Jackie Scales, Teck’s New Director of Inclusion and Diversity talks about her new role

Jackie Scales, new Director of Inclusion and Diversity at Teck. — Photo courtesy Teck

In January 2019, Teck welcomed Jackie Scales as their new Director of Inclusion and Diversity. In this role, Jackie is responsible for leading Teck’s Inclusion and Diversity strategy, initiatives and change management in order to continue building a strong and diverse workforce that is engaged and contributing to Teck’s social and economic goals, as set out in Teck’s Inclusion and Diversity Policy. Here, Jackie shares her own inclusion journey, and where she sees opportunities for Teck moving forward.

What I find very exciting and inspiring at Teck is seeing the unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity through all levels of leadership and a strong commitment to continue this journey. We’ve made some great progress, and Teck is leading the way in many avenues of inclusion within the mining industry. That in itself is exciting.

I started my career in the banking sector and assumed that being the only woman in the room was an industry-specific phenomenon. After completing my MBA, starting a family, and beginning a new career where I was spending a lot of time with executive leadership teams, I noticed I was still one of the few women in the room. I saw an opportunity to help organizations recognize their challenges with inclusion and diversity, and what they could do to improve. At Deloitte, I helped organizations develop and implement inclusion and diversity strategies that help to recruit and retain more women into leadership roles. I leveraged that experience as I started to work within the mining sector, specifically in South America. That’s where I came across Teck, through work building the inclusive environment we want to establish for QB2.

We have a strong commitment from leadership, and our Senior Executive Diversity Committee ensures strong governance in this area. Teck has done some great work around gender equity, and councils have been created within various sites and offices globally. We’ve seen positive increases across all the inclusive talent metrics. We look forward to continuing to see improvements and determining how we can leverage best practices across the organization.

To be clear, diversity speaks to the visible and invisible characteristics that make us unique, and, by definition, inclusion means the action or state of including or being included within a group or structure. In reality, inclusion usually means something slightly different to everyone. It is to feel valued and that your voice is heard. My goal for inclusion here at Teck is that every employee feels they can speak their truth and they will allow themselves to hear and be impacted by the truth of others. That’s what inclusion means to me. Working in an environment that allows us to bring our whole selves to work each day. Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice.

We have an opportunity to continue to build on the momentum that’s been established with our continued focus on Indigenous Peoples and gender equity. Building on that, there’s an opportunity for us to shift the conversation more towards inclusion. I am a firm believer that inclusion leads to diversity, not the other way around. We need to ensure that we have a strong inclusive culture to support Teck’s great ongoing work.

Source: Teck/Connect Newsletter