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ADVICE AND SUPPORT
Equality impacts on your organisation in all sorts of ways.
It might be that you’re looking for help defusing workplace conflict. Maybe there are particular groups of staff or service users who don’t benefit from your organisation in the same way as others. Or maybe you’d just like to chat about an HR problem you have. Whatever your query, feel free to give us a bell.
Over the years, we've worked with a number of organisations - you can see exactly who here. Support has covered issues including:
BRILLIANT BOARDS
WORKING WITH BOARDS TO CHANGE ORGANISATIONS
Boards are the foundation of organisations. They set the tone for what’s important. It’s crucial, then, that boards understand how to use their authority to endorse things that improve outcomes for staff and service users. But that’s easier said than done given the lack of good quality strategic support on this topic.
HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU
brap have been supporting leaders to better appreciate the impact of leadership in areas like inclusion, service delivery, and staff support and development. We challenge what doesn't work, and help boards to think more critically about how they can improve performance in this area.
WHAT THIS SUPPORT MIGHT INVOLVE
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cultural audits – understand the impact of previous inclusion work and where to focus your efforts to engage and motivate staff
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strategic sessions – a bespoke session to help your board respond strategically to your sector's regulatory requirements, your engagement strategy, and broader inclusion issues
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leadership development – individual and team coaching or group sessions to improve leadership effectiveness and explore topics like team work, managing diversity, bias, and bullying and harassment
WHY DO THIS
Boards want to see progress, but don't always recognise their role in making this happen. Often inclusion is seen as a stand-alone area and is not well-integrated into areas that can drive it forward. Understanding what levers to pull will not only make things happen, but will sustain progress in the long run.
"brap's style supports senior board members to engage in challenging views and beliefs and to develop new ways of leading the organisation"
Wendy Brewer
Director of Human Resources
St George's University Hospital NHSFT
STAFF ENGAGEMENT
CREATING 'SAFE' AND MEANINGFUL SPACES
Support networks are popular with staff. They give people a chance to talk to management about their experience of the workplace: and by sharing their experiences with each other, staff get a feeling of solidarity and support. All pretty straightforward, right? Well…
HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU
Setting up staff support networks can be tricky. It’s important to get the basics right straight from the get go. Who will lead it? What support do they need? Who does the group represent? And how can it avoid becoming a negative talking shop? Done right, establishing and nurturing a support group will create a safe space where all voices can be heard.
WHAT THIS SUPPORT MIGHT INVOLVE
brap can support you by:
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helping groups establish terms of reference and ensuring group members and organisers have the right support to use their skills well
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helping groups navigate challenges around membership and ensuring discussions are purposeful
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providing intensive support in the group’s early days to get it off the ground
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helping groups and managers have a constructive dialogue
And for the really inventive – we’ve even set up inter-ethnic groups at the request of Black and minority ethnic (BME) and White staff who want to work together to address issues of inclusion.
WHY DO THIS
If staff support networks are clearly and fairly established they can help leaders understand the experiences of BME staff and provide ideas on how to enhance inclusion. And of course, it will also help improve other staff networks you may want to set up or provide further support to.
TECHNICAL ADVICE
USING EVIDENCE TO RESPOND TO INCLUSION
What’s the evidence base behind what you do on equality and inclusion? Most organisations collect data, but many have gaps that can inhibit progress. Even when data isn’t the issue, it’s still useful to have another pair of eyes helping you understand the story the data tells and what actions will provide the most effective results.
HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU
Some public sector organisations work with us on an annual basis to help them to compile statistics, undertake analyses (to meet the public sector equality duty or requirements of frameworks such as EDS2), and support them to develop action plans. We have access to best practice in this area, and so can put you in touch with the most relevant concepts and ideas for furthering your ambitions on this topic.
WHAT THIS SUPPORT MIGHT INVOLVE
Our support includes research and analysis in a variety of areas such as:
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crunching data and analysis in relation to PSED, EDS2, the WRES, or any other equality impact assessment process
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identifying evidence gaps and advising on how to fill them
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conducting qualitative research to explore what the data really means
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helping write reports, such as those required by the Equality Act
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undertake equality impact assessments
WHY DO THIS
This isn’t just about having a critical friend or an extra pair of hands. Yes, there is an element of us holding you to account for your progress, but this is packaged to help you make the best choices for enhancing inclusivity in your organisation. And, alongside technical support, we can also help put you in touch with committed individuals in other organisations who are interested in sharing best practice on this topic.
