Keynote Speaker
Linbert Spencer is an inspiring, authoritative, dynamic key note speaker. His professional background is in community development, having trained at Goldsmiths College London University in 1970. A former professional actor, international athlete and television presenter, he brings over twenty years experience as an international consultant, trainer and coach to every speaking engagement. Alongside this experience, he takes full account of the uniqueness of each event and client.
He has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches, seminars and workshops, and designed and delivered major programmes to various sized groups of employees in the private, public and third sectors. Audiences can expect to be challenged, inspired, educated and entertained. Diversity Guru
He is an innovative, invigorating facilitator with proven experience of effective board level interventions and leadership team development. As well as being active in the UK, he has facilitated seminars and workshops in America, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bermuda, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Clients
In the last 10 years Linbert's clients have included, Shell; BP; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Gillette; KMC International; Cabinet Office; Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Home Office; the Inland Revenue; British Council; Foods Standards Agency; MI5; MOD; United Kingdom Borders Agency; Metropolitan Police; Bedfordshire Police; British Transport Police; Serious Organised Crime Agency; House of Commons; House of Lords; Caldecott Foundation; Leonard Cheshire Homes; Stockport Borough Council; Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea; Wycombe District Council; Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and a variety of NHS Trusts.
Coach and Author
Linbert is an executive coach and has a track record in designing and facilitating personal development programmes. He is a leading thinker and writer in the field of diversity and inclusion. http://www.trainingjournal.com/tj/208.html# Most recent books are How to Build a Multi-ethnic Church - November 2007 and The Diversity Pocketbook April 2004. He is currently working on a Diversity and Inclusion book to be published in Spanish, in collaboration with a colleague in Madrid.
2010 Initiatives
- Developing a new On-Line Directory of Equality and Diversity Consultants
- Working with a colleague in Madrid to increase awareness of equality and diversity in Spain. The work includes a new diversity book, to be published in Spanish, and a series of workshops and seminars
- Delivering British Transport Police's officer and staff development & coach training programme.
- Supporting Association of Chief Police Officers in the development of their 'road map' for public confidence
- Supporting Foreign and Commonwealth Office in redesigning their Assessment & Development Centre and Final Selection Board
Current Pro-Bono Work
Linbert is a member of the Salvation Army in which he is actively involved both locally and nationally. He currently serves as a trustee on the boards of- Youth at Risk - www.youthatrisk.org.uk and
- the Salvation Army Housing Association - www.saha.org.uk
Linbert also serves as a mentor
Organisations Founded
- Edgehill Neighbourhood Project in Scarborough
http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=13979
http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=12814 - Harpurhey Neighbourhood Project, Manchester
- Agency for Economic Development, Manchester
- Co-founded the Windsor Fellowship, a national charity that aims to prepare minority ethnic undergraduates for management roles in industry, commerce and the public sector - 1986.
http://www.windsor-fellowship.org - Diversity UK publishers of The Diversity Directory 1991: Approximately 100 diversity and equal opportunities consultants/consultancies were listed in the Directory, and a new edition was issued every six months for the fourteen years I owned and published it.
Previous Appointments on Major Public Bodies
- Member, Archbishop's Commission on Urban Priority Areas [Faith in the City]
- Special Adviser, House of Commons Select Committee on Employment
- Board Member, National Institute for Social Work
- Member, Department of Education and Science Enquiry into Discipline in Schools
- Director, Royal Society of Arts Examinations Board
- Member, IBM Community Advisory Panel
- Chair, Department of Education and Science National Steering Committee for Youth and Community Workers training
- Director, Temba Theatre Company Ltd
- Member, National Training Task Force
- Director, London Docklands Development Corporation Ltd
- Member, German Marshall Fund Ethnic Minority Fellowship Programme - European Advisory Committee
- Home Secretary's Advisory Council on Race Relations
- London Weekend Television - Programme Advisory Board
- Department of Employment's Race Relations Advisory Group
- Director Bedfordshire Training and Enterprise Council
- Member, The Police Complaints Authority
Pre 2010 Initiatives
- Facilitated a paradigm shift for Bedford Police in their thinking re the Diversity and Inclusion agenda
- Re-focussed the thinking of one of the Metropolitan Police's Borough Management Teams
- Designed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Partner's University programme to increase recruitment of 'fast streamers' from non-traditional backgrounds
- Delivery of major leadership development programme for Home Office managers
- Supported the thinking, re diversity and inclusion, of the board of Serious Organised crime Agency
- Won a National Training Award with Breakthrough - a Structured Mentoring Programme devised for and delivered to more than 500 Inland Revenue staff
- Conceptualised and founded the first ever code of practice for diversity and equality practitioners and an organisation to set national professional standards for diversity and equality practitioners in 2003. This work led to the formation of the Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners in 2009.
