Leadership, diversity, and inclusion of LGBTQ people with Amanda McKay
In honor of Pride Month this year, we sat down with Amanda McKay, the Quality Director for the Major Projects business within Balfour Beatty. We discussed the importance of having women and LGBTQ people in leadership roles, and the significance of policies and programs that can make cities more equitable and communities more flourishing.
About Amanda McKay
Amanda McKay is the Quality Director for the Major Projects business within Balfour Beatty. Amanda has worked in the Construction and major projects sector for over 35 years, mainly with QHSE roles and corporate governance. She has experience in Nuclear, rail, renewables and oil, and gas. Amanda is a Trans Woman living in Glasgow, who came out at 49 in a senior construction role. She is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion within the Construction sector. Regularly speaking on the topic, she also works to promote young people in STEM careers and is a mentor to a number of young people within the a number of sectors. She is a Fairness Inclusion & Respect ambassador and an OUTstanding top 100 LGBT Executive list member for the last two years. Amanda is a Chair of the Balfour Beatty LGBT+ and Allies network and Co Chair of the Gender Equality Network, as well as an Exec member of Building Equality nationally and Chair’s the central Scotland branch. Amanda has been a Trustee of the Chartered Quality Institute for six years and has been a Trustee and volunteer with a number of LGBT+ charities in Scotland.
How would you describe the importance of policies that support LGBTQ+?
“That’s extremely important. I think that’s not important only for LGBTQ people but for everybody to have a policy where everybody is included and the organization understands the diversity of the workforce, because without a diverse workforce I don’t think an organization performs at its best. These policies help to ensure that people are supported and protected, so any form of discrimination from the organization or the individuals is highlighted as being unacceptable. But also, it allows others to understand that the organization is an accepting place; so when you want to recruit or promote people, they need to understand that they have an equal opportunity — every member of the workforce.”
If we have those equal opportunities, how can we ensure employees know about these policies from the start?
“I think this is really important during the onboarding process, when you are bringing new people to the organization — they made aware of these policies. They put them in the orientation process, but not just giving them the policies — not giving somebody a document to read. They got some level of e-learning which explains them that policy and explains what the organization has in place to fully understand it. If that’s not done through e-learning, it should be done face to face as part of the induction process, so there is no doubt on what’s being asked an individual and they are fully aware what the organization expects from them.”
How would you describe the connection between leadership and inclusion? You spoke many times about the lack of women in the executive roles, what actions could be undertaken to increase these statistics and have an equitable city?
“I think that organizations are realizing the need for a diverse collection of leaders in an organization, necessary for them to thrive and survive these days. These days leadership and inclusion go hand-in-hand, you can’t be a good leader unless you fully understand the nature of your team and make sure to understand the people who work with you. You have to include everybody because you need those diverse skillsets and behaviors across the organization to perform well. The two are mutually inclusive. I think leading with good emotional intelligence is also being inclusive as they don’t only understand themselves but those who work with them as well.”
We do know and we can agree that maybe 90% of leaders in the organizations around are all males. How can we change it?
“We have to change the mindset of those upcoming leaders. I noticed in last 10 years, there’s been a change in the mindset certainly in the UK. It hasn’t necessarily changed the make-up of the boards and executives within the UK, but it will because they recognize that as they are replaced by others who have different mindset around that inclusion piece. But we’ve also got to lobby to make sure that organizations have policies which supports everybody. Just by chance, I watched an Episode of a very old British comedy last night called Yes Minister and the subject was about the promotion of a woman to a senior role in the civil service. The senior male civil servant spent the entire meeting discussing they were so inclusive to promote women, but their department wasn’t the right place and that mindset — you know — it has just changed. So, we need to do things like reverse mentoring so that people can get an understanding and what is like to be a woman in a business trying to get it on. Also, you got to do things like what Balfour Beatty calls an “Empower Course”, which is confidence-building and certain leadership skills to give women the confidence to apply for the next role and to think around issues around bringing that diverse skillset into a board. We need to do more of that. Within society, it’s becoming less acceptable not to be diverse. People want to see when they buy from an organization, when they engage with an organization, that they are dealing with somebody who has same values as them. The current generation is more aware to this, compared to people from my generation where they buy due to the price of a product. People now want more sustainable rather than being affordable. Sustainability includes diversity.”
You are the Co-Chair of the Gender Equality Network. Could you give us a quick history and the objectives of this network?
