In this blog, we reflect on approaches to bringing diversity and inclusion initiatives into the workplace. We consider how the magnitude of the challenge can feel daunting and how we don’t want to end up with box-ticking exercises for the sake of looking like we’re doing stuff. And we share what we endeavour to commit to in 2025 and beyond.
Profound change is slow – responsibility for it is distributed unevenly
When we look at a history of anti-racism, feminism and indeed any movements for change, we see that change is slow. We have to think in terms of decades and lifetimes rather than months and years. This is profoundly frustrating and completely at odds with the urgent change we want and need to see. The injustice has been going on for so long and has been so strong that we, rightfully, want change now, yesterday, decades ago. And we need that change to be not just fast but also profound.Â
Having recently read fashion editor Edward Enninful’s biography ‘A Visible Man’, I was reminded that intense, back-breaking, mental- and physical-health impairing work is needed to bring about change. And yet, if I look at fashion from my usual distance (I’m not into fashion, I see shop windows and magazine covers here and there) the change seems small – only noticeable if you’re very attentive .Â
It seems that an immense amount of work is needed for little change. And the bulk of that work comes from the very people who are suffering from the unjust system. It becomes an endless cycle whereby marginalised groups try to move the needle forward and create change to build a world that truly stands on equality at the detriment of their own health and well-being.
To act or not to act, that is the decision
How can everybody get involved? How can we contribute to accelerating change, even from our seemingly insignificant position in our Life Size workplace?
The reality is that, though our actions and contributions may only be a drop in the ocean, if we all do something, no matter how small, these drops could amount to a waterfall.
The alternative is not doing anything at all because it’s just too daunting. Here at Life Size, we continually choose to act and to be hopeful. It’s been a year since we officially started working on fostering a diverse and inclusive culture and we felt unsure on what we could do next to generate impact. Everything felt either meaningless or not our place or not relevant. The resources we consulted were not applicable to us and often seemed to offer box-ticking exercises that we didn’t feel would actually make a difference.Â
Luckily, our annual adventure came around and the team strengthened us through its commitment and ideas.
Making change meaningful: Box-ticking or forging our own path
We decided that we needed to forge our own path. Our planned actions may seem small at the surface. But our hope is that ultimately they will have an impact on our team and our clients and, from there, who knows where. Our hope is that other teams are equally investigative of themselves, leading to many small teams making small but profound changes. Our hope is that, together, this will lead to long-lasting real transformation.
As I think back once again about the history of feminism and the struggle against racism, I notice that it was pushed through by key individuals and their networks and allies. There were many of them, but they were not the majority. They were exceptions, not the rule. They were stand-out personalities and their non-majority networks.
What if our opportunity now is to build a majority movement with a majority of people taking action? Change wouldn’t just come from stand-out personalities but happen everywhere on small scales.
Forging our own path: Our initial actions for 2025
We went to our annual adventure accepting that we felt stuck and open to the possibility that we needed to dig deep and get uncomfortable. We wanted to make this a positive and constructive experience for the team, not a judgemental or defeating one. We felt we could provide a comfortable space for the uncomfortable.Â
- We decided that we needed to give ourselves space to face our biases, whatever they may be. Diversity and inclusion workshops teach us that we all have unconscious biases. Yet, how to address these in the actual day-to-day remains unexplained. We decided to try normalising talking about bias by offering space for this in our 121s and in our monthly reviews. Our hope is that by allowing non-judgemental space for such uncomfortable truths, we will become more aware of our own preconceptions and thought patterns. Further down the line this may help us be more inclusive, for example during hiring processes, but also when meeting new clients and networking. We are currently looking into how we could document these conversations in a meaningful and respectful way.
- We agreed not to participate in externally-led workshops again at this point. Some of you may believe that this is the wrong decision and wonder why we wouldn’t go further down this expert-led route. We have felt a strong disconnect between the depth of personal enquiry in those workshops and the reality of work life. Team members have at worst felt judged and exposed and at best been unable to take the workshop discoveries into their everyday work lives. We want to explore ways for conversations, thinking and actions around diversity and inclusion to be so embedded in our work routines that we really can shift.Â
In simple terms, we think it’s better to do small actions consistently than big actions irregularly that we can’t sustain.
- We agreed to continue writing these blogs. As everybody in the team expressed that they want to participate more in our diversity and inclusion conversations, we will open the floor for team members to lead a deep dive discussion about each blog during our weekly team calls.
- Our biggest decision was that we will use 2025 to trial the above activities and further ideas that we will uncover as we progress to build a proposition for how we can take this work to clients from 2026.
These outcomes of conversations at our annual adventure surprised and amazed us and we go forward feeling energised and motivated.
To quote Tennyson, we remain “strong in will,Â
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”.
Do you find any of this intriguing? Would you like to try any of them at your company? If you’re working on similar ideas, we would love to connect with you on LinkedIn: Paige and Lucia.
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