writing / editing / review
Answer the questions
understand the judging criteria
use the word allocation to tell as full a story as possible
the judges won’t know what you have done – remember to set the scene, explain the rationale and activity and focus on impact (what has changed)
ensure there is ownership and review of the entry(ies)

20. Thank you!

21. Discussion: Leading approaches to social mobility
EUGENE BLAVO
Operations Director
Making the Leap
STEPHEN HOGAN
Director
Exogeny Consulting
ROSIE TOWE
Manager, ICRS Secretariat;
Partner, Carnstone
Discussion: Leading approaches to social mobility