“So the network itself was established around about 2005; at first it was more about networking for women before becoming more about how to build more gender-equal organizations so people could have equal opportunity regardless of gender. The overall objective within the organization was to support the increase number of women in leadership, front line and technical roles across Balfour Beatty because we already have 20%. HR, accounts, and payroll areas traditionally attracted female employees rather than male employees, so the idea was to turn that to recognize how we get more people working in the leadership roles and the technical roles.”
Can you share the challenges that you are still facing outside and within your work network? How do you overcome them?
“I think there are number of challenges, one other the fact that I am Trans that still whilst we have a very diverse country the United Kingdom — you know, you can read the newspaper everyday and see somebody attacking the trans community in the UK for one reason or another. And the big debate around gender and gender fluidity is something which the UK and particularly some feminists groups and some anti-LGBT are still struggling with. That isn’t a concern to me, as somebody who is out LGBT and Trans — I don’t have that fact. I have in the past struggled getting a job or changing jobs because I am Trans. I had never struggled prior to my transition — my CV never used to have a problem getting interviews. Now, it’s more difficult either identified as woman and more importantly being trans — my CV only opens about 10% of the doors that used to open previously.”
In your opinion, why don’t they recruit and open doors to people like you?
“It’s probably because it’s not a place which can be safe. That was said to me on a couple of occasions: Because we have legislation to protect diverse people, a lot of employers are worried that they can sue their employer for not protecting them. So by not bringing such somebody, they wouldn’t have that problem. And because the people might feel different, they might not do the job in the same way. I think that’s a wrong perception because many people are just good and if not better than others who are doing that. Somebody who was out LGBT person has left a lot of baggage behind and rather being worried about it, they can just be more focused on their role.”
With UN Women’s increasing focus in recent years on LGBTQ+ community, what actions would you like to see them implemented widely?
“I think there is a rise in awareness, actually there is a good proportion on this planet. Being LGBTQ, you are more likely to be assaulted, or murdered, or be jailed for it. I know this year alone, 700,000 of trans women have died across the world through acts of violence or being murdered simply because people were trans. I was talking to some people the other week on a panel interview and they were based in Brazil. Being trans in Brazil is close to putting an electric around the neck. It’s not illegal to be trans in Brazil but many are murdered because they are trans. I was surprised to learn that Iran has a very sympathetic approach to LGBTQ people and the government actively supports people who are transitioning. When I read the reasons why and how they explained it — it fits within the bounds of being a sympathetic and supporting individual.”
In your opinion, how are different nations that have agreed to advocating for the LGBTQ+ community sincerely adopting their commitments? Could you speak about the UK for example?
“The UK has always been seen to be very LGBT-friendly and certainly since a number other of legislations which originally made it illegal and an offense to be LGBTQ were changed around the 80’s, which isn’t that long ago. Britain became more progressive with things like the Gender Recognition Legislation and the Equality Acts. When actually you see them in practice, I don’t think there are well embedded as they should be. We do have a lot of rights in the UK, but actually seeing them in action and seeing them properly administered is another thing. I know many LGBTQ people who go to the police following intimidation violence or you know — problems with neighbors and things like that — don’t get the right response. Cis-gendered heterosexual individual are treated differently from a trans woman. You can have legislation but its implementation is also important.”
What does a healthy, flourishing community look like? What policies or programs do you think would make that community a reality?
“I think policies probably are necessary as education, so it’s how we educate people to be more inclusive and to be more understanding of difference — I think that’s a key thing for me. Anybody in the minority group will always end up having to fight for their rights. In fact, you got those rights but you need to keep them because somebody will always wants to take them away. Even within the LGBTQ community, it’s very fractured and broken — it’s pretty much G, then L, then B, then T, then everybody else in that order. Sometimes Prides are run by a cis-gendered gay man with a focus of having a party. So we need to be inclusive and need to be tolerant towards each other and understand each other needs. Because how can we fight for right of LGBTQ community if we don’t get along well within ourselves?”
Thank you very much! Is there anything you’d like to add to close this interview?
“You cant be happy if you aren’t happy within yourself. I’m happy in my own skin — I’m 58 and there is no point in trying to make myself look like a super model. I also have been very lucky; I haven’t suffered from hate crime and other issues that some people have. So help yourself, help others, and interact with others. The planet is not that big — we can’t live without helping our neighbors because at some point we might call them to help us.”
Interview and transcript by Zoubida Idrissi Aidi, Partnerships & Development Volunteer, UN Women USA LA
