How to start working with an equity, diversity and inclusion consultant?
Equity, diversity, and inclusion is about people. It’s about human experiences and human reactions. It’s about the complex impact of historic and social systems and processes which directly and adversely affect humans who work with us, live with us, and socialise with us. Therefore, humans need to work closely with other humans to introduce EDI concepts, listen and identify challenges, and respond to challenges as they emerge.
Rigid, web based packages of learning which are automated don’t allow for human responses and questions about things people may feel are challenging. Set frameworks for organisations to implement without support don’t allow for us to respond to concerns and to adapt to the uniqueness of your organisation.
We prefer the human touch. We prefer to talk with you to fully understand your needs and be responsive to them and challenges which can emerge along the way.
How do clients start to work with us?
When clients have an idea that they want to engage us to support them with their culture and inclusion work, we will want to have a discovery discussion with them first. This is a vital step in our client relationships. It helps us assess your needs and importantly, be able to signpost you to other agents if we think you might benefit from something different to our offer, or if we both think a different style would be more suited to you.
What is a discovery discussion like?
We meet and introduce ourselves. Clients need to feel like they know us and are in safe hands and the best way for us to do that is through a conversation.
We talk about your journey so far, your pain points, your challenges and what you think you need at this stage. We also share our way of working. It's important you know what is unique about us so you can decide if you think our practices will align with your organisation, your values, and your vision of where you are going.
We explain how we might work together. This is brief because we will go away and think further about what you've told us. If you're interested in this brief explanation of possible services we can provide and how we might support you, we will create a proposal for you to talk about internally. If you want to proceed with us, great. If not, that's fine.
We like the human touch. As you can see, your voice, your journey, your thoughts, your decisions, your preferences are at the heart of our relationships. We could automate things, but we prefer to make our work bespoke and centred around you and your people.
We had the pleasure of working with Executive Director Kate Varah and her team at The National Theatre. Through collaborative working, we were able to support their organisation in a way that was both impactful and directly addressed the cultural change they sought.
“It has been a joy working with Spotlight Inclusion both at The Old Vic and the National Theatre. Displaying a sensitive and collaborative working style, Spotlight’s Team established an immediate rapport with key staff which enabled consensus driven cultural change. They have provided us with training programmes for new and established staff, advice on topical and complex issues, a sounding board for colleagues, and have been a working guide on inclusion and belonging to further education within the workforce in the broadest sense. Staff feedback on training was extremely positive and has resulted in a clearer understanding about the inclusive community that we all want to foster in theatre.”
Kate Varah: Executive Director at the National Theatre
You can read more about the Spotlight Inclusion Partnership Package here https://spotlightinclusion.co.uk/services/equity-diversity-inclusion-consultancy
If you would like to have a discovery discussion with us, you can click on this link https://buff.ly/48jDzNn