- Delivered a two day Managing Inclusion Programme for the top 300 hundred managers in the Security Service
- Designed and delivered equality and diversity awareness seminar for the management board of the House of Lords
- Designed and delivered a one day equality and diversity programme for all staff in the House of Commons
- Initiated, devised and ran, in partnership with the Cabinet Office, a series of careers fairs for key government departments and agencies, targeting minority ethnic graduates. Of particular significance was the participation of the Security Service who had not previously advertised openly. The career fairs attracted approximately 1200 people each year who were specifically looking for careers in government
- Designed and embedded the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's diversity strategy
- Created Midland Bank's (HSBC) equality strategy with particular emphasis on business opportunities, enabled them to access Minority Ethnic businesses in the Midlands, and facilitated the development of a graduate recruitment programme aimed at minority ethnic graduates. This programme was based on the Windsor Fellowship graduate programme. http://www.windsor-fellowship.org
- Designed and developed Community Liaison Panels for Greater Manchester Police; subsequently recommended as Police Consultative Committees in Lord Scarman's Report and now developed into Independent Advisory Networks
- Designed an Informal Resolution Process for Greater Manchester Police which informed the process incorporated into the Police and Criminal Evidence Act
Diversity guru tells law firms to focus on promoting inclusion
Author: Charlotte Edmond
Published: www.legalweek.com 02/10/2008 05:56
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Recruiting a diverse workforce is easy but top City law firms are falling down when it comes to creating an inclusive atmosphere where lawyers from all backgrounds want to stay and build their careers.
Leading diversity consultant Linbert Spencer (pictured) told delegates at a Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ) forum last week, that inclusion is one of the hardest issues facing law firms today - rather than the initial recruitment of minority workers.
Spencer applauded the efforts already being made to encourage diversity in the legal sector, but said that firms need to be clearer about what they are trying to achieve. Firms need to concentrate on how many people from diverse backgrounds they can retain rather than the number they can recruit.
In particular, Spencer argued that distinct firm cultures - something many City leaders pride themselves on - can cause problems if they mean people from all backgrounds are forced to try and fit into the same mould.
"Diversity is a given - everyone is different. The task is managing inclusion. If you start by looking to change your diversity you are conceptually starting in the wrong place," Spencer said.
Delegates, including diversity officers and human resources managers from many of the City's largest firms, were also told to view Government diversity legislation as the base level below which no-one should sink. Current legislation deals with discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, age and sex, but there are other areas that can make people feel uncomfortable or isolated. To this end, Spencer argued firms need to be aware of the message they are sending to the market if they want to attract and retain the best talent.
Spencer said: "The recruitment process starts before you actually decide to go out and look for people. It is all to do with your image and the market perception of you as an office, as a firm and as an industry."
He also cautioned that recruiting from 'non-traditional backgrounds' should not mean lowering standards. He argued maintaining a 2:1 degree barrier was fine as long as, within that bracket, law firms ensure they are attracting the most diverse group of recruits.
His words come against a backdrop of law firms looking at broadening recruitment criteria to include aptitude and psychometric testing rather than just academic qualifications. Norton Rose is considering axing the minimum requirement of a 2:1 degree from training contract applicants, while Herbert Smith is also in the process of reviewing its application process.
Despite the additional costs involved in increasing diversity, firms were warned not to reduce efforts to recruit a mixed workforce as a result of the global economic crisis and cost-cutting.
SSQ director Gavin Sharpe likewise told delegates at the event, which was supported by Legal Week, that law firms tackling diversity should avoid knee-jerk reactions. He said: "Diversity panics partners. They say 'let's have someone with a 2:2 from an ethnic minority. That is not what I think diversity is about."