A UK aviation organization recognized they needed to improve how they attracted, retained, and developed diverse talent to strengthen succession planning.

New leadership understood there was a systemic issue with inclusion and a need for culture change within aviation more broadly.

The organization faced deeply embedded obstacles to creating an inclusive culture:

• Long-service military culture: Many employees were military recruits with limited alternative career options after air traffic control training

• Homogeneous leadership pipeline: Succession planning processes inadvertently perpetuated similar demographics and nepotism

• Cultural entrenchment: Established ways of working resistant to evolution

• Gender pay gap reporting pressure: Legal imperative mounting with new reporting requirements

• Site-specific focus: Initial work concentrated on one location, with hopes to scale insights to other sites

• Sub-cultures within operations: Different teams and departments had developed distinct micro-cultures

• Skepticism about change: Long-tenured employees dubious about diversity and inclusion initiatives

• Lack of diverse role models: Few women in senior positions to demonstrate viable career paths

At a time when the legal imperative was mounting due to gender pay reporting, Dr. Doyle-Morris enabled a platform for issues and challenges to be shared, acknowledged, and most importantly, acted upon.

Implementation Success

All 15 recommendations were agreed by the Senior Leadership Team. Most were initially considered "stretches"—ambitious targets that seemed difficult to achieve. Instead, they became a comprehensive programme of change rolled out over three years for sustainability.

Key outcomes:

Executive Coaching Programme:

• 5 high-potential women received executive coaching (delivered via live and virtual sessions as the COVID pandemic hit)

• 80% of those receiving coaching earned a more senior role within 8 months

• Success led to a doubling of the programme with another mixed-gender cohort

• Coaching focused on helping women progress and sustain advancement into senior roles

Organizational Culture Shifts:

• Wider recognition amongst initially dubious employees that inclusion was now a genuine corporate value, not just rhetoric

• Having Dr. Doyle-Morris publicly on-site highlighted the Senior Leadership Team's commitment to take ownership and make change happen on diversity and inclusion

• Permission granted to explore wider HR processes with a diversity and inclusion lens

• Evolution implemented where it was long overdue

Strategic Positioning

• Other business areas became interested as discussions about diversity and inclusion grew

• The local site gained greater influence in corporate initiatives, capitalizing on having already started the work

• This broader engagement was considered a significant win for the client

The CEO reported: "The individuals and the organization benefitted hugely from partnering with Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris. She provided much valued D&I expert advice and support when the business, legal and social imperative for creating an inclusive workforce have never been clearer."

The three-year implementation timeline demonstrated that sustainable culture change in aviation requires both immediate actions and long-term commitment—a balance Dr. Doyle-Morris helped the organization navigate successfully.

Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris is an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC) with a PhD from the University of Cambridge focusing on women in Engineering.

For 25 years, she's coached accomplished women in STEM as they advance to senior leadership.

She's the author of three books: "Beyond the Boys' Club: Strategies for Achieving Career Success as a Woman Working in a Male Dominated Field," "The Con Job: Getting Ahead for Competence in a World Obsessed with Confidence," and "Female Breadwinners: How They Make Relationships Work and Why they are Future of the Modern Workforce."

80% of her clients secure promotions or stretch roles within 12 months.

Not because she gives advice, but because she asks the right questions.