One of the best ways to demonstrate how we work – and what we can achieve with our clients – is through sharing some case studies. To give you a taste for the variety of work we do, here is a selection of recent projects we’ve undertaken with some of our valued clients.
Implementing a More Inclusive Culture
The Client: A global membership organisation in the finance industry
The Challenge: A professional membership organisation was keen to become more inclusive, to support their strategy of becoming a truly international organisation. After developing a EDI strategy, they asked us for help in implementing the strategy.
What We Did: We developed and delivered a range of initiatives to help leadership, staff and volunteers to become more aware of Inclusion, to understand the benefits to themselves and the organisation, and to give them ideas and tools to change their behaviour. In addition, we helped the organisation de-bias their recruitment of staff and attraction of volunteers. Initiatives included: a workshop for the Board and Council, training for staff, an Inclusive Behaviours framework document, and a series of 3-5 minute fun videos aimed at active volunteers across the world.
The Outcome: The EDI strategy is fully understood by the governing bodies and more generally, people are fully aware of why it is important and what Inclusive Behaviour looks like. Open conversations are taking place in the organisation on Inclusion, and staff understand how to live inclusively. The approach to recruitment of staff and attraction of volunteers have been changed significantly.
Development and Rollout of an Inclusion Statement
The Client: A global energy company
The Challenge: The company’s executive team had identified Inclusion as vital to the new business strategy but hadn’t been able to define clearly what this meant. We were asked to work with the Executive Committee to help them form a shared understanding of Inclusion, and what it would look and feel like in their organisation. After that we were asked to assist with the roll-out of Inclusion to HR teams and senior management across the various regions around the world.
What We Did: We worked with the Executive Committee to define their EDI ambition, agree EDI guiding principles and set individual and team commitments. During the following year, we ran a workshop with the Extended Executive Committee to help them understand the barriers to Inclusion and how to overcome them. We then worked with the worldwide HR team to help them develop action plans for each region and then to implement those plans, we ran a workshop in each of the key regions to activate them. We provided ongoing support throughout to the EDI team and helped them to sense check how they rolled out Inclusion to the organisation.
The Outcome: The EDI team now has greater clarity and they feel comfortable cascading the EDI Ambition to leaders and staff. Executive Committee members feel confident talking about Inclusion and are taking individual actions forward. Extended Executive Committee members are now fully behind the EDI strategy and have the words and ideas they need to be able to lead the company’s EDI progression. The HR team has the tools to follow each region’s progress, using clear KPIs, and the regional management teams have started the conversation on how to achieve the KPIs for their respective regions.
Inclusion Workshop for Board Members
The Client: A large UK pension fund, linked to a logistics company with European HQ
The Challenge: To develop and run a workshop to identify where the company is on its EDI journey and to agree their EDI Ambition
What We Did: We ran a 2–hour workshop with the board members and wider stakeholders of the company to help them increase their commitment to EDI. The aim was to achieve this by creating a shared understanding of where they currently are on their EDI journey and what needs to happen next. We reviewed their EDI Strategy and the EDI training they had previously received along with the current EDI data available. We also carried out one-to-one interviews with each board member to assess the level of their EDI understanding and expectations.
The Outcome: The EDI team now shares a clear understanding of what the EDI Ambition means for the board, where they are now and what can be done in practice to achieve the Ambition. Their commitment has been strengthened further by agreeing the next steps that they need to take.
Inclusive Behaviours Training and Inclusive Behaviours Framework
The Client: A studio in the games industry
The Challenge: The studio noticed that they had an overwhelmingly non-diverse environment where people from minority backgrounds didn’t feel at home. They asked us to help them develop a framework for Inclusion that everyone could get behind, that would improve Inclusion and ultimately benefit everyone by increasing the diversity of thought available to the studio.
