To successfully embed D,E&I within your organisation, you need an environment of trust, education, empathetic leadership and accountability. If that sounds complicated and possibly overwhelming, well, yes, it can be. But with careful consideration, it’s possible.

It’s not just possible, it’s essential. The recent All In survey showed how much further we all need to travel when it comes to making our industry inclusive. The results from organisations that are truly inclusive speak volumes: more authentic output and more productive teams, whose wellbeing is nurtured and thriving.

The first step is to understand why approaching D,E&I takes such care and consideration. You’ll be dealing with your employees’ lived experiences and the trauma that underpins this. What’s more, systemic racism has existed for thousands of years. Unpicking this long-held structure is going to take time and thought. Your work here could get complicated and messy, so if you want to create real change, you need structure, education, support and self-care. 

Structurally sound

For the last six months, I worked on NABS’ D,E&I strategy, which has two overarching goals: to better support people from underrepresented groups across adland, and to ensure that NABS’ staff are educated and supported in the issues surrounding racism and discrimination. To make sure that this strategy is fully embedded into NABS, I worked within a programme framework we’re using to drive NABS forward into the next five years, which we’ve called Reimagination.

The framework helped me to understand how D,E&I projects could embed successfully into our business and work successfully alongside other projects. At the same time, I wasn’t responsible for other projects – I was charged solely with progressing D,E&I, and was able to give this the full attention it required.

It’s been essential to have a strong project management structure for our D,E&I strategy, with clear planning and goals, risk management and budgets. As with any good project management, it’s enabled everyone  to know what’s expected of them and makes everybody involved engaged and accountable – that’s across the business, ensuring full buy-in from across the team, including our Trustees.

Educate

Educate, educate, educate. This is crucial for business, productivity, inclusive outputs, and people’s lives. Give yourself and your staff the space, time, and resources needed for training and self-education. Both types of education are essential to everyone’s understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion means and the history behind its importance. There are some fantastic training providers and speakers around. At NABS, we’ve benefited from sessions with as The Other Box and BELOVD, with other training providers booked in for the coming months. Meanwhile we allow all staff an hour a week for their personal learning, and we encourage teams to get together for shared learning regularly. Education really is the foundation for embedding a D,E&I strategy into your workplace.

Safety support

You have a duty of care and a balancing act when embedding your D,E&I strategy. Some of your employees will have lived experience and some won’t; some won’t believe that you’re going to improve the culture, while others will refuse to accept their accountability. This is why you need to create safe spaces for people to explore their feelings, and to discuss what can be uncomfortable topics, especially in a work environment.

Safe spaces acknowledge that sometimes we may be clumsy with our language. There can often be a fear of getting it wrong, along with feelings of defensiveness. A trained facilitator will be able to hold this space and give people somewhere to ask questions and explore their thoughts and feelings in a protected environment. This protected time can encourage honesty and for people to gently challenge and reflect. Done properly, this can have a positive and long-lasting impact.

It’s important not to assume that you know how people feel, or what their experiences are. Actively listen to build trust between managers and employees. This goes for you, too. Be honest about your knowledge gaps and your vulnerabilities. Go through training with your teams and join their discussions with openness and compassion. Active listening will also enable you to understand where there are areas for development and growth.

At the same time, don’t look to those with lived experience to educate their colleagues. It’s the responsibility of those who need to learn to do so, so make sure that people are given the budget and the time. Pressuring those with lived experience to teach others can damage their trust as well as their wellbeing. The emotional stress and exhaustion of having to educate others, on top of the stress of living with discrimination, can be a danger to employees’ mental health.

Similarly, it’s important to give people with lived experience the chance to remove themselves from sessions should they wish to for the good of their own wellbeing, no questions asked.

Self-care

Safeguard yourself as well as your teams. This work is challenging and requires time, patience and self-care. You may feel depleted, overwhelmed, or frustrated after a conversation or training session. These are all signs you need to step away and practise self-care. Listen to your mind and your body and maintain healthy boundaries. Block out time after these sessions to mindfully take yourself away from the work environment. Jumping from business as usual to D, E&I can be hard, so work with mutual respect and transparency when embedding D&I strategies. NABS is here to listen if you need to offload, while our partner organisations MEFA and Outvertising can also offer support to those with lived experience.

Be patient, empathetic, consistent, and never stop learning. Model this as the way, and your organisation will be on its way to being truly inclusive and welcoming.

For support with any of the issues mentioned above, call the NABS Advice Line on 0800 707 6607 between 9am – 5.30pm or email [email protected] or visit https://nabs.org.uk/specialist-mental-health-support-for-those-impacted-by-racism/