Implemented in 1998, Walk the Talk seeks to promote greater awareness and understanding of gender and leadership issues and their impact on Volvo’s business development, managers, and the organization as a whole. The program promotes dialogue between male and female managers by giving men specialized training. The overarching goal of Walk the Talk is to increase the number of women in management at Volvo. The company seeks to achieve this goal by increasing managers’ knowledge of gender and leadership issues, and changing attitudes within the organization. Volvo also focuses its training and development efforts in Walk the Talk on senior male managers.
An excerpt from this practice was published in 2009 in Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives: What Change Agents Need to Know.