PILAA designs new artwork for DOJ Gaminz at Lagos Comic Con 2022

Last month PILAA attended the 10th Lagos Comic Convention in Nigeria, having been commissioned by our clients DOJ Gaminz to design the artwork for their exhibition space, as the proud sponsors of the VVIP Lounge. 

 

Since working with DOJ Gaminz to deliver EDI training, we have learnt more about this company and what it stands for. For Lagos Comicon and leading up to it, they put on a range of activities, which reflect their values in developing the local within the global. They held a creative arts competition where they gave the opportunity for a lucky winner to design an avatar that would represent them and would then be showcased at Lagos ComiCon. Similarly, they carried out another creative arts competition that would see a lucky winner make a jingle to represent their brand, which was to be equally showcased at the festival. 

We knew that they take a holistic approach within the e-gaming landscape, which was reflected in their brief question, “what makes the perfect gamer?” We responded to their question, by telling the stories of Naay Akinade and Peter Olatunji, two young people who recalled their experiences with gaming. We then created two 50 second video ads to reflect both stories and print work for their exhibition space, utilising their brand tagline “amplify your experience.” 

Naay Akinade’s story

Peter Olatunji’s story

We look forward to continuing our work with DOJ Gaminz on their journey with EDI in the Esports landscape.

 

 

October is ADHD Awareness Month

ADHD is one of the most common mental health conditions affecting children and adults. But it is often misunderstood. ADHD Awareness Month’s goal is to correct these misunderstandings and highlight the shared experiences of the ADHD community.

What is ADHD?

Approximately 4% of adults have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There are three types:

 

Our Research Associate Jeremy Lyons is proud to be part of that community. He revels in overcoming barriers having been presented to him, in primarily navigating unforgiving spaces with ADHD and dyslexia. One in three from the community have both ‘comorbid conditions’ and are six times more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness. In addition:

  1. depression, often due to executive dysfunction impairs key parts of work, education or home life
  2. generalised anxiety happens often due to excessive worry, which partially combats inattentiveness
  3. social anxiety, often when ADHD traits like impulsivity, inattention and different thinking styles impair social functioning
  4. OCD-like cycles, often since fixations and excessive checking partially combats inattentiveness and disorganisation

The above does not account for many others who struggle without any recognised diagnosis and therefore no support. Unlike physical challenges, ADHD isn’t visible, so individuals with ADHD often feel unsupported, unwanted, and misunderstood. From the child at school struggling to keep up with the rest of their friends, to the office worker feeling like they don’t belong.

In an interview on the Time to Talk podcast about student mental health, Jeremy Lyons spoke of his experiences overcoming the challenges he faced at school as a result of his neurodiversity being dismissed as just an ‘excuse’. “I remember for GCSE English I was bottom of set 7, a teacher even told me my work looked like it had been written by a foreign child. So I decided to learn the same way as the students for whom English was a foreign language and write down any words I could not understand in a separate book. When it came to the exam, I watched the film of our book instead of struggling to read it and that same teacher had to ask if the school could use my paper to teach as I scored an A* in literature and an A in language.”

This experience taught Jeremy that thinking differently can be exactly what sets you apart from the rest. This really became apparent when he was able to get a diagnosis for Dyslexia and ADHD, as now he has the key to further understand his difference and the ability to empower others to do the same. He now has two master’s degrees and continues to raise awareness acting as an advocate and trainer. Showing work emphasizes the importance of understanding neurodiversity, which cannot only prevent poor mental health but also bring out hidden strengths within our workforce.

The main challenge for someone with ADHD carrying out tasks that rely on executive functions relate to:

● Memory

● Organisational Skills

● Time Management

● Managing Stress

● Concentration

● Listening & Taking Notes

These challenges often lead to discrimination, low productivity and absenteeism, however we suggest the following tips you can take to help support in these areas:

Work outcomes broken up into clear SMART goals

  • Structure and accountability
  • Concentration breaks
  • Flexible working (remote, hybrid options)
  • Medication
  • Therapy

It is equally important to empower ADHD-ers to utilise their strengths such as;

  • Hyperfocus productivity
  • Crisis management
  • Creativity
  • Conversational skills and empathy
  • Problem-solving
  • Passion and enthusiasm

Resources:

Useful Resources

 

At PILAA we carry out neurodiversity impact assessments for organisations. If interested in learning more about what this entails, in order to create a more inclusive environment for neurodivergent employees, please get in touch with us!

What’s the Diverse in Diversity?

Consciously Doing EDI

We have been seeing a growing trend of organisations and institutions doing work in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) arena. In fact there have been many iterations of this three letter triptych, to reflect this current movement happening within the workplace. From Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) or in the reverse Inclusion and Diversity (I&D), to Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DI&A) or as it is used in the US, (Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion (DEAI), no matter the iteration or wordplay, each are implicated in and through the other, working towards inclusivity or as we suggest, a better understanding and acknowledgment of the operations of difference.

