Following recent tragic events in the U.S. and U.K. that have seen the lives of Black people horrifically taken, there has been a renewed commitment from businesses, brands and organisations to reflect inwardly on racism and discrimination.

Although Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) is not new, the world that we are living in has changed. We are living with a pandemic, which has revealed the glaring inequalities in society, and there is a greater expectation for inclusive leaders who understand the needs of employees in these challenging times.

Employee engagement and internal communications as a business function has a greater role to play in shaping how employees understand their place in the organisation, create two-way dialogue mechanisms, source best practice and accurately represent the employee voice. But where does one who is out of their depth with culturally sensitive and divisive topics start?

This workshop by Harriet Small, an award-winning Internal Communicator, will provide a starting point. This session is ideal for anyone who communicates with employees, is developing a DIB communications strategy, supports staff network groups with their communications, leads a public relations and communications team, is an independent communications consultant, an agency partner for an internal communications team, and human resource professionals.

It will be an interactive session focussed on thinking about the role of internal communications in moving the needle forward on racism, homophobia, age discrimination, gender bias, and hiring disparities that may be stifling the growth of the business.

Using the employee life cycle to map out key stages where DIB can be incorporated and emphasised using communications.

Attendees will explore essential considerations to make when designing an internal communications strategy, stakeholder grouping, and objective setting. Harriet will share guidelines for supporting leaders to have inclusive conversations at a company-wide level and with employees independently.

By the end of the workshop, you should have practical actions that you can take away to better support the business. Resources such as case studies, a glossary of key terms, and a reading guide to help further learning will be provided.

A 20% donation of profits from ticket sales will be made to The Taylor Bennett Foundation, a U.K. charity that exists to encourage and support graduates from a Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds to pursue a career in Public Relations and Communications.

Learning objectives

• Explain the importance of presenting a business case for diversity, inclusion and belonging to gain leadership buy-in
• Explore best practices for leaders when having difficult and uncomfortable conversations
• Develop an understanding of how to design a comprehensive DIB internal communications strategy
• Create a benchmark for inclusive ways of working and practices for Internal Communicators
• Analyse how to incorporate the DIB strategy into the employee experience using the key stages of the employee lifecycle

You can earn 5 CIPR CPD points from attending the session

About Harriet Small

Harriet is a freelance communications and publication relations consultant. She has 12 years’ experience in communications, journalism, and public affairs at companies such as The UK Civil Aviation Authority, Transport for London, Sky, Merton Council, the European Union, NHS, and titles across Hearst Media. She is the winner of the Institute of Internal Communications rising star award 2019, where she sits on the FutureNet committee. In 2018 her ‘Be Epic’ campaign for Merton Council was shortlisted for an Employee Engagement award in the I.C. category. Harriet also curates the blog commsoveracoffee.com and is an ambassador for the Taylor Bennett Foundation.

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This workshop is open to a global audience. If you are joining us from outside the United Kingdom, please use time zone converter to check your timings.