Me and my reverse mentor: Understanding LGBTQ+

Savills’ investment director James Gulliford (pictured), known affectionately as Gully to most, is the youngest member of the agent’s executive board and as such feels a heavy responsibility to be something of a translator between the generations. “I feel quite a weight of responsibility carrying the cultural torch,” he says, talking of his – and the business’ – ambition for Savills to be known first and foremost for its inclusive culture.  But Gulliford has picked up that torch himself, having volunteered to be reverse mentored by two of Savills’ LGBTQ+ group members – associate Megan Dixon and associate director Andy Morland. The reverse mentoring programme, which also spans Savills’ other network groups, is led by Gulliford and UK managing director Richard Rees as a way of ensuring that the senior leaders at the consultancy are educated around the issues facing all of their staff today. The programme was officially launched in September last year. “One of the reasons I was most interested in reverse mentoring was that I am obsessive about culture,” says Gulliford. “Really good cultures have got to be adaptable and learn a lot from the younger generation. We have a stack-load of platforms at the top end to talk to them, but creating a platform for them to talk more formally to us regularly has only got to be a good thing, particularly for the culture of Savills.” Armed with experience At Savills, the reverse mentoring works with the mentee (Gulliford) sitting down with their mentors (Dixon and Morland) formally once a month, to talk about one or more of the big issues facing individuals or groups of people at Savills. “Our first step is arming Gully with our own experiences and to talk about other people’s experiences, and to educate ourselves so that he can be the advocate for our group at board level,” says Dixon. Being armed and educated is Gulliford’s raison d’etre for being part of the reverse mentoring programme. As a keen and vocal advocate for both Savills and the industry, Gulliford wants to put himself up on stage to talk about issues facing the industry today and – of course – to promote the culture he is so keen on fostering at Savills. “There’s definitely a piece for me in terms of education and empowering me to talk authoritatively on panels etc about this,” he says. “The mentors get access to me, the quid pro quo is they arm me.” Gulliford adds that the programme is not just helping Savills as a business, but helping him in his career, too. He says the knowledge he is gaining from his reverse mentors and his fellow mentees means he is forearmed to deal with the increasing number of questions being posed around diversity from clients – existing and prospective. But the overall aim of the reverse mentoring programme is to raise awareness and encourage all members of staff to recognise themselves as allies. Driving forward For Dixon, turning as many people as possible into allies, into supporters of each other regardless of their background, sexuality, or situation, is key. “If we can get to a point where everyone has that support, we will all live in a much better place, business will be so much better because we will be better teams – we will be a better management company for our clients,” she says. And that declaration of allyship has to start with Gulliford and the entirety of the executive board. “Having direct input into the UK exec is crucial,” says Morland. “It is fundamental to make sure that our actions are delivered.” And Morland and Dixon both feel that just four months into the programme, their voices are being heard and actions taken.  “Gully is really passionate about this and I feel it,” says Morland. “This is not just a tick box exercise for Gully.  “Our conversations have proven that he is passionate and wants to educate himself and wants to get the message out there to the exec board. He is genuinely interested in what we have to say and because Gully is so interested in it, I really feel like we have that voice on the exec board and that he will drive it forward for us.” “The thing that you can see with all the reverse mentees is the enjoyment,” says Dixon. “They know that there is a business case to do this, but they visibly enjoy it too. They are excited to get into a meeting and hash out what it is that we can all do together and what we can work towards. And that is really quite inspiring.” To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette Image © Savills