EDI workshop: “Courageous Conversations about Diversity”
On Friday 29th November we held our first EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) workshop, “Courageous Conversations about Diversity”, facilitated by Judeline Nicholas. We were fortunate to use space at The Matthew Project, and even more fortunate that hot snacks were being cooked on the day we were there, which enhanced the mid-morning break!
Judeline has over 30 years’ experience supporting clients in all sectors nationally and internationally. She has a passion for people skills, is a Lay Panel Member of Employment Tribunals and chairs the Norfolk Race Equality & Human Rights Network.
The workshop included an icebreaker to get to know each other and start to explore similarities and differences. Judeline set the context, including a brief overview of legislation and what it means for our organisations.
Time was then spent thinking about unconscious bias, what it is and what we can do when we notice it. We also considered allyship; being a friend and supporting those experiencing injustices. We then thought as a group about working with colleagues to increase inclusivity.
Throughout the morning there were rich discussions with people commenting it was useful to have time and space away from busy workloads to think about these important topics. The main comment around what people would change about the workshop was more time, as there was so much to cover in 3 hours!
Feedback
Attendees commented:
“excellent speaker, so knowledgeable and skilled at bringing about debate”
“I got out of this a better understanding, and reinforcement in the ideas and views I’m trying to pass on to not only my team but the people we work with”
“resetting and refreshing – now I need more time to reflect and then take action.”
In our feedback survey, the workshop scored an average of 4.7 out of 5 and was rated 4.9 out of 5 for usefulness – great to hear!
This workshop was fully booked with lots of interest around follow-up sessions. Two further EDI training workshops are planned for 2025, focusing on neurodiversity (20th February) and allyship (13th March). Save the dates!
See our full programme of events here.
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