Equality, Diversity
& Inclusion Training
Bespoke, creative training, based on real, lived experience, delivered by leaders in the field of EDI
We work with a diverse, inspiring range of clients within a changing social and political landscape.
There is no “one shoe fits all” approach to our training.
Whatever your Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) needs, we tailor all training to the organisations that we enter. Whether it’s ‘Unconscious Bias’, ‘Self-censorship and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues’, ‘Anti-racism or Structural racism’, ‘Inclusive Welcome and Safer Spaces’, ‘Effective Inclusive Leadership’, ‘Professionalism’ or our much used facilitated ‘Open Forum’ sessions, to name but a few, we cover it all.
We each have a strong research background which allows us to develop new and innovative training themes.
Our training is based on current debate and we pre-empt the major topics our clients need to think about, but most importantly we learn from you. Your conversations drive our passion for delivering industry leading development.
Our training is bespoke and based on real lived experience, so if there’s training you want, just ask us to see if we cover it. If you are a member, we also invite you to leave a wish for a theme or subject to be addressed, with our very own friendly PILAA fortune teller. Watch us grant your wish and see the training come to life!
Self-censorship and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues
Facilitating difficult dialogues is a learned skill. Whether engaging in a sensitive topic outside of your identity or managing a disagreement effectively is paramount to building healthy relationships within teams and fostering positive self-well-being. Conversations on anti-racism, gender inequality, disability awareness and woke wars, can be very uncomfortable, leading to self doubt and ill-feeling.
This popular session gets delegates to utilise effective strategies for facilitating, and engaging in, difficult dialogues, and empowers you in navigating uncomfortable conversations, as the initiator and the receiver.
Unconscious Bias
We all need unconscious bias training.That is a truth. This session focusses on challenging and changing pre-conditioned mindsets.
What are our individual and collective belief systems, cultural and social stereotypes? How do we make sense of categories of race, gender, sexuality, class, dis(ability) and those beyond the usual dogma.
In this session, we look at how to unpack what unconscious bias is, and how to recognise it in action. Questions around how you see, and what you choose to see first, will be confronted, whilst looking at the scientific and psychological thinking behind unconscious bias. We look at the difference between recognising strategic avoidance and unconscious bias, and give our clients solutions to mitigate both.
Anti-Racism/Structural Racism
When we talk about race and ethnicity, are,we merely talking about skin colour and where you are from, or are we talking about class and accumulative (dis)advantage?
What constitutes the performance of whiteness in the workplace? What is racialisation? What is white privilege vs privilege, and is there a difference? When an employee talks about cultural fit, what does it actually imply and what culture are we actually fitting in too? How do we recognise micro-aggressive behaviours and defensiveness in these
spaces? These are some of the provocative questions that the training seeks to address in creating anti-racist practices and spaces.
This session looks at a practical response to unpacking Structural Racism within your organisation. It focusses on the workplace, and encourage attendees to consider their place and access to power and privilege, in relation to what they do and how they can challenge all forms of structural racism. We address power structures and hierarchies, and how notions of ‘Whiteness’ play out in dominant culture.
Professionalism
Is there a mould for professionalism, and what does that look like?
The first thing which is clear, people’s definition of what professionalism means will vary. Professionalism goes beyond what we wear, how we dress or carry ourselves, although those things are important. Professionalism can be a performance and tied in with ideas around class, but it is also about values, ethics and learning the ‘codes of conduct’, the rules of engagement in any organisation.
This training is key in reflecting on where you work, understanding workplace culture and cultural fit. How does one play the game and which game are you in fact playing? Professionalism starts from within and manifests from without and in this session we unpack what it is in relation to your own specific industry and in demonstrating positive workplace behaviours at all levels.
Effective Leadership & Effective Inclusive Leadership for Managers
There is a common misconception that you have to be in a position of power to demonstrate leadership skills. You don’t need to be in a visible position of power to think about leadership or to be a leader. Even the smallest voice can be heard when one cultivates true leadership skills.
In this important training, we show you how to do just that, on both a philosophical level and also on a practical, hands-on level, thinking about how you can put leadership into action, regardless of your position.
Our second training session is geared towards those in Management or Senior positions. We look specifically at the attributes of good and bad leaders or good and bad bosses!
We look at leadership in action, and encourage transformation and innovation within your teams. We look at cultivating those hard schools of empathy, active listening, personal accountability and how to facilitate difficult conversations with those you manage.
Inclusive Welcome and Safer Spaces
Learn how to address your colleagues, teams and audiences, using language that is inclusive of all, including those from LGBTQ+, Dis(ability) and Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic communities.
What are pronouns and what’s the whole gender debate about?
You will deconstruct the politics of language and recognition, to feel confident addressing anyone within the above communities, and using appropriate gendered terminology.
What is true allyship and how does it apply to each of these communities?
Learn about safer spaces, what are they and how can you factor them into your meetings, as well as your organisations? Learn to use the mindset of being ‘the only one in the room’, as a strategy to include the other into the space and offering an inclusive welcome to all, irrespective of difference.