Katy Murray: Creating a More Inclusive World with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Leaders at Catalyst Collective
Top 10 Outstanding HR Executives of the Year 2023
Facilitator,
culture-shaper, and self-confessed OD geek, recently named 1 of UK’s Top 50
Influential D+I Leaders by Hive Learning, Katy Murray is the
Director of Catalyst Collective. She has 20 years of experience working with
commercial and non-profit clients in 35 countries, managing
teams, enabling change, and training leaders. She is very committed to
providing safe and courageous places for dialogues that transform power
relations and lived experience, and to co-creating new ways of working together.
Katy holds
a master’s degree from Cambridge University as well as a master’s degree from
the University of Westminster. She is an INLPTA-accredited coach. She has
worked in 35 countries and in a variety of industries, including INGOs and
grassroots community organisations, global commercial corporations, retail,
engineering, financial services, and online entrepreneur communities.
A
Promising D&I leader
Katy’s
first employment after graduation was in a people-focused capacity inside a
multinational organisation, which provided her with an excellent perspective of
how huge global organisations operate. She then chose what she wanted to pursue
further (leadership development) and sought out possibilities to gain
extensive international experience. Katy was able to bring
her international expertise and people development knowledge
to bear on consulting, which she supplemented with further training and
certificates. Looking back, she can see how establishing welcoming environments
and concepts of justice and fairness have been with her since childhood,
and how these led her to EDI work.
Leaders of
EDI inside their organisations may feel isolated in what may be a complicated
and undervalued job. Katy is driven to assist these leaders who are pushing for
organisational equity and cultural transformation. Catalyst Collective works with clients that want to establish more inclusive workplaces;
it’s not a fast fix, one-size-fits-all, been there, done that sort of work;
it’s frequently a messy, complex journey, and leaders must be willing to face
some difficult “mirror moments” along the road. She says, “We hold safe
and brave space for these conversations—expect compassionate challenge!”
She further
adds that the team works with EDI leaders to resource their resilience and grow
their capacity (For example leading in complexity, strategic
influencing, elevated thinking, tactical how-tos) to lead this essential work.
She asserts, “Often as facilitators we don’t get the recognition and
acknowledgement of the work we’re doing—our job is for our clients to
experience the success of the work—that’s part of the deal! So, I love it when
clients tell me what is shifting in their cultures and what they’re seeing
change as a result.”
From
leadership development, Katy developed specialisms in gender equity and then
started her own journey with intersectionality, exploring her own whiteness and
what it means to be actively anti-racist in life and business.
Katy really
appreciated the recognition from Hive as a top 50 D+I leader back in 2020.
Thoughts
on Success
When we are
constantly seeking the next thing, we miss the moment that we are in right now.
Katy states, “Life is precious and brief; don’t waste it trying to live
up to other people’s expectations of you! For me, success is squeezing all the
juice and delight out of each day!”
According
to Katy, society teaches us what success should look like, but she believes
success is more personal—what do you enjoy, what brings you joy, what are you
really good at, what fires you up, and how can you do more of that? She
continues, “What are you interested in altering, what irritates you when you
hear the news, what do you want might be better in the world around you?”
Following these clues will lead you to what ‘success’ can look like for you.
She further explains, “We also know from the happiness research that
most humans need to feel a sense of contribution, that what we’re contributing
matters, and we feel good when we do well for others.”
Katy shares
that life is long and everyone has different seasons and stages to explore –
you’re not too old, and it’s not too late, to decide to find and do more of the
things that light you up and give you all the joy!
Focusing
on Work culture Transformation
At Catalyst
Collective, Katy supports and learns to process the learning from the
challenges rather than get stuck in self-recrimination; ‘should’ and “ought” to
undermine the team’s confidence and can impact its wellbeing over time.
She also
shares that some employees experience huge challenges through daily navigating
bias, barriers, and micro aggressions that others never have to face. She
asserts, “I don’t believe that all we need to do with a challenge is
trust that it will make us stronger. We need to navigate challenges, but we
also need to disrupt the systems that are causing the challenges in the first
place!”
Katy has
experienced the difficulties that come with being the youngest person in the
room. Motherhood discrimination, a lack of flexible working hours, and feeling
the effects of both the motherhood penalty and the likeability penalty, but as
a white, able-bodied, straight, neurotypical, cis woman with education and
citizenship privilege. She has also had and continues to have significant
privilege, which has allowed her to access, navigate, and make decisions in her
career.