To illustrate the impact of this critical moment, on last weekend’s Match of the Day aired on the BBC, (1) we hear the commentator informing us, that the reason behind football players taking the knee over the weekend, after the customary weekly act had been relegated to key matches, was to highlight the Premierships campaign “no to racism.” Further in his announcement, he then says it is to highlight “the ongoing commitment to tackling discrimination and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.” (2) Similarly, we also saw in the international friendly between England’s Lionesses and the US team, players on both sides taking the knee in solidarity with women in the US National Women’s Soccer game, after a damning report exposed abuse and misconduct in the league. Players on both sides not only held a banner which wrote “Protect the Players”, but in addition wore teal armbands to support the victims of abuse.

Whilst both acts of solidarity stand in their own merit, both instances however illustrate how our understandings of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), the version we use within this article, can become conflated with other agendas or lost in translation. In these instances, the sign of taking the knee has not only been removed from its original meaning as an anti-racist statement, but now been used as a general descriptor of EDI work and to tackle sexism, respectively. One of the dangers we highlight in this article then, is that EDI becomes synonymous with only addressing racial inequality or rather becomes reduced to describing race.

A good example of EDI in action was illustrated in 2018 conference to accompany the book launch of Inclusion and Intersectionality in Visual Arts Education (3) held at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), where a disabled audience member spoke up about the lack of diversity and awareness of intersectionality, when talking about diversity issues. For her, when speaking about diversity, gender and race were talked about to death, however she felt that as a society we were a long way away from getting that same kind of urgency in regards to disability. As one of the contributors to the book and speaker at the event, I was in agreement with her because people tend to speak and see the world from their positions first, from their positionality, so that until we get more diversity, a range of values and bodies of difference in key positions and spaces, we will keep on replicating the same old diversity debates and continuously be perplexed as to why there is slow progress towards inclusivity. Inclusion agendas, as arts advisor and consultant Kate Hatton addresses in Towards an Inclusive Arts Education, ‘are always measurable in terms of what can be delivered to those who are excluded.’ (4). Remember, equality of opportunity is about giving people the same access to opportunities, whereas equity is about being fair in every situation, where the context must be acknowledged.

Diverse vs the non-diverse

So what’s the diverse in diversity?

Back in 2019 the cultural and film critic Clive Nwonka wrote in the Guardian, The arts were supposed to champion diversity. What went wrong? In it he reflects on Arts Council England’s (ACE) annual report on diversity, which revealed “a sector despite the rhetoric, still steeped in inequality.” (5) At the time the report was written, it showed that there was little to no improvement when it came to Art’s organisations in England improving the diversity of their leaders and workers in their workforce. In particular it highlighted that there was slow progress in the representation of black and minority ethnic employees in these positions and similarly, if not slightly worse, there was barely any progress for those with disabilities, which reiterates the earlier point made by the audience member with a disability.

Two key points, Nwonka raises which are important to this article, the first is that when people or organisations are seen to do diversity work, often, it seems like tick boxing exercises. He highlights organisations working towards the business case, however one of the ideas that the article is suggesting, is that you can’t use a business case to deal with people, to deal with staff well-being and engagement. People are not just data, although collecting data and being able to interpret data ethically and correctly are important.

Secondly, he then points out to organisations or people following suit, not because they think it’s the right thing to do, but because they have to do it, in order to hit targets for the business case for example. “Diversity policy has always seemed to be driven by semi-coercion rather than social commitment.” The old adage perhaps rings true here used by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the famous British writer and feminist, and the author of Frankenstein (1818) when she writes in the notes of Chapter 5 of her 1792 treatise, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, “convince a man against his will, he’s of the same opinion still.” (6) In other words trying to convert the unconverted is futile, they may appear to agree on the surface but underneath, they are still of an opposing opinion and the more and more you try and get them to see from your perspective, unless they genuinely can do so, it will only push them further and further away. An example of this playing out in the workplace is where an employee will do what needs to be done, and speak to being inclusive, yet their actions will be incongruent. Therefore, learning how to reach the unreachable’s is as important as preaching to those already converted. How do you bring everyone on board?

