We worked in co-production with the London Borough of Waltham Forest council to create a 9-month programme for all 2300 staff.
The first step of the programme we ran was reflective rounds with the 500 managers within the council. We gave a non-judgemental, confidential space for them to talk about their experiences of being on both the receiving and delivering end of assumptions and discrimination. As a company, The Wellbeing Collective is skilled and able to hold these workshops so that people, who may never have met each other before, feel psychologically safe despite feelings of discomfort or sensitivity.
The next step was every worker in the council undergoing an online, innovative EDI training course that we co-created. They could access this at any time on any device. It consisted of 3 topics: Assumptions & Perceptions, Privilege and Allyship. This wasn’t just theory but how to put it into practice, so it broadened their knowledge of diversity and allowed them to be more confident in broaching conversations.
The third step was generating thousands of team conversations. As an organisation, LBWF recognised that they had good basic EDI training. What they were missing was deeper, meaningful and sometimes more challenging conversations about people’s attitudes. We worked in co-production to get people talking openly about their lived experiences, unlocking the confidence they needed to speak with honesty and, therefore, develop a workforce that had dynamic conversations.
There has been a great deal of feedback from potentially marginalised people (including BIPOC, women and LGBTQ+) that they’ve experienced increased support and feel much more confident having conversations around EDI. There’s also been a reduction in the number of people raising concerns around discrimination. Overall, there’s now a clear, internalised culture of compassion and curiosity growing, and we are working with LBWF on other projects.