What We Did: We designed an Inclusive Behaviours Framework document to be launched alongside the studio’s refreshed EDI strategy. This Framework contains a chapter for each of the 8 Inclusive Behaviours©, with an introduction from the Studio Director. Each Inclusive Behaviour ties to an existing Studio Value and includes examples of how to engage with it. The Framework includes learning tips, challenges and signposts to more learning.
The Outcome: The content has been very well received by staff, and team managers use the content to discuss Inclusion in team meetings. The framework is also being used as a springboard to further learning and development, including a series of virtual sessions for managers and staff on each of the 8 Inclusive Behaviours©. Individual staff are also already reporting that they are noticing themselves and their everyday behaviours changing.
Inclusive Leadership Training
The Client: A housing association
The Challenge: The firm wanted to improve levels of Inclusion, including at leadership level. They asked for help to understand what it takes to be an inclusive leader – to clarify the ideal traits and behaviours, and to learn what they look like in a work environment and how to develop them.
What We Did: We facilitated a 1-day workshop to introducing the concepts of inclusive leadership and behaviours, applying that to work-related examples, practicing and challenging each other. A safe space was provided for conversation and thinking.
The Outcome: The Executive Leadership Team now has a clear understanding of their development needs, the particular challenges of inclusive leadership and the commitment it takes.
Virtual Inclusive Behaviours Training
The Client: A small UK games studio
The Challenge: In a studio with little Diversity, the management team saw the need to develop a more inclusive culture. They asked us to initiate in-house conversations about Diversity and to train their people in Inclusion.
What We Did: In order to encourage more inclusive behaviour from staff, we designed and delivered a programme of weekly virtual training for all staff based on our 8 Inclusive Behaviours©. Each session included an introduction to one of these Behaviours and then provided examples and tips improving each of them. We made these sessions as engaging as possible by using polls, small group exercises and videos.
The Outcome: Many staff have reported increased confidence in understanding Diversity and renewed motivation to improve their Inclusion Behaviours. There has been a noticeable shift in colleagues’ behaviours, including those of senior managers. The training also opened up opportunities for further introspection and an ongoing dialogue on how to improve inclusion at the studio.
Keynote Speech and Workshop to Raise EDI Awareness
The Client: A global healthcare company
The Challenge: A large international organisation in the healthcare sector had EDI high on the agenda, but the approach had always been ‘top down’. They realised that to make real progress with EDI, their individual salespeople and managers needed to see the benefits of Inclusion to themselves personally as well as to their professional objectives.
What We Did: We initially delivered a 1–hour keynote speech on Inclusion at the start of the company’s annual EMEA sales conference. On the same day, we also ran a more in-depth workshop (for all 50 of the senior managers) covering barriers to Inclusion, unconscious bias and practical actions to improve EDI.
The Outcome: The sales team started to understand the benefits of Inclusion and we have been told that this was a recurring topic of conversation throughout the 5-day conference. Senior managers were also encouraged to take positive action and felt they had more information and tools to start delivering on their EDI KPIs.
Inclusive Promotion
The Client: A professional membership organisation in the engineering industry
The Challenge: The organisation has implemented a range of EDI initiatives and is keen to review progression, especially as they have noticed that rate of progression of women is lagging behind that of men. They asked for our help to review their progression processes.
What We Did: We delivered 2 half-day virtual sessions for HR and hiring managers, reviewing the current progression processes and sharing what has worked for others to de-bias those processes.
The Outcome: Performance reviews, job allocation and succession planning have been adapted. Measures have been put in place that visualise Diversity in training and development, and in attraction and selection for internal roles.
Inclusive Recruitment
The Client: A games studio
The Challenge: Inclusion and Diversity are high on the agenda in the studio and most people are fully engaged with the topic. Now the studio is growing rapidly they would like to ensure that the new talent they hire is diverse.
What We Did: We delivered a highly interactive 2-hour session on inclusive recruitment for hiring managers
The Outcome: Participants have gained a range of ideas on what really works to be more inclusive in their recruitment and are enthusiastically implementing new ways of working. The session was very well received and has been re-run for wider staff.