Another interesting point to raise, which is not necessarily the focus of Nwonka’s article, is how the word “diverse” of late, seems to be used in a reductive way. In a linked article (7), English arts bodies slow to become more diverse, report shows (2019), the term is being used when describing the types of leaders that organisations had either recruited or wanted to see, in lead positions. They are referred to as “diverse leaders”, but who is classed as such or rather, how are we contextualising the word diverse? Are we talking about diverse by proxy of identity and if so, which identities fall into the bracket of being diverse? Within the article the reference to diverse leaders was being made after speaking about the rising number of Black and minority ethnic people being appointed to leadership positions, although the article does speak to the lack of representation in relation to disability? More often than not however, we are seeing what appears to be Freudian slippages where diverse or diversity equates to simply speaking about racial difference and even within that, it appears to be very binary.

Therefore, if there is a common misconception over what is classed as diverse, then what constitutes the non-diverse? These conversations hark back to the universalising of whiteness as the norm, that which goes as the unsaid. According to the cultural studies thinker John Storey, by not being seen as raced, white people become the human race:

As such, whiteness is an incredibly powerful cultural construct (not, as we have noted, biologically determined). It is against this norm that all others are invited to define themselves. We might note that white people are seldom articulated as ‘white’, they are just ‘are’. In news stories, if somebody is white they are invariably not identified as such in text. Model. Writer. Director. As opposed to Black model. Black writer. Black director. White people eat food. Theirs is not ‘ethnic food’. They wear clothes. Theirs is not ethnic fashion…. By not being “raced”, they become the human race.’ (Storey, 2009) (8)

And here lies the connection with using the term diverse, where Black and ethnic minorities and all marginalised under-represented groups are to diverse, as whiteness and hetero-normative culture is to the non-diverse.

Or from another perspective, perhaps the diverse which is being spoken about, refers to those who think in alternative ways, or as with most of these discussions, what they fail to speak more of, is on the impact of and performative nature of class in the workplace. Perhaps the diverse leaders reference the class dynamics and inequalities that we see, when we look at the current class backgrounds of those who govern the country.

Take for example the study carried out by LSE back in 2021 on meritocracy, Deflecting Privilege: Class Identity and the Intergenerational Self (9). According to the British Social Attitudes Survey, 47% of Britons in middle-class professional and managerial jobs identify as working class. Even more curiously, a quarter of people in such jobs who come from middle-class backgrounds, in the sense that their parents did professional work, also identified as working class. The study showed that people were too frightened or didn’t want to talk about their upbringing and their privilege and therefore illustrated the performative nature of the workplace:

“In our report, we argue that these intergenerational understandings of class origin should be read as having a performative dimension; they deflect attention away from the structural privileges these individuals enjoy, both in their own eyes but also among those they communicate their origin stories to in everyday life. At the same time, by framing their lives as an upward struggle against the odds, these interviewees misrepresent their subsequent life outcomes as more worthy, more deserving and more meritorious”.

When we talk about inclusivity then, are we taking into consideration these ideas of class and how it is implicated within these discussions. Whilst not listed as a protected characteristic, the impact of such inequalities related to class, can be felt, experienced and amplified within the workplace, depending on which side of the divide one sits on. As we see with the study, one cannot assume that one is from a particular class or not, however the workplace in itself, perpetuates a certain way of being, a code of conduct that caters to what is classed as “professional” and thereby what is classed as “proper”, or in other words, as this article suggests, the non-diverse.

4 Things to ask yourself

1. What is the context of the area you are looking into. What is the gap? If you have a cohort where all of its members are those with disabilities, those that make that group diverse? The question should then be, how do you bring difference into that team?

2. Learn to reach the unreachable’s – Are you speaking to key stakeholders and if so, how have you come to identify them as such? What of those who are not ready or don’t want to be at the table? How do you bring everyone not just onboard but along?

3. The pipeline – This is a long game, not a short game. For sustainable impact, we need to engage with the grassroots and plant the seeds, whilst simultaneously wait for the harvest. Work not just within our organisations but collaborate and partner with others in the life cycle of your EDI journey. For example, in our work with Trustee’s and governance boards, in demystifying their role, we learnt that more often than not, those in governance roles were given votes of confidence to do such roles by others. If this didn’t happen, like that of accumulative advantage, many of us, would not dare to progress into such positions. Therefore, plant the seeds and encourage those around you, especially if you are in positions of power where you can make a difference and give opportunities to others.

4. We often speak about increasing the visibility of representation of minority groups, but could we also ask to increase the representation of the non-visible? By this we mean, what about recruiting on the premise of the ability to touch one another, not in a physical sense, but rather connecting on an emotional deeper level. Connecting through character, kind rather than kin? As Martin Luther King Jnr best put it, “how often are our lives characterized by a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds.” (10) Further he says, we must go beyond physical differences, those of racial difference, and rather enlist consciences, character. How then would the landscape of EDI change and our workforces when we work from a place of deeper awareness?

