In addition to her role as Head of Agile Development at Springer Nature, Rebecca also advocates as a DEI mentor.
What is your name and what do you do at Springer Nature?
Rebecca Murphy.
I work in the Engineering Enablement (EE) department of SN Technology at Springer Nature. In my role as Head of Agile Development, I am part of the EE leadership team and support multiple teams with everything from defining ways of working, to continuous improvement and collaborating with our internal customers. I am often found facilitating, coaching, promoting agile principles and lean thinking, and occasionally working with teams going through tricky challenges or transitions.
I love setting up new teams, bringing people together, giving them the tools they need for success and then stepping back and watching them self-organise and flourish, almost as much as I enjoy working with existing teams to realise their full potential.
What does DEI mean to you and why is this topic important to you?
As a woman in technology, from a non-traditional tech background (I studied Literature), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is something I can’t ignore. I want to see more women in senior leadership roles in IT. I want to see more people from non-traditional educational backgrounds in IT.
Diverse teams bring a diverse set of skills and experiences, work better together, build better products and make better decisions, that lead to better outcomes for our customers.
What does DEI mean in the work context/environment and why is it so important?
In the context of work, DEI means providing opportunities for people to contribute, thrive and grow in the way that suits them best. It’s everything from providing captions for video calls, to being aware of and avoiding scheduling important meetings during school pickup times, to avoiding idioms in spoken and written communications, to creating a safe environment built on trust and respect where people feel safe being themselves.
How do you experience the DEI culture at Springer Nature?
DEI is key at Springer Nature. It’s treated as a priority and you can see and experience the growing commitment to this. We’ve still got some work to do but it’s great to have Jessica Gedamu (VP Global DEI) at Springer Nature and see the impact that her role has made.
There is currently a DEI Mentoring Programme running offering training and development opportunities for people on topics such as ‘Leading with Inclusion’. We are in the second year of the DEI Mentoring Programme and I’m a mentor in this year’s programme, meeting regularly with my mentee.
We have an extensive range of Employee Networks that provide a place for people with a shared identity to build community, raise awareness and provide support. I’ve taken part in events and been to talks from external speakers that have been very inspiring, from psychologist John Amaechi to behavioural and data scientist, Dr Pragya Agarwal. Sometimes I’m learning so much and having so much fun, I forget I am even at work!