Hello!
This week we're preparing for the summer break whilst also looking forward to Autumn and Inclusion Week. We've been hugely inspired by the women's football world cup and have a new girl crush on Megan Rapinoe.
Serena Williams has been slaying it, as per usual, and her comment about the expectations on women in the workplace resonated hugely with me on a personal level. Finally, we're pleased to hear we're moving towards liberalising same sex marriage and abortion rights in Northern Ireland. We have to take those wins when we can right now!
National Inclusion Week: workshops putting the humanity back in the workplace
For National Inclusion Week our theme will be about putting the humanity back in to the workplace.
For too long we have seen people as a resource, and wondering why things are going wrong.
We are people with emotions, values, strengths and weaknesses.
We are not a number on a spreadsheet.
We want to remind everyone that inclusion is about belonging, about our whole selves and about remembering we are unique individuals. We are all people – with feelings, fears, hopes, strengths and challenges. Let’s stop expecting us to be the same as one another and instead celebrate our humanity.
To help us put the humanity back into the workplace we have planned four workshops for National Inclusion Week - Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September.
1: Calling out bias and tough conversations
2: Unlocking the full potential in BAME
3: Dare to Lead™
4: Embracing mental health and resilience in the workplace
Full details on the workshops and talks can be found here.
1: Calling out bias and tough conversations
We believe that for us to truly move towards more inclusive and diverse workforces, some honest and open conversations need to take place. More effort needs to be made to enable individuals to share and receive feedback, even when it is not positive and to do with calling out non-inclusive behaviours and/or processes.
Over the years delivering diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias training we have listened to the feedback on just how difficult this can be in practice and have responded to this by developing some practical tips to support your talent in having these essential conversations.
Learning objectives and further details about availability and cost can be found here.
2: Unlocking the full potential in BAME
The Office for National Statistics recently published Ethnicity Pay Gap 2018 validates the sad truth that many of us still want to avoid addressing within our own workplaces. Race still dictates who gets employed, how much employees get paid and how likely certain individuals will be supported in order to succeed in their chosen career.
London was reported to have the highest proportion of people classified as being in an ethnic minority group, yet had the largest pay gap between white and ethnic minority groups, at 21.7%. The Hobbs Consultancy are commited to working with progressive leaders and employers (many in London!) who are actively seeking solutions and partners taking bold steps to close the ethnicity pay gap and make their workplaces more inclusive.
Employees from racial minorities, will face a unique set of barriers that they will need to navigate in addition to those shared with their white colleagues. Some will endure significant stress and persist on their journey, while many will be forced to give up along the way feeling unsupported, leaving your business.
We call on the industry to have courageous conversations about race.
Learning objectives and further details about availability and cost can be found here.
3: Dare to Lead™
We can’t move the industry forward if we don’t have courageous leaders who are self-aware, have the capacity for vulnerability and empathy, who aren’t leading from their authenticity and who aren’t prepared to take off their armour and lean into tough conversations; to build strong, trusting, inclusive cultures, drawing on the strength of its diversity.
In this 90-minute talk about courageous leadership, we introduce the four skill sets of Daring leadership from our Dare to Lead™ 2-day leadership training programme that are 100% teachable, and applicable for all.
Learning objectives and further details about availability and cost can be found here.
4: Embracing mental health and resilience in the workplace
Normalising mental health is another blocker to progressing forward with inclusion; we all have mental health, just as we all have physical health, but often we don’t talk about it, or consider what can impact on it, until we face mental health problems either in ourselves, our friends and families, or the people we work with (clients, colleagues). Yet being able to talk openly and confidently about mental health is often the first step we need to take to address these problems when they do arise.
We have been supporting employees with resilience and mental health in a number of organisations. Here’s what Maggie Lydon, Head of Customer Service at Southwark Contact Centre had to say about it:
“We wanted to start an open and honest conversation about mental health at Southwark council, as part of a directorate wide commitment to supporting mental wellbeing and reducing the stigma around mental health and stress related issues at Southwark council. Employees have sought us out to tell us how much they appreciated and enjoyed the training and how they are using the practical techniques to manage work related stress.”
Learning objectives and further details about availability and cost for a 60-minute version of this workshop can be found here.
Summer hours at The Hobbs Consultancy
The Hobbs Consultancy will be taking some of our own advice in relation to self care and mental health. The office will be closed between 19th August and 2nd September, while we rest, recharge and enjoy the summer.
If you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail please contact Emma at emma@thehobbsconsultancy.com.
We’ll be continuing the conversations about Mental Health and supporting talent from racial minorities in the next newsletter.For now, enjoy the sunshine!
Rox.