 

Footnotes

1) Match of the Day, BBC One [Aired 2022/23: 08/10/2022]
2) Ibid
3) Hatton, K Inclusion and Intersectionality in Visual Arts Education. Trentham Books: UCL IOE Press.
4) Hatton, K. (ed.) (2015) Towards an Inclusive Arts Education. London: Institute of Education Press; Trentham Books.
5) Clive, N (2019) The arts were supposed to champion diversity. What went wrong? Guardian Online. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/15/arts-diversity-arts-council-england-inequality
6) Shelley, M (1818) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
7) Brown, M (2019) English arts bodies slow to become more diverse, report shows. Guardian Online. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/feb/12/english-arts-bodies-slow-to-become-more-diverse-report-shows
8) Storey, J (2009) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture (5th Edition). Essex: Pearson Education
9) Friedman, S, O’Brien, D & McDonald, I (2021) “Deflecting Privilege: Class Identity and the Intergenerational Self”. Volume 55 Issue 4, British Sociological Association.
10) King, M (2010) Strength to Love. (Gift Edition) 1517 Media; Fortress Press Gift edition

 

Our new client GamCare

We are pleased to announce that we are now working with our new client GamCare, the leading provider of information, advice and support for anyone affected by gambling harms.

GamCare was founded in 1997 by Paul Bellringer and recently celebrated its 25 years anniversary. It is a unique organisation that brings together creating awareness around safer gambling, treatment to this form of addiction and the support for its affected others.

Supporting them is both exciting and refreshing, as we delve into a relatively new landscape and learn more about this area. Our task looks to build on their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work to date and help support them strategically in achieving their inclusion aims over the coming years.

To find out more information about GamCare and to follow their work on EDI in the coming months, please visit here.

The Great Resignation: How to Combat this through the eyes of a Gen-Z’er

The Great Resignation is not just for kids. Getty Images/iStockphoto

Now more than halfway through 2022, I think we safely say that on the whole we have moved past the worst effects of Covid-19 as a health pandemic. However, a frightening phenomenon has occurred, one that has been called “the Great Resignation.” This movement has appeared to impact the whole of our society, especially in relation to our mental health and socio-economic economies. There were a multitude of factors which forced mass unemployment, which resulted in businesses going under. For the ones that did survive, they were having to make drastic cuts. In 2021 thousands of people across the UK and around the world left their jobs as workers were given time to think about their choices and at this point, many began to adjust to a new way of working. 

What is The Great Resignation?

The Great Resignation is defined as a mass exodus of workers who feel unfulfilled by their current jobs and have chosen to leave them prematurely, rather than continue in uninspiring roles. Great resignation workers include Gen-Xers who were forced to find new jobs after the 2008 financial crisis, Millennials who were hit by the Great Recession but had higher standards for their jobs, and now Gen-Z who want more out of life than just work. As a young person at the precipice of Gen-Z and Millennial, I have seen the trend continue amongst my peers and fear it will continue to affect future generations. (1)

 

Burnout and the Great Exhaustion – Why did they leave?

Between 2020 to 2021 Limeade an immersive well-being company, conducted a survey into the great resignation and looked at workers who had changed jobs (2). Their results found that 40% of employees cite burnout as the top reason for departure and 28% resigned without a job lined up. For those who had changed jobs, they did so based on:

○ The Ability to work remotely (40%)
○ Better compensation (37%)
○ Better management (31%)

Linked to the Great Resignation is the also the phenomenon, called ‘the Great Exhaustion’. Imagine feeling like you have not slept despite going to bed at 11pm and waking up at 6am or feeling like you have run a marathon even if you have just sat in your home office all day. This phenomenon was brought to light by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW)
Sydney in Australia. Further, Professor Rae Cooper at the University of Sydney, describes this as “the weariness of people after 30 months of thoroughly stressful life”. (3) This has been due to overwhelming physical, mental and financial pressures placed on people during the pandemic, which lead to burnout and Cooper suggests that this is a much bigger issue for women.

Who is disproportionately affected and why?

Deloitte Global stated that “despite the fact that many employers have implemented new ways of working designed to improve flexibility, our research shows that the new arrangements run the risk of excluding the very people who could most benefit from them, with the majority of the women we polled having experienced exclusion when working in a hybrid environment”. (4) Their report ‘Women @ Work 2022: A Global Outlook’ that surveyed 5000 women across 10 countries, found that 10% of women were wanting to remain in their current jobs for more than five years and 1 in 10 women were seeking other employers. Perhaps the unclear boundaries and expectations of remote working, may have left women working double and contributed to them being impacted by the great exhaustion.

‘Quiet quitting’ has also become another popular overnight phenomenon, which offers a solution to job dissatisfaction, with methods shared amongst younger people on social media platforms, such as TikTok. The idea is to simply work within the boundaries of what you are being paid to do. However, whilst this does seem like a healthy approach to combat toxic productivity and normalise a healthier work life balance, it may not be sustainable and in the long run, will again, continue to impact more women.