Inclusion Diagnostic
The Client: A UK-based global video games developer
The Challenge: The studio had the impression that people of minority backgrounds didn’t feel at home there. So they asked us to identify the state of Inclusion within the studio culture.
What We Did: We ran our Inclusion Diagnostic: This involves focus groups and interviews to identify how inclusive the studio culture is, what obstacles exist to building a more inclusive culture and how committed the studio is to clearing those obstacles. We experienced an open and authentic contribution from studio staff across all levels of seniority, including C-suite and new graduates.
Result: We identified 6 distinct obstacles to inclusion. We presented findings and solutions to the executive team, identifying areas of priority and quick wins. The studio has started implementation of quick wins immediately and is continuing to address the identified challenges with studio-wide action.
Inclusion Diagnostic and Action Plan
The Client: An architecture firm
The Challenge: The partners in the firm noticed that women were no longer being promoted at the same rate as men, although they did when the organisation was smaller. They asked us to identify the barriers to advancement of women and underrepresented groups, and asked for recommendations on how to break these barriers.
What We Did: We gathered qualitative data in exit interviews and in a series of focus groups with men and women. Based on the results, we ran a session with the partners, and came up with a three-part action plan to design more transparency in the progression process, improve mentoring and add Gender Smart behaviour as a module in the leadership training programme.
The Outcome: We identified the challenges, and partners now understand where they are with regards to gender diversity and where the obstacles are. They are implementing clearer progression processes and are looking at how best to integrate other actions with the leadership training programme.
Awareness Raising Using a Digital Solution
The Client: A large UK media and tech organisation
The Challenge: The organisation had already put in significant work to become more inclusive. Now they were keen to protect and enhance this more inclusive culture throughout the move to a new HQ which would result in significant staff turnover. They asked for a digital solution to create awareness of Inclusion, that needed to be interactive and memorable and could be used for on-boarding new staff.
What We Did: We designed and created 10 x 3-minute video learning bites on EDI, setting out the company’s expectations with regard to inclusive behaviours. The content shows the 8 Inclusive Behaviours© in real-life scenarios, and links them to company values as well as the business benefits of EDI. Each learning bite video ends with a choice of practical individual actions.
The Outcome: The learning bites videos have become a compulsory element in the on-boarding process and for everyone embarking on a leadership course. They are leading to conversations on Inclusion during the on-boarding sessions and leadership courses. The videos are receiving very high feedback ratings and team managers are also using the content to introduce discussions around Inclusion in team meetings.
Core Values Guide
The Client: A small video games studio in the UK
The Challenge: The studio had a lack of clarity and alignment around the culture and values of the business, which was making it difficult to attract and retain and staff. They were keen to establish a good cultural fit between the business and its staff and to develop an effective framework for inclusive behaviours. They asked us to help them clarify the values that are truly core to the studio and should be driving both behaviour and decision-making at all levels within the business.
What We Did: We worked with the Senior Leadership Team to establish the initial values pool, and reviewed these with a Steering Group. We then finalised the list of core values and defined what they look like in action. This was followed up with our advice on best practices for launching, communicating and reinforcing the values throughout the organisation.
The Outcome: There is now clear guidance in place for employee behaviour and decision-making at all levels within the business. This reduces the need for micromanagement and in addition the studio is finding it easier to recruit, reward and manage their teams for the right cultural fit.
EDI Best Practice Guide
The Client: The offshore wind industry
The Challenge: The industry was expected to improve EDI efforts in response to an agreement made with the UK government. The industry council asked for our help to drive EDI progress within the industry as a whole.
What We Did: We partnered with a peer consultancy that has expertise on race to create a EDI Best Practice Guide. The guide is based on desk research with the addition of good practice case studies gathered from industry leaders in EDI.
The Outcome: The EDI Best Practice Guide has been very positively received by all stakeholders and it is now used throughout the industry to drive their EDI progress.
