Making A Constellation of Stars - Working Better Together

We love this quote from Mariam Kaba. Instead of one person being a star, how can we all Work Better Together? Here's this week's Watch This Sp_ce newsletter. We focus on helping everyone to understand different types of people. And how we can learn how to listen to each other and find ways to include people and work better together. Plus we share interesting news about things we can learn on to create more diverse, inclusive working environments. And we share some inclusion fails too of things that make us go 'hmm?' in the news. If you have been forwarded this newsletter, you can join our community and subscribe here.

In this week's newsletter, we will be covering:

???? The focus on Communications in Inclusion Journey Mapping

?? From lockdown dream to four years strong - now we are 4

?? Empowerment in Action: How to Be an Effective Ally and Drive Change

???? Inclusion Fails of the week

Focus on Communications in your Inclusion Journey Mapping

The Communications pillar in Inclusion Journey Mapping focuses on how you communicate to people to reach and engage them. This is the work to make sure that people know about what you are doing, how they can get involved and what changes are happening along the way.

In our work on this pillar we look at:

• Inclusive Communications?- are you really reaching the people you want to? What can you review in your communications to make sure that you do not miss anyone out in how you communicate. Remember, everyone receives communication in different ways.
• Communicating to people - as well as communicating externally, how well are you communicating internally? Are people getting support? Do they know where to raise questions and concerns? And is there something in place so that leaders communicate well with employees? Without this stage, you will struggle to progress as people will not be informed and engaged,
• Listening - as with all communication, it's not just about the information you broadcast. Are you listening to feedback from employees and from people externally? Are you reviewing feedback? If you're not, this is where you can really learn what people think, and address any concerns or suggestions they raise.

Getting started with all of this is about understanding where you are now. If you are not sure about where to start, try our FREE Level One Inclusion Journey Mapping. Answer some questions and then we will send you a report with some suggested actions. Try it out for FREE here - Inclusion Journey Level One.

And...as we're getting ready for the launch of our book, our newsletter subscribers are the first to know about a 20% discount code from Kogan Page! Use FHR20 at THIS LINK and you will get a nice discount of 20% off a pre-ordered copy of the book. And if you pre-order, it will be with you as soon as it's published.

The book is packed full of case studies, examples and ideas to create inclusive workplaces. It takes you through all the stages of an Inclusion Journey. So here's that link again for 20% off using code FHR20.

From Lockdown Dream to 4 Years Strong: Celebrating the Journey of Watch This Sp_ce

And now we are four! We can't remember the exact date that in lockdown Mo & Allegra decided to try starting a business. We know it was around the end of April 2020, so we just turned four.

It's been fun to look back and reflect on the last four years and all the amazing things that have happened since we founded the business. Read the blog to find out more about the story.

And as we turn the page onto the next chapter, we have welcomed some fabulous new people. Becky Dawson and Claire Quansah have joined us Training Consultants. Becky is based in the London area and Claire in the Manchester area. They will help us develop relationships with clients in their areas and deliver high quality training to them.

And drumroll....we are also very excited to welcome our new Advisory Board. Bonamy Waddell, Mark Vaesen and Fiona Anderson have joined us. They each have expertise in different areas.

Bonamy Waddell - is a data storyteller and she is helping us with product development.

Mark Vaesen - is a digital marketing expert and entrepreneur. Mark has been working with us for a while as a mentor, and now joins the board.

Fiona Anderson - is an Innovation and Growth specialist with extensive experience in helping businesses to scale and grow.

Welcome Bonamy, Mark and Fiona!

Empowerment in Action: How to Be an Effective Ally and Drive Meaningful Change

Picture this. It’s 2020. We are in lockdown. Protests are sparking the streets. The term allyship is thrown around like the paper round, easing its way into articles, emails, Zoom meetings…

…but you are sitting there, pondering over what it means, and what it genuinely looks like.??

More than 80% of white employees see themselves as allies to people of colour at work, but only 45 % of women of colour agree that they have strong allies in the workplace.?

Considering that people are 50% less likely to consider leaving a company when they feel they have allies, this shows us that there seems to be some confusion around allyship, especially when you don’t fully understand someone’s lived experience. It also demonstrates that not only is being an ally the right thing to do but also has impactful benefits for your workplace, its culture, its performance and its success.

To find out more about how you can take action and become a powerful ally, read Kaia's blog with actions you can take to become an even more powerful ally.

And for collaboration, solidarity, and to share ideas and challenges with other people on this journey, join our friendly community group The Sp_ce. It's free to join - see you there?

Inclusion Fails of the week

This started as a Slack channel for us, then we felt we had to share with you all, and now we can't stop seeing stories that make us cringe, have our heads in our hands, or make us angry. Here's the stories that caught our eyes this week in the news:

• Promotions for women fail - Two in five (40%) of women believe their professional career development has been negatively impacted by a lack of support for women’s health issues in the workplace. A report on this shows that women have heard derogatory comments about their health, with women being labelled as 'difficult' to work with due to health issues!
• Read more about this here - https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1869733/female-workers-missing-promotions-owing-lack-workplace-support-womens-health-study-finds
• Charity hiring fail - UK charities are hiring people with privilege, not potential according to a new report. Working-class people are less likely to be hired by charities than by employers in the public and private sectors. And working-class people also find it harder to climb the career ladder inside charitable organisations. Many charities are not even tracking their progress on this. Part of a lack of action among charities was due to a “discomfort” about talking about class

Read more about this story here - https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/inequality/2024/apr/28/uk-charities-hiring-staff-with-privilege-not-potential-report-author-warns?amp_js_v=0.1&amp_gsa=1#webview=1

• Job Support programme fail - The government has quietly scrapped a scheme designed to help disabled people and vulnerable individuals find jobs, despite the push to get more people on welfare benefits into employment. The ￡100m Work and Health Programme in England and Wales is set to end later this year. The scheme helps disabled people, ex-armed forces personnel, care leavers, victims of domestic violence and other vulnerable people find work by matching their skills to available jobs. Add this to the proposed changes to 'fit notes' what a huge fail for people.

Read more about this story here - https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/job-support-disabled-people-work-and-health-programme-scrapped/

That's it for this week. Do you have an inclusion fail story to share? What has caught your attention? Email [email protected] and we will include it in this newsletter!

And if you want to know more about how we can help you with your Inclusion Journey, email [email protected]