5 Questions you should ask yourself?

How can we combat this and create more accommodating workplaces?

In order to retain and attract staff many organisations are offering hybrid/remote working options, four-day work weeks and mental health days. However, despite this support, people are still criticising these solutions as potentially being tokenistic and not getting to the root of the problem. One reason for this is that companies may not be tailoring their approach to represent the challenges of the staff most affected. For example, media campaigns can be a powerful tool in the effort to reintegrate women back into the workplace. Indeed, the worldwide job listing company, tend to centre their TV adverts on realistic stories. In 2020 they aired the advert Belonging: Sarah, which told the story of Sarah who was let go from a casting job that she loved at the age of 56 and was experiencing ageism within the industry. Eventually, after being guided to use Indeed, she later finds a job, whereby she is recognised for the skills that she brings to the table. In 2021 they released a similar advert called A New Beginning 30, but this time from the point of view of a woman returning to the workplace having taken time out to transition. (5)

There are Women Return Programmes also designed to support their journeys back into the labour market, but what about Gen-Z, or women who have not yet had a career to come back to?

How can you avoid becoming one of these statistics if you’re currently unhappy at your job?

Before you seek employment elsewhere, it’s important to do an honest assessment of yourself and the current state of your career. To do this, you should ask yourself these five questions:

1. What are my strengths and weaknesses?
2. What are my passions?
3. What is my ideal work environment?
4. What is my desired income?
5. What are my long-term goals?

Keeping these five questions in mind will help you find meaningful work without making rash career decisions. After you have done an honest assessment of yourself and the current state of your career, you should then ask yourself these three questions:

1. Is this job holding me back from growing?
2. Is this job providing me with valuable skills?
3. Is this job meeting my financial needs?

If you answer yes to Q1 or no to Q2/3, you should consider making a change. If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions, it is likely that you would be open to changing your current job with a better one. If you answered no to any or all of the above questions, it is likely that you would be open to making a change by moving on from your current job. It’s important that you do this before it’s too late!

Final words from a Gen-Z’er

It’s important that we find meaning in our work before any of the phenomenon’s outlined in this article take stuck. Pluck up the courage and have a one-on-one meeting with your manager and express your desire to find meaning in your work. You can start simply by identifying “what’s important to you?” What are your hopes and dreams? Do you want to travel or have the flexibility to work overseas? Be mindful however, of what their current challenges are.

If they don’t have the ability to help you, you should explore mentoring opportunities. These can help you to understand what an authentic approach to navigate your workplace can look like. Finding your network of advocates can also be useful to give you support and offer you holistic solutions to not just surviving in the workplace but thriving at what you do.

 

 

Footnotes
1) Wingard, J. (2021) ‘The Great Resignation’: Why Gen Z Is Leaving The Workforce In Droves…And What To Do About It. Forbes Online. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwingard/2021/09/02/the-great-resignation-why-gen-z-is-leaving-the-workforce-in-drovesand-what-to-do-about-it/?sh=623a765b5f87] 

2) Majority of Job-Changers in the Great Resignation Were Burned Out, Wanted to Be Valued and Cared For. (2021) Cision PR Newswire. [https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/majority-of-job-changers-in-the-great-resignation-were-burned-out-wanted-to-be-valued-and-cared-for-301387771.html]

3) Porter, A (2022) The Great Exhaustion: why we’re all experiencing an absolute, overwhelming feeling of emotional exhaustion. Stylist Magazine. [https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/careers/the-great-exhaustion-burnout-work/698702]

4) Women @ Work 2022: A Global Outlook’ (2022) [https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/deloitte-women-at-work-2022-a-global-outlook.pdf]

5) Bowler, H (2022) ‘War, Transphobia, Discrimination’: Indeed.com CMO On The Issues Marketers Must Address, The Drum. [https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/06/15/war-transphobia-discrimination-indeedcom-cmo-the-issues-marketers-must-address]

Spotlight – The Connection at St Martin’s

For this month’s spotlight, we feature The Connection at St Martin’s (CSTM), a long-standing homelessness charity in the heart of London, who work with people who are rough sleeping to move away and stay off the streets in the capital. The charity probably needs no introduction given its rich history and impact over the years in this area. This feature is to highlight the work which has been taking place and is yet to come, in their Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) journey.

