Inclusivity has always been an essential factor at ThoughtWorks Inc., where collaborative work processes are key to creating its software products. Group Managing Director of North America Joanna Parke (pictured) leads the charge toward furthering integrations between professional and cultural inclusion. In fact, ThoughtWorks has been named the top company for women technologists by the Anita Borg Institute for a second year in a row.

“We come from a history of agile software practices, which means that we work together in a very people-oriented and collaborative way. … Our culture was already built to be more team-focused, collaborative and inclusive,” Parke said.

That approach laid a solid foundation for overall inclusion at ThoughtWorks, where diversity has been a top priority for nearly a decade. “It started with the top leadership of the company saying that this is a crisis in our industry, and we need to take a stand and do something about it,” Parke told Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing event in Orlando, Florida.

They discussed the work she and her team have done to continue diversity progress at ThoughtWorks, as well as how the company addresses challenges to its mission that still plague the industry at large.

Cultivating change through open conversation

Though the company has made great strides toward inclusion and equality, Parke still sees room for improvement at ThoughtWorks. “There’s been a lot of work by many people over the years to get us where we are today, and we still feel that we have a long way to go,” she said.

The most successful method for continued progress is keeping an open dialogue, according to Parke. “We talk a lot about unconscious bias; we do education and training through the workforce; we try to encourage those uncomfortable conversations that really create breakthroughs and understanding,” she said.

When challenges do arise, ThoughtWorks supports its employees with an open-door policy that encourages reporting of discriminatory behavior. “Anyone can pick up the phone and call me or our CEO, or whoever they feel comfortable talking to. When that happens and people see action being taken … it reinforces the fact that it’s OK to speak up,” Parke said.

As the tech talent gap begins to widen, ThoughtWorks is beginning to focus more on its resources on educating and upscaling talent internally to ensure it maintains a healthy, thriving culture and workflow.

“We all have seen the power that technology has in transforming our society, and that is only going to grow over time. Having a diverse set of perspectives that reflects the makeup of our society is so important,” Parke concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Photo: SiliconANGLE