Bloom’s The Exchange is Breaking Down Gender Divides in the Industry, One Conversation At a Time

Niamh Carroll 01 July, 2021 

The Exchange is a scheme aimed at helping to break down the gender divides in the industry through candid conversation and co-mentoring between men and women. The scheme has been run since 2019 by Bloom, a professional network for women in communications. 

The premise of The Exchange is simple. Senior men in the industry are matched with Bloom women. The two then co-mentor each other over six months by engaging in frank and honest conversations. The hope is that these conversations will be able to challenge preconceived notions from either side around gender’s role in the industry. 

The idea of co-mentoring is that participants should learn something from each other. The Exchange is founded on the principle that both women and men’s voices are valuable when it comes to discussing gender divides in the industry.  

Bringing Women and Men Together in Open Conversation

In 2017, #metoo brought worldwide attention to sexual harassment, prompting women in all industries to speak out about their experiences. Although the movement caused people to re-examine their workplace behaviours and practices, it also, in some ways, drove a wedge between men and women, says Bloom. 

“There was a lot of research done after Me Too, that showed that the gap between men and women in the workplace got wider,” said co-founder of The Exchange, Siobhan Brunwin. “Men were more nervous about being alone with a woman, and women felt more uncomfortable asking men for mentorship. We’ve always wanted Bloom to include the male voice in things because otherwise, you’re in an echo chamber of all these women saying things need to change. So we need men on the journey with us.”

And so, in 2019, The Exchange was founded. Although the principle is relatively simple, for men and women to exchange in honest conversations aimed at breaking down gender barriers, the process of organising The Exchange requires a lot of careful planning. 

First of all, the pairs must be matched. The Bloom women can be in different stages of their career. The scheme specifies that the men taking part in The Exchange should be influential in their industries, with many c-suite level men taking part. There are also different industry backgrounds to consider, Bloom has members from different backgrounds within the communications industry, such as ad tech, media communications and PR.

The process is not an exact science, says Ally Tyger, who is head of The Exchange in 2021. 

“We consider all sorts of factors like diversity, seniority and background in the industry. But ultimately, it’s a very human process, where we’re matching individuals, but it’s also a rigorous process,” she said. 

The Pandemic As a Time to Focus on Gender Divides

The pandemic brought gender inequalities into sharper focus. With more time spent at home, issues like childcare and how household chores are divided were brought to the fore. 

The 2020 Exchange took place in the midst of some of the worst months of the pandemic. Conversations between the participants were held virtually.

Ally Tyger says that, in some ways, the strange circumstances, as well as the spotlight shone on the home/work life divide, helped produce even more candour among participants. 

“Everyone had a starting commonality last year, because everyone was asking each other ‘How’s your lockdown?’. It started with that small talk and then became quite deep, quite quickly. Because everyone was going through difficult times,” she said. 

From last year, Bloom also learnt that the pairs shouldn’t exist in a silo and instead they should feel part of the wider Exchange community.

Much More Than A Chat Over A Cup of Coffee

Bloom is keen to ensure that the conversations that take place between participants extend beyond just simple chit-chat. 

“We’re very keen to do a lot of quantitative research to make sure that it was actually making a difference, that it wasn’t just a few nice occasional coffee chats,” Siobhan Brunwin said. 

Participants were given topics over email that they could talk about in their sessions. They were also supported through the scheme by Bloom’s volunteers who were on-hand to give advice and guidance.

The Exchange was formed on the idea of “radical candour”, the idea that the conversations should be a completely open space, where participants weren’t afraid of saying the wrong thing. To this end, ambassadors were introduced this year. They are former participants, both male and female, from last year’s Exchange, there to offer guidance and insight into their experiences on the scheme to this year’s mentees. 

The participants saw results in their personal and professional outlooks. The women involved in the 2020 Exchange saw a 48 percent increase in their confidence in discussing the gender divide in the workplace, according to Bloom’s research. 

Collette Philip is a past participant in the scheme and ambassador for the 2021 scheme. 

She describes The Exchange as “a safe space to explore challenges with a like-minded, experienced business leader”. 

For men involved, they felt, on average, almost five times (493 percent) more clarity on what actions would positively impact the gender divide in the workplace. 

“The Exchange helped me learn more about myself, support others, and proactively diversify my network. Best thing I’ve done for years,” said Henry Rowe, who is a 2021 ambassador for the scheme and president and chief strategy officer at Theorem. 

Although the scheme focuses on interactions between the pair, the exchanges can have a wider impact in the industry. Bloom deliberately selects men with influence, largely c-suite executives, to be part of the co-mentoring scheme. This ensures that those taking part in the scheme have the power to drive change in their wider workplaces, based on what they learn. 

And Bloom says it saw tangible results from the 2020 scheme in the participants’ workplaces. Participants took action to set up cross-mentoring schemes in their own offices. The scheme also prompted participants to make changes to their companies’ maternity policies and procedures. And the kind of open conversation that took place as part of The Exchange also prompted participants to replicate this in sparking candid conversations about salaries in the workplace. 

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2022-08-25T17:41:32+01:00

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