Over the last couple of years, many organisations have been questioning their work culture, as a result of key events happening within the social and public arena. These have included: the tragic murder of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in 2020. The murders of sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry in 2020, Sarah Everard in 2021 and Sabina Nessa some months later, all by male perpetrators in each case. These unrelated incidences and the most recent murder of Zara Aleena by a stranger in June 2022, remind us of the continued fight in addressing acts of violence against women and girls, and their subsequent safety on the streets. Finally, since 2019, the world has participated in the fight against Covid-19 and the ensuing pandemic, which has magnified social and economic inequalities across various communities, including our health, social care, and education systems to name a few.

CSTM has engaged with the themes emerging from these incidences. At the end of last year, 2021, members of the team from various departments and at different levels, who were eager for the organisation to be proactive in understanding how inclusive it was, put out a tender to carry out a 3-month EDI review. This took place between January to April of this year. They recruited Dr Ope Lori as a consultant from PILAA to carry out the assessment, which would culminate in a set of recommendations being outlined that the organisation could implement.

As part of the assessment, they wanted to know how they could best improve their approach in 3 key areas:

1. Recruiting and managing our workforce and volunteers

2. Developing anti-discriminatory practice in everything we do

3. Working towards excellence in being a diverse and inclusive charity

The review saw a qualitative approach being taken, through 1-1 informal interviews being conducted between Dr Ope Lori and roughly 75% of their workforce. In addition, there were 1-1’s with Trustees, a Volunteer and as important, a group of clients, whom the charity serves. The project was a collaborative endeavour, built on trust, mutual respect and a shared desire to improve on EDI.

An executive summary about the report and the ensuing recommendations will be made public by the CEO Pam Orchard in the coming months and will be published on the organisation’s website. Here we briefly outline 3 key themes which emerged from the review, but which are part of a larger conversation across the sector and other workplaces at large.

Actors discussing challenges in the workplace from past experiences (2021) PILAA

Lived Experience

The first was around the notion of ‘lived experience’. It became a key phrase throughout the review and from an EDI perspective, we learnt that it was more complex than meets the eye. Having ‘lived experience’ is a criterion which is being used more frequently within the landscape of recruitment, however within the context of the organisation, what is being referred to is, ‘the lived experience of homelessness.’ Multiple users spoke to this, not only as a criterion to be included on job descriptions or within the criteria for trustee selection, but more crucially, within the lens of what it meant for the services to be delivered in an authentic way. A lot therefore could be learnt from tapping into this element of experience, which the organisation will be building on. 

Facilitating Difficult Conversations - On Race

A major theme we have seen across a range of industries, especially after the social injustices outlined earlier, is that many organisations are asking, to what extent are they an anti-racist organisation? To what extent are they equipped as an organisation on an institutional and individual level, to challenge discriminatory behaviours against race, but also any of the other protected characteristics? To what extent are frontline staff, in particular black colleagues and those from minority ethnic groups protected and supported from racial abuse, specifically made by clients and what policies are in place? These were by no means easy questions to answer at CSTM, especially when trying to get the right balance between the needs of employees and those whom they serve. CSTM, as with other organisations seeking to be an anti-discriminatory, anti-racist organisation, will have to recect on past wounds, in order to achieve a better future. As Randall Robinson, the African American lawyer, author and activist urges us to do, we must “know and embrace our past in all its fullness, for therein lies our only hope for a healthy, self- agrming present – and future.” (1)

Diversifying Recruitment

Good work was already happening in this area, especially at Board level of the organisation, where a recent recruitment of Trustees at the end of 2021, had brought more diversity into the group. How to diversify teams and truly understanding what diversity means beyond difference, was a challenge that multiple departments were conscious of tackling. There were simple effective measures that could be taken, such as re-working governance pages and making them more “user-friendly”, in the sense of adding personality to trustee bios, in order to appeal to a wider and future set of applicants. Longer measures, related to unpacking the root issues that could cause an ongoing perpetuation in a lack of diversity. To this end, a recent study by Rathbones, stated that up to “90% of charities recruit most of their trustees through word-of- mouth and existing networks.” (2) If trustee members are therefore recruiting who they know, unless their pool is mixed on multiple levels, then who they recruit, will continue to be predominantly, white, male, from a higher economic background and from similar work industries, as seemed to be the general case across the landscape of governance. Therefore, challenging old ways of doing things in order to eradicate room for unconscious biases to manifest, is critical in changing the narrative and the landscape of diversity within the context of recruitment.

To find out more information on The Connection at St Martin’s and their work on EDI, and to read about the review in the coming months, please visit here.

 

Footnotes:

(1) DeGruy, J (2017) Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, Joy Degruy Publications Inc; Illustrated edition

(2) https://www.rathbones.com/knowledge-and-insight/how-recruit-trustees-your-charity- practical-guide

Coming Out – “Are you ready to do this?”