"I thought the report brap produced was a great piece of work and was amazed that so much could have come from so little"
Simon Redwood
Learning, Development & Equalities Manager
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
GETTING IN AND GETTING ON
How familiar does this sound – you’ve spent ages on your policies and you’ve ensured all staff are trained on their contents. But staff survey results show marginalised groups are still less likely to be promoted, more likely to be bullied, more likely to be disciplined, less likely to be recruited…
HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU
Organisations often think if their policies are well-thought through equal outcomes will automatically follow. But all too often the issue is not about the quality of written policies. The main challenge lies in the implementation of processes, informal practices within teams, and unconscious judgements that are made. We can help you address these issues head-on.
WHAT THIS SUPPORT MIGHT INVOLVE
brap can bring a fresh pair of eyes to your recruitment process, helping to assess the effectiveness of its implementation. We can also provide unconscious bias training to help individuals recognise the hidden biases in their decision making. We also work with boards and senior leaders in trusts so they can understand how to create more inclusive workplaces.
WHY DO THIS
By improving the effectiveness and fairness of your recruitment practice you are more likely to address underperforming targets. More importantly, however, you can enhance the skill levels of those engaged in the recruitment process. Improving the credibility of people making staffing decisions will not only improve the confidence people have in those decisions, but it will result in a more equitable distribution of recruitment and promotion opportunities.
"brap are extremely knowledgeable about the complex issues facing organisations today, and they know how to come up with forward-thinking and practical solutions in response. I’ve been impressed with their understanding of equality and workplace relationships"
Roger Kline
Research Fellow
Middlesex University Business School
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
CREATING HAPPIER WORKPLACES
BME staff are more likely than their White colleagues to face disciplinary proceedings. At the same time, there’s evidence they’re less likely to raise concerns about other people’s conduct due to a fear of victimisation. Many leaders and managers have asked us for help responding to these types of challenges.
HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU
Sometimes – without people wanting them to – barriers in communication, different management styles, and organisational culture can create tensions and problems. In particular, tensions can arise between managers and the staff from marginalised groups.
WHAT THIS SUPPORT MIGHT INVOLVE
These services aren’t just about dealing with conflict - many will help prevent it:
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cultural audits – understanding the rituals, narratives, and informal practices in your workplace that challenge workforce relations
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specific support for managers and HR staff in responding to issues of diversity in the context of performance management (role-play, mentoring, etc.)
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help to establish clearer codes of conduct for staff and improve people’s sense of their workplace rights and responsibilities
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tailor-made, confidential investigation service
WHY DO THIS
Investigations and disciplinary proceedings can be costly, distressing, and damaging to workforce relations. This support can help staff feel more confident about their response to performance management of diverse teams.
SERVICE REDESIGN
Our traditional approach to equality, diversity, and inclusion can be too blunt. We use methods that rely on the idea that marginalised groups are somehow different and that they therefore need separate, different services. This isn’t practical in a hyperdiverse society. A consultation event in London, for example, that tried to represent every nationality in the city would need room for over 200 people.
We need an approach to equality that isn’t identity-based. We need equality tools that are sophisticated and responsive to our changing demographics. Tools that reflect how discrimination can play across gender, race, class, and dozens of other things. For a number of years now, we've been working with progressive and forward-thinking organisations to pioneer exactly these approaches. Take to work we did for Macmillan Cancer Support, for instance...
It’s not every day you go into the office and someone starts crying. But during our work with cancer patients, that’s what happened.
Macmillan Cancer Support asked us to look at providing practical, on-the-ground approaches to addressing variations in patient experience. In practice, this meant helping staff identify which human rights are important to patients at various points along the care pathway, and then giving them the resources to translate these rights into practical actions. These actions ranged from ensuring patients are addressed how they want to be to keeping them involved in decisions about their treatment.
The end result was the Macmillan Values Based Standard, a human rights framework which gives health care professionals and patients a route map to improve patient experience and care. According to Macmillan's project manager, Hana Ibrahim, the Standard has encouraged staff to think about ways in which their current practice may not be responsive to patients’ needs. The human rights framework was warmly received by the Department of Health and formed an important part of their cancer strategy, Improving Outcomes.
"brap is a truly impressive organisation with the credentials to deliver meaningful and lasting change in the application of equality and human rights. It demonstrated a profound insight into organisational complexities and dynamics that maintain the status quo. brap is well on its way to establishing itself as the market leader and the most important contributor to the equality and human rights agenda in the UK."
Jagtar Dhanda
Programme Manager
Macmillan Cancer Support