Here’s some
quick advice on navigating workplace challenges:
- Early career – find a mentor
and sponsor as senior as you can.
Pregnancy –
don’t let anyone make any assumptions about what you will or won’t want to do
during pregnancy and after your baby is born. Go for promotions, go for pay
rises, and keep your options open.
- Motherhood and childcare
– decide what your boundaries are and
remember that no one else is going to hold your boundaries for you!
“As you
progress in your career- realise when you’re no longer the youngest or least
experienced person in the room and own that space! Speak up for yourself,
advocate for others, use your privilege,” says Katy. She states that if you’re
experiencing microaggressions or a toxic work culture, find others to share the
load with, once you’ve raised it and if nothing changes, look elsewhere –
you’re fabulous with so much to give and there are workplace cultures that will
value you.
The
Major Shifts in Business Landscape
“Increased
complexity and volatility we’re experiencing in the world needs resilient,
wise, not just efficient or competent leaders,” says Katy. She believes that modern
leaders must look and act differently in order to address the interconnected
and complex issues of climate change, refugee migrations, and cries for racial,
social, and environmental justice. Businesses want individuals who offer a
variety of ideas and opinions to the open and inviting table. As a result,
business has the potential to be a major force for good in society.
Katy feels
that leaders are appreciating the need to invest in their own and others’
well-being, since their own sustainability is critical to bringing about the
system change, they seek.
She adds,
“I’m enthusiastic to dream about what can be possible for organisations and
enterprises as more women, non-binary people, and minoritized groups who’ve
traditionally been excluded from leadership roles are in senior leadership
positions.” She goes on to say that when these organisations experiment with
new methods of working and being together, they will gain a competitive edge.
“When they are so much more flexible and inclusive, they help caregivers,
individuals with mental health difficulties, neurodiversity, impairments, and
people in all their varieties thrive,” she says. These organisations do not
allow microaggressions; instead, they educate one another on inclusive
behaviours, and their employees thrive.”
The
Director of Catalyst Collective
According
to Katy, each day at work is different based on the client projects that the
team is working on. Thus, she has weekly and monthly rhythms and routines, as
well as items she may not work on every day but will spend some time on each
week.
She spends
time with clients, listening to where they want to start, what they want to
achieve, and what their aspirations are, and then we develop and plan the work
together—generally through a series of guided dialogues and workshop sessions.
Katy states, “I work with my team to create the sessions and often
we’ll be co-delivering these workshops. We’ll often be virtual on Zoom, so I’m
lining up my drinks and snacks to stay energised through the sessions! If we’re
face-to-face, then I usually travel to our venue the night before and have time
with my clients and team ahead of the event.”
Every week,
Katy leads group programmes for EDI leaders and change agents. Each week, she
also works on business growth, social media, financial management, and
marketing for the company—she recently released her first book, so there has
been a lot of PR, press, and podcasts to discuss the book’s subjects as extras
to fit in!
She attends
yoga and exercise classes on a weekly basis, goes for walks in nature, and
schedules time to meet up with coworkers and/or socialise with friends. She
goes to therapy a couple of times a month, and she also has a monthly walking
day with her partner, so there are weekly and monthly rhythms that help her
keep on track with her own resilience and the impact that she wants to make.
Katy
asserts, “I track 3 measures—joy, impact, and money—that help me stay
on track with creating more of the life I want to create and the contribution I
want to make.”
Balance
in Personal and Professional Life
Katy has
daily power practises that help her discover joy every day, stay focused and
motivated, and tune into what her body needs more of or less of on a daily
basis. That might be food, water, fresh air, or a nap.
She aspires
to live cyclically, with ebbs and flows of energy, rather than being ‘always
on,’ which means spending some time each month in the energies of winter,
spring, summer, and fall on her different projects. Katy disconnects from her
phone and social media every weekend, and she takes a long vacation from her
business once a year.
She
shares, “I have peer supervision and run peer learning sessions each
month for regular support and accountability with other EDI folk.”
Ideas
for the future of Catalyst Collective
Katy’s
change makers programmes are personal spaces where genuine, profound
transformation occurs. Her EDI leader groups are where these exceptional
leaders can recharge and find resources for their critical role. As the team
observes deep learning and strong transformations, Catalyst Collective will
continue to engage in unique ways with its clients, as well as host and convene
these places.