Saturday July the 2nd will see the return of Pride in London, two years since the Covid-19 pandemic relegated the annual celebration off the streets of the capital. This year is also historic, as it marks 50 years since the first Gay Pride in Britain, which took place in July of 1972, and was organised by the Gay Liberation front (GLF). As the streets of central London are filled with members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, coming together in what could be called “a collective coming out”, this article looks at the very notion of “coming out”, as a central part of becoming. 

 

Luda & Beryl, 2011 Ope Lori @ Image Courtesy of PILAA

The interconnected nature of both aspects was evidenced, as viewers tuned into the ITV documentary, Kelly Holmes: Being Me. Aired on the 26th of June, we heard the coming out story of Dame Kelly Holmes, the nations prized Olympic Gold medal winning heroine. With an emphasis on the “Being Me” being written in bold on the title screen, we see Holmes relive her challenges with not being able to come out, in what was a beautiful yet painful testimony from the athlete. Now in her early 50s, she is coming out to the public and the rest of the world, and in such an emphatic way, by appearing in this documentary for all to see. Her deeply moving and emotional journey is one that many from the LGBTQIA+ communities can relate to, such as thinking of when is it the right time to come out?  Or what makes coming such a difficult experience for some, although not for all, and lastly, how can we foster inclusive and supportive spaces for those yet to come out or who may want to remain in the closet, for various reasons?

 

 

 

When is it the right time to come out?

“Are you ready to do this?” were the initial words asked by the interviewer to Holmes in the opening scene, before she nervously responded “yep, ready to do it. Need to do it. So gotta get it done.” (1) We learn that for various reasons, including Holmes national identity as a sporting heroine and having served in the Army at a time when it was illegal to be gay, she was unable to come out. For 32 years she had kept this secret to herself, family and friends, fearing that she would be caught. When she came out, she did so first to her non-biological father, whom her mother married and then to the rest of her family at the age of 27. When speaking to her family about her coming out to them, most had known and had always been supportive. For one sister, she states that by her telling her, it had brought them much closer. Coming out, in the most basic sense, is defined as:

“The process of telling someone else how they identify in terms of their romantic orientation, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Coming out is a lifelong process that has both intrapersonal and interpersonal components, although most people have an initial phase where they are first coming out to themselves.” (2)

As we saw with Holmes, it wasn’t just about an issue of time, but it was also related to how she felt, and to how her mental health was deteriorating. The longer and longer she remained in the closet, unable to be herself, the worse she became, to the point we learn that the athlete self-harmed and wanted to commit suicide.

Time and history, however, is still an important aspect. She interviews Welsh Olympic Boxing Champion Lauren Price, who is in a relationship with fellow Olympic boxing medallist Karriss Artingstall, who also served in the Army. The couple officially came out as dating in 2020 after the Tokyo Olympics. When asked about whether they made a decision to come out, the pair both discuss their experiences as being positive and not being an issue. When Holmes mentions that there was a ban for being gay in the Army, which was only overturned in 2000, both were unaware that it even existed and were complete disbelief. Speaking to a current LGBTQ Army network group, they reiterate how times have changed, that they felt included, and that if there were issues, there were now policies in place to help support them.

 

Codes of conduct

Being in the Army seemed to be the most challenging reason behind Holmes not being able to come out. She recalls a time whilst serving, when the Royal Military Police had come to the regiment trying to find out who was gay. Feeling violated by people going into their spaces, what was crucial in Holmes account, was that they were trying to look for “anything they could find to see if you were gay.” (3) Perhaps this may seem like a strange thing to say, after all how can you see your sexual or romantic orientation? 

Back in 2019, Lil Nas X, one of the few musicians to come out as openly gay with his blockbusting song, Old Town Road, was in number 1 spot of the general Billboard Hot 100, for a record-breaking nineteen consecutive weeks. Whilst the song was controversial for reasons, such as it wasn’t seen as typically rap, neither country, but both i.e., “country rap” what was important, was that the song was largely about coming out. 

Lil Nas X came out to his sister and father, in early June 2019, as he felt it was the right time to do so, despite his uncertainty whether his fans would stick by him or not. He thought it was obvious from his music and the videos that he would be “read” as gay, but when the rolling Stone magazine said that one of his songs “touches on themes such as coming clean, growing up and embracing oneself”, he found himself tweeting the next day for clarity, that he was gay, saying “deadass thought I made it obvious”. (4) The response to the news was mostly positive, but also garnered a large amount of homophobic backlash on social media, including from members of the hip hop community. 

