March 9 2020
Inside nettletontribe

International Women’s Day 2020

This year International Women’s Day 2020 focused on the idea of ‘collective individualism’ and #EachforEqual.

“An equal world is an enabled world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day. We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world. Let’s all be #EachforEqual. …

The IWD 2020 campaign theme is drawn from a notion of ‘Collective Individualism.’ We are all parts of a whole. Our individual actions, conversations, behaviours and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society. Collectively, we can make change happen. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender equal world.”

Source: International Women’s Day

At nettletontribe we believe in the equality of individuals and ideas, and have looked at three dynamics within the tribe that best represent this;

Graduate + Director

Ashleigh King – Graduate of Architecture

“As designers we are always working as a team to produce the best outcome, I believe to do this we work best together when each idea is voiced and acknowledged. Each of us has experience through different projects or simply from different aspects of life, these experiences and learnings help us create our projects today. Collaborating with different minds and experiences by creating a sense of inclusivity and openness when expressing ideas is essential in forming effective and collaborative project teams. For myself, taking this approach when leading a project team one day will be vital in creating an effective and collaborative environment.”

Senior Associate + Associate Director

Gosia Piotrowksi – Senior Associate

“It’s important to recognise that equality is an element of our workplace culture, and it’s manifested through day to day activities and interactions with our colleagues.

I believe that a fair, balanced and flexible workplace not only promotes productivity but also encourages trust, transparency and knowledge sharing.

Even though we have different roles to fulfill, we all have an equally important contribution to make. I try to encourage all team members to take an active part in creative decision making, and value everyone’s contribution in our project workshops and brainstorming sessions.”

 

David Puleo – Associate Director

“‘Collective Individualism’ and ‘Each for Equal’ are about acknowledging the importance of each individual’s thoughts and actions in bringing about real change as a group. For a workplace to have a culture that moves beyond embracing diversity and strives toward true inclusion, every individual has a role to play in questioning and challenging inequality.”

Practice Manager + Managing Director

Amy Lyden – Practice Manager

“We are all people. We all hold different strengths, values, passions and views formed by our gender, culture and beliefs. When we listen, respect and learn we can then all challenge change. If we do this as people, we can all thrive. People are equal, individually we are all unique. This makes us remarkable.”

 

Rodney Moyle – Managing Director

“On IWD 2020, I have been asked to reflect on our progress with gender equity. In recent years, nettletontribe have been fortunate that our gender ratio across the whole practice has been stable in the range of 47% which hovers within reach of our target of 50/50 ratio.

However, the challenges remain significant. We challenge ourselves to provide defined pathways to ensure that the current ratio is retained over the medium and longer terms, as we like most businesses remain unbalanced at the senior levels. We recognised that this is not an issue we can solve on our own, so I am proud that last year we joined the Male Champions of Change, whereby a large working group of significant architectural practices in this country are collectively undertaking to provide pathways towards gender equality at all levels, and along the way, striving as an industry to develop strategies that all practices are grappling with.

In the last several months we have also undertaken unconscious bias training, firstly amongst the directors group and recently we have rolled this out throughout all of the studios.

We actively promote engagement in the Property Council 500 Women in Property in which we had our first participant over the last 12 months. In addition, we have director representation on the AIA diversity committees.

Finally, we are establishing benchmarks to measure our targets, for both when we succeed and fail. We are not alone on this journey, however I hope that all current and future staff of nettletontribe are aware and have an understanding of our desire to contribute to meaningful change with gender equality where all staff feel supported to achieve their personal and career goals.”