Include a culture that values being novel

Green Park is a global talent advisory firm and an industry pioneer in building diverse, senior leadership teams and more inclusive workplace cultures. According to Green Park CEO Raj Tulsiani, their clients span the private, public and third sectors, ranging from large global companies to local governments. Typically, they are organisations who want to drive performance and productivity through more inclusive workplaces and the recruitment and retention of talent that will think, act, and do differently.

Raj says they have five primary offerings, which includes consultancy in Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), leadership & evaluation, and people & transformation solutions. They also provide access to leadership on demand and executive search services, helping companies identify inclusive leaders for permanent roles or interim capability to remain nimble in difficult times. Their solutions are backed by evidence, experience, and expertise.

Since 2006, Green Park has mapped leadership diversity and sought out talent in places where others had overlooked. Raj explains that their access to the lived experience of leaders and change agents helps them influence how organisations operate at scale. With the help of their social enterprises, Race Equality Matters and the Green Park Foundation, Green Park want to create a workforce that is more open, fair, and full of different kinds of people.

Raj hopes his customers and team see him as authentic, driven, caring, and determined to do things differently in pursuit of Green Park’s fundamental purpose; equality. Empowering leaders to think differently about talent, Raj helps people balance growth with social impact. He helps his clients recruit change agents because he feels traditional headhunters don't always assist businesses to change and improve enough.

In relation to the company’s strategic vision, Raj says Green Park never stands still. He thinks they must continually strive to do things differently, better, and with greater purpose. Since the company’s inception, they've helped organisations enhance productivity through intersectional inclusion and by appointing more diverse leaders. Their blend of consultancy and talent acquisition services are designed to help organisations construct future-focused eco-systems. Strategically, they're trying to create value through recruitment, brand, organisational advocacy, and a market-leading approach to social capital through business. That means establishing two-way bridges from leadership though to diverse talent communities. Raj’s goal is to help businesses institutionalise inclusion.

Raj says that entrepreneurs can't ignore intrapreneurship. Clients benefit from collaboration. He tells entrepreneurial leaders that they must expect the unexpected and move on quickly from mistakes. Entrepreneurs must take risks knowing the next curveball is coming and you must appreciate and learn from the hurdles or you'll burn out, miss opportunities or lose support. He adds, that we must practice what we preach and that loyal people and brand advocates are any company’s best currency.

In Raj's view, customers with companies co-create the most imaginative ideas. If the organisational culture doesn't value face time with their customers, or a genuine and pro-active listening policy, they will end up competing on their competitors terms for a series of transactions, instead of building protected partnerships that yield recommendations, buy-in, and enterprise value.

Green Park treats each client individually, Raj adds. Their clients’ challenges could range from poor employee satisfaction where culture is highlighted as the cause, through to a client winning additional work and needing to quickly source quality candidates to deliver it. The most important thing, Raj adds, is that they are honest yet courteous in addressing the client’s issue head-on and providing a remedy or a series of solutions to overcome it. They don't dwell on or condemn the client for their mistakes; the client is already dealing with them by asking for Green Park’s help. They also strive to deliver long-term value beyond a one-off transaction to their clientele. Customer feedback proves we care, Raj adds.

When it comes to mapping diverse talent, the Origins algorithm that Green Park uses to map organisational leadership composition by race and gender, has helped the global talent advisory firm to identify diverse talent and follow long-term leadership trends for over ten years. This has given them a 10-year head start on their competitors in building diverse talent pipelines and developing relationships with the leaders of the future, says Raj.

In what is now a competitive market, Raj believes that Green Park "do" diversity where others "think" it. In 2020, Green Park founded the community interest company, Race Equality Matters, to make tangible change towards achieving race equality in the workplace. In 2022, their Race Equality Week campaign reached 3.5 million people in the workplace and their #MyNameIs initiative to combat racial microaggressions generated 1.75 billion impressions in its first month. After 15 years of advocating for change, inclusion and diversity aren't an "add-on" for Green Park’s clients. They measure and reward success differently.

Raj thinks they'll continue to balance charitable social initiatives like Race Equality Matters and Race Equality Week with growth needs. They want to be more prominent; not to repurpose old ideas but to help build a more inclusive future. They will help change-savvy organisations. In summary, Raj asserts, “the world has now turned toward our service space, but we'd be here anyhow because it's in our DNA and we support meritocratic organisations.” IE