So why would it have been obvious? The answer here relies on who is looking, what are the codes that are being read. How does someone present and how are they being recognised? Note in the video of Old Town Road, Lil Nas X is wearing a crucifix earring. Perhaps this has less significance in regards to his sexual orientation, as it did for men back in the 60s. Men who wore earrings in their right ear, did so, to indicate their sexual preference. Of course, times have changed from the times of George Michael and his iconic dangling crucifix earring. Song artists like Sam Smith, who identifies as non-binary, has been seen wearing earrings on both right and left sides. Harry Styles, the former One Direction boy band member, but now solo artist, who doesn’t disclose his sexuality, but neither denies it, calling himself gender fluid or Queer, can be seen wearing earrings and mixing up fashion styles indicative of being masculine, feminine and androgynous.

In Trans* (2018) a key book written by Jack Halberstam, an influential gender, queer, trans and visual theorist, on speaking about these specific codes and to seeing how bodies are read as problematic, or less so, when they fit into their associated gender ideals, they say “a masculine woman, in the context of a farm, is not automatically read as a lesbian; she is simply a hardworking woman who can take care of herself and her farm.” (5)

 

Wrestle, 2011 Ope Lori @ Image Courtesy of PILAA

Community and safe spaces

This brings us to the final question; where is it safe to come out? Are there certain spaces which pose more threat than others, just as the Army did for Holmes prior to its decriminalising of being gay? What industries and professions, dose coming out still bare a risk? For example, it has been 24 years since Justin Fashanu, committed suicide in 1998 following allegations of sexual assault of a 17-year-old boy. Since then, he was known as the first openly gay professional footballer and there was no one else in the British game of men’s topflight football to come out, until recently. Now Jake Daniels, the 17-year-old Blackpool FC professional football player, has come out earlier in May as gay. Is this however a watershed moment for men’s football or is it a mere milestone? Is it easier in traditional office time workplaces, to come out, or can it be as difficult with this new mode of hybrid working, as a result of the pandemic? Or within academia, are there certain courses that are more LGBTQIA+ friendly than others? For example, the Lecturer teaching in the Visual Arts, as opposed to the one in the Sciences? Or what about the Lecturer teaching the same course, but being based in rural parts of the UK, as opposed to being in a big city? 

Of course, there could be stereotypes in making these assumptions on what is deemed as a safe space, however as Halberstam states, “it is also crucial to be specific about which queer subjects face what kind of threats, from whom, and in what locations.” (6) Therefore, being mindful of our environment and the privileges that some spaces hold over others, is equally as important, in identifying where is deemed as fertile ground to come out.

And finally, what is a safe space? In much of our work with organisations or in helping to facilitate difficult conversations on matters of identity, what we have come to see over time, is that safe spaces are not just about a physical, inclusive environments to be in, but also, they are about who you can go to in your time of need. Who can give you support and who can you trust? Who do you feel comfortable enough to come out too? This could be friends, family or community. In the documentary, Holmes speaks to UK Black Pride Founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah—a.k.a. “Lady Phyll”, about this aspect of community which she has been absent from. Lady Phyll speaks about coming out to her own family and the challenges with coming out, especially as a child of a heritage country where being LGBT is illegal. She states that she also has a different family, a chosen family, “the community.”

Having people to confide in, to help you take yourself out of the closet, is as important in the coming out process. For Holmes, she confides in one of her male friends, who she says she recorded and shared voice notes too, in order to help her deal with being gay, especially when she was at her lowest. For a long time, she was unable to get help for her mental health, for fear of being outed by whoever she spoke too. She now speaks to her psychologist, where she says that if not for her, she wouldn’t be able to do the documentary and be free. 

2022 Pride Flag, visibly intersex and inclusive. Designed by intersex activist, Valentino Vecchietti


Tomorrow, as the LGBTQIA+ communities celebrate Pride in London, with the theme of #AllOurPride, remember that coming out as a shared rite of passage, will mean different things for different members of the community. Coming out stories can fluctuate from positive experiences to ones which have left members of the community estranged from those they have called friends and family. 

For all the good things with being out and being seen, we should also remember that “with recognition comes acceptance, with acceptance comes power, with power comes regulation,” (7) and it is that regulation which is part of the infrastructure of belonging, which for some members of the LGBTQIA+ community, is still an ongoing battle. 






Footnotes

1) Kelly Holmes: Being Me (2022) ITV, 26 June 2022 [Broadcasting]

2) See ‘Coming Out’ resource as part of the LGBT Centre Unc- chapel Hill, at https://lgbtq.unc.edu/resources/exploring-identities/coming-out/)

3) Kelly Holmes: Being Me (2022) ITV, 26 June 2022 [Broadcasting]  

4) Griffiths, K. (2020) Lil Nas X: Old Town Rodeo for a New Power Generation, Red Wedge, 30 June. Online. http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/lil-nas-x-old (Accessed 17 August 2020).

5) Halberstam, J. (2018) Trans*, University of California Press, Oakland, California.

6) Ibid.

7) Ibid.