ABO Wind
DEI as a Key Part in a Larger Corporate Sustainability Program
DEI Onboarding for Leadership | DEI Learning & Development | Equality and Non-Discrimination Plan
ABO Wind is a global company developing and building wind and solar farms as well as battery and hydrogen projects. With renewables ingrained in their DNA and a commitment to build a future worth living for coming generations, ABO Wind places paramount importance on ensuring the sustainability of people, environment, and materials. That’s why ABO Wind decided to collaborate with deidei to ensure that social sustainability is incorporated as a core part of the larger corporate sustainability program.
"DEI and the social dimension of sustainability have a big impact on various aspects of our work. Learning to utilize the broader perspective of diversity, linked with larger sustainability, will serve the success of the entire company. Our DEI competencies extend beyond our internal work community, allowing us to apply them when engaging with different individuals at events and occasions all over Finland. DEI combined with the skill of encountering is strongly linked to our core business. We want to make it our specialty and differentiator."
Reetta Nurmo
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Building Leadership Capabilities with DEI Onboarding for Management
Getting leadership buy-in is deidei’s first recommended step toward an impactful and successful DEI work. Which is why we started ABO Wind’s DEI journey with onboarding their Steering Group to DEI. In addition to the buy-in, the onboarding aimed at increasing the leadership's DEI competencies, defining what DEI meant specifically to ABO Wind’s business and people, and together setting the first focus areas in ABO Wind’s DEI journey.
"We decided it was important to engage all managers at the start of the DEI work at ABO and to gain a common understanding of the subject. Managers play a key role in promoting equality and nondiscrimination as well as an inclusive work culture. The DEI Onboarding for Leadership opened up the broad concept of DEI in an easily approachable way, teaching our steering group why DEI work is beneficial specifically for our company."
Sanna Havukainen
Human Resources Director
Putting Learnings into Immediate Practice: DEI keynote and Facilitated Small-Group Discussions
The next milestone was the company-wide DEI keynote at a company retreat focusing on the fundamentals of DEI. The keynote was immediately followed by facilitated small group discussions about ordinary example scenarios regarding DEI topics.
"Having external DEI experts facilitate the discussion really added depth and impact to the topic. Their ability to address our personnel's questions during the event was essential. It was also great to see how enthusiastically the personnel engaged in practical exercises. The most impactful thing was that we got to discuss the many different ordinary situations DEI is related to – together with everyone at ABO", Havukainen sums up.
The collaborative discussion fosters a shared language, a shared understanding, and a valuable exchange of insights among all participants, encouraging broader engagement with the DEI change.
DEI as the backbone of an Equality and Non-Discrimination Plan
deidei also guided ABO Wind’s Equality and Non-Discrimination plan writing process through DEI Consulting services. deidei made sure that the plan was in line with the Finnish equity and equality legal compliance.
"It was good to have outside experts look at the plan through a different lens. We got a lot of good guiding tips for determining DEI goals and metrics and for strengthening our ideas", Nurmo summarizes.
An impactful Equality and Non-Discrimination Plan requires planning, clarity, actionable measures, and regular updates. deidei expert comments guided the terminological accuracy as well as goal setting and metrics for ABO Wind’s specific DEI focus areas. They were determined in the Steering Group’s DEI Onboarding session.
Need help with kicking off or accelerating the DEI transformation journey in your organization?
Contact us!