Inclusion in Practice: How We Guide Organisations Through Change

One of the things that is very important to us at Spotlight Inclusion, is how we support clients to actually implement the strategies or recommendations we make for them.

Too often, clients come to us having already worked with another provider who presented them with findings that were unrealistic (e.g. 50% of your workforce should have global majority identities by this time next year – a real example) and with no knowledge of how to get started. This has led to a complete halt in their work and negative feelings about it.

What do organisations struggle with?

The fact is, that clients come to us because they need help. They need help to:

• Get a clear understanding of the inclusion strengths and challenges in their organisation. They recognise they might not be the best people to identify these because of their roles, so they get a partner to help. That’s us.

• Navigate their emotions and responses to what they hear, good and bad

• Know where to begin and how to prioritise making change.

Managing change is not easy.

We are trying to go from a status quo where some people may well feel like the working environment is wonderful and that they are thriving, other people may not feel psychologically safe, or experience behaviours which prevent them from excelling and progressing. So, managing moving from this status quo to getting to a point where everyone is experiencing policy, ways of working and processes in the same or very similar way is difficult.

We need to manage:

• Emotions of fear, shame, guilt, sadness, anger

• Mismatched behaviours of resistance and advocacy

• Creating new systems and processes which marry inclusive practices with business needs

• Communicating why change is important

• Communicating progress

• Making sure the board is aligned and able to support and challenge

• Voids in understanding inclusion topics and lack of knowledge.

Theory of Change and Facilitated Discussion

One of the things we offer is a workshop where we create a theory of change model and facilitate a discussion with leaders which allows them to leverage their expertise and knowledge of the organisation to fit in the recommendations we have made in a way that is actually going to work.

#1 Sharing what we learn about you

We begin by sharing our findings based on the information gathering we have done at the organisation. The information gathering means our recommendations are based on fact, and not off-the-shelf conjecture.

#2 Let’s talk about it

People need time to process and discuss.

Senior leaders very rarely have time to spend time with each other and just share their thoughts about something. Normally, their time is incredibly structured, focused on an agenda and on specific projects, crises and performance indicators. One of the things that leaders value most about our approach, is having time together to talk, share ideas in a way that allows them to be vulnerable and supported to have a contrary idea.

This point in our process invites leaders to share their thoughts and feelings about the findings. When someone has invested blood, sweat and tears into their organisation, of course they will have strong emotions when they learn that some people are not experiencing the organisation as they do, or as they intend people to. It is important to validate these feelings and use coaching techniques to explore where they come from, and move through them to visualise the future.

We use our skills to allow leaders to feel the way they do and make sure we harness that and turn it into action.

#3 We need a framework

We have a number of frameworks we share as models for change and tailor them to the organisation.

The framework helps people to recognise where they are now, and where they are going. Most importantly, leaders get to input on how we get there, a key point which is so often missing from other EDI consultants’ work. Recommendations are one thing, but people need to be supported to know:

• The best way to implement

• How the organisations, industry and national challenges impact how it is implemented

• How they will know when it has been successful - what they will see

• How to anticipate and deal with the very real challenges that come up when implementing an inclusion strategy.

#4 Warnings, barriers and best practice

We plot the possible pit falls and barriers into the framework and consider what resources and actions they will need to navigate them.

For example, there will be resistance – how will you deal with it? What do you already have in place to deal with it? How can you avoid resistance? How can you reassure people? Who can help you? When will you get the help? How will you reciprocate? How will you hear feedback? Are you ready to hear feedback on change?

What are the benefits of this approach?

1. Selfishly, it helps us to make sure that an organisation can actually make the changes we think are so important for all. Leaving people with no experience of EDI leadership to it, isn’t going to increase the chances of positive change for the most minoritised and excluded people in our organisations

2. At the end of the workshop, clients have clarity on what they are trying to achieve and how

3. It provides a clear road map and supportive tool for prioritising and measuring progress

4. It allows people to engage with the process and buy in, rather than feel separate from the work and ‘done to’

5. It builds accountability into the work as people have been involved in the process and part of the decision making.

If you feel like you’re ready to work in a collaborative way to make real change, get in touch with us.