At the online INCLUSION Festival on 2 July, register to learn about why taking a holistic view of cultural change is essential to make progress in the workplace.
Join moderator Tahitia Timmons, Founder, Conscious By Us, with panelists Jo Dooley, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, A&O Shearman; Amanda Cummins, Deputy Head of Co-Production and Involvement, SouthWest London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust; and Justin Stewart, Author.
Register for your INCLUSION ticket here: https://diversity-network.com/inclusion-registration/
How important is it to change the view of success of an organisation to shift from profit to people? Here’s what our four experts say – from the perspectives of their different industries, from legal to academia, healthcare to cultural training:
1 Prioritise kindness
“Kindness in leadership seems such a simple practice but how you receive kindness indicates how you give kindness,” says Justin Stewart, author and academic.
“During covid we lost that kindness aspect. Now we can come together again, it is important we re-develop those simple communication skills to build up teamwork to work towards diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.”
2 Manage wellbeing
“People don’t get into healthcare not to be kind and help people but bureaucracy, stress and burnout can reduce people’s good intentions.
“Empathy doesn’t come naturally to everyone but it can be developed. We intentionally go out of our way to support the wellbeing of people in our team with our Making Lives Better Together workstream.
“Initiatives like this are all the more important because of the financial difficulties that managers have but small kindnesses don’t have to cost anything.”
Amanda Cummins, Deputy Head of Co-Production and Involvement, SouthWest London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.
3 Small acts
“After one particularly challenging day on a longer term project, a partner on the matter gave me a call individually to say that they recognised this piece of work was difficult and it must be especially difficult for me.
“For a very senior person in the firm to notice and take the time to check-in with me meant a huge amount.”
Jo Dooley, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, A&O Shearman
4 Not just in the workplace
“I’m noticing that society as a whole is encouraging everyone to be inclusive and kind.
“Even in the rap community, Gen X Men are being asked not to be misogynistic – and they are stepping up in ways we couldn’t imagine.
“You don’t have to be that hard guy at work anymore.
“Kindness in leadership means you will influence everyone in a positive way.”
Tahitia Timmons, Founder, Conscious By Us
Register for your INCLUSION ticket here: https://diversity-network.com/inclusion-registration/
