Jane Farrell

I specialise in working with senior leaders who are addressing challenging and complex organisational issues. They involve change, opportunities, conflict and risk and always require a sharp analysis of diversity and equity in and amongst. Sometimes the diversity and equity issues are at the forefront, including on the front pages of newspapers, and sometimes they are 'woven in' in more subtle ways.

I focus on organisational development, mediations, and facilitation and enjoy public speaking, particularly when there is scope to interact with an audience.

I began my career in education in challenging inner city environments. As a teacher and a lecturer I became more and more interested in how it was not only education that needed to be able to think through how advantage and disadvantage operate in order to deliver equitable access, treatment and outcomes, but also every single organisation. It was this that led me to set up a consultancy and training company in 1992 specialising in diversity and equity and organisational development.

I am driven by working with leaders who want to create more equitable workplaces. They want to do this because of their values and because they see the business benefit of doing so. I often begin my work with clients when something has gone wrong, or when a leader sees that their organisational culture is not what they want it to be. Whether working with a global company, a government department or a charity my focus is on understanding the context well enough to be able to understand the internal and external drivers, and then designing interventions that will make a tangible difference. In any context there are strengths to build on as well as issues or behaviours that need to change.

Current relationships with clients involve designing inclusive leadership programmes, a sensitive public relations matter, mentoring senior leaders, facilitating a two day event for the top 100 leaders of a company, and building the capacity of in-house experts to be able to creatively and positively disrupt the status quo of structural and systemic discrimination.

I get to know clients well. It is my job to understand how individuals and organisations have got into situations that cause distress, and reputational damage, and work with them to find ways through. One of my roles is to try to 'turn down the heat' without denying the upset, anger or shame that is sometimes felt. It is most often the case that individuals and organisations are stronger, more confident, and more effective following challenging moments.  

I have a great deal of experience of working with senior management teams and boards to improve individual, team and organisational performance.

In 1992 I co-founded the EW Group, a diversity and inclusion training consultancy, and was Chief Executive from 1992 to 2021. EW Group was a pioneering company with a mission to make the workplace a fairer more equitable experience for all. From an idea, it grew to become one of the most notable and successful consultancies of its kind. Thirty years later, the business was thriving, and it was time for me to move into a different space. I sold the company in 2021.

I am privileged to spend one week a month on a pro bono basis being the Chair of the board of Mulberry Schools Trust founded in Tower Hamlets in London. This gives me great pleasure as it completes the circle of working in education again, where I began my career.  

I am delighted to have joined the Byrne Dean team, which I know is truly driven by strong values and a mission to create kinder, fairer, and more productive workplaces.