NB this offer can also be adapted to support your Freedom To Speak Up Guardians, sustainability leads or other staff who may face similar issues/challenges.

The issue to be addressed:

As Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Lead or HR Director, you face challenges relating to your staff networks / employee resource groups including:

The political context

• You’re dealing with the geopolitical EDI backlash (internal and external), political and tribunal decisions, the increase in discriminatory attitudes being displayed in the workplace and increasingly having to justify the existence and impact of staff networks to the Board.
• The term 'EDI' has suddenly become controversial.
• The value of EDI teams and initiatives in public sector organisations is increasingly being challenged 

Resource issues

• You're struggling to source and use qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate the outcomes and effectiveness of the network
• There are tensions between your staff networks and other corporate functions, e.g. the communications team, around organising and promoting network activities and events 
• You don’t have appropriate financial resources for the networks to function effectively and in line with best practice guidance
• You're struggling to find suitable candidates for network chair roles
• Your network chairs are struggling to mobilise network members to share the workload of the network
• Your other workload is so great that you struggle to devote the time you’d like to supporting the network chairs

Governance and strategic issues

• The networks are not clear about their purpose, role and scope
• You're struggling to receive high quality board reports or annual reports describing the network's activities and outcomes 
• There are missed opportunities to align the work of the network with the organisation's annual plan/people strategy/overall strategy,
• There are difficulties in articulating the positive impact the network activities have on the quality of services provided
• Your non executives could benefit from an awareness session increasing their understanding of the role and value of staff networks, the issues marginalised groups  of employees face, the link between effective staff networks and improved services, being an anchor institution, tackling health inequalities etc.

Relationships and expectations

• Your Exec network sponsors are struggling to support the network or need increased understanding of the issues that network faces
• You are managing the raised expectations of staff networks and their recommendations for policy, processes, strategies etc.
• You face accusations of 'tokenism' or of not doing enough to recognise intersectionality or the impact of trauma on marginalised groups
• There are tensions among different groups within each network
• There is burnout and high turnover among network chairs
• Your HR managers have increased workload relating to interpersonal issues between network chairs and their line managers.
• You're wondering what your staff networks will say to the CQC, Ofsted and other regulators during inspections.
• Network members take organisational decisions relating to the network's recommendations personally or perceived as an attack on their identity.

The chairs of your network or group may be experiencing the following challenges:

• Finding the 'politics' element of the role tricky, either internally within the network or with discussions with leadership/the board
• Struggling to adapt to the politics and culture of the Board / senior leadership team
• Having trouble understanding the governance processes of the organisation
• Frustrated that they don’t have more authority to act
• Experiencing difficulties in their day job as a result of taking on the role
• Working excessive hours 
• Having challenges mobilising the network and delegating tasks
• Placing high or unrealistic expectations on the organisation to respond or act on their recommendations and frustration with the pace of change
• Feeling isolated 
• Finding it difficult to effectively and professionally convey some of the network's feedback to the Exec Team and board 
• Not being supported by their line managers and their working relationships are being eroded
• Experiencing high emotional labour as part of the role

Because of this, your network chairs are turning over faster than expected, experiencing burnout and potentially moral injury. From their perspective, these challenges can manifest as:

• Loss of motivation, withdrawal of goodwill, loss of confidence - these can be the early signs of burnout
• Cynicism, depersonalisation, anger and frustration, feeling exploited - also signs of burnout
• Moral distress or even moral injury - distress caused by violation of personal values
• Identity issues - these can manifest in two ways - either, an identity crisis at becoming 'part of the establishment' challenging their activist identity/mindset, or taking decisions personally because they are linked to their personal identity.
• Difficulties in managing relationships with line managers, team members , network members

Our solution:

We can provide a package of coaching and mentoring to support your EDI lead and the network chairs to manage these potential pitfalls of the role. 

Part 1 - Mentoring, covering the following areas:

• Understanding strategy - aligning the network's activities with the organisation's strategic priorities
• Understanding data and feedback - helping your network to evidence issues, measure progress and demonstrate outcomes
• Quality assurance 101 - helping your network to propose meaningful KPIs to complement your existing EDI statutory reporting measures and to link their progress to the quality of services provided by the organisation and wider health inequalities work
• Burnout, moral distress and moral injury awareness - general overview
• Support to complete stress risk assessments in line with your own policy 

Optional add-ons:

• Tripartite meeting(s) with the chair and their line manager
• Tripartite meeting(s) with the chair and their Exec network sponsor 
• Mentoring to prepare for Board Away Day sessions

Part 2 - Coaching:

Our bespoke 1:1 coaching offer for staff network chairs is designed to address the issues described above, through:

• Values work, understanding your strengths and their overuse (using the VIA character strengths framework)
• Identity work - combining approaches addressing minority stress & trauma, activist mindsets etc
• Burnout prevention strategies - understanding your personal early signs of burnout, working through any emotions associated with burnout, developing strategies to prevent burnout and guarding against potential moral distress and moral injury (taking into account the literature on minority stress, general burnout, moral injury, social justice activism and activist burnout. Also autistic burnout if relevant)
• All coaching is strengths-based and trauma-informed.

Coaching add-ons (if relevant)

• Awareness of how your neurodivergence affects you in the workplace and in this role.

NB if issues emerge in coaching that warrant specialised therapeutic support, appropriate referrals will be made in discussion with the employee and taking into account your policy. 

Part 3 - Motivational talks for network events

We can provide talks for your networks to support their personal wellbeing/resilience and increase their effectiveness, influence and impact. This package includes one 60-90 minute talk per network per annum. You can see the talk topics currently available here.

Why choose Moral Rebels to deliver this support? About Anna Green:

• This package is specifically designed to tackle some of the deeper interpersonal issues that EDI teams and staff networks / employee resource groups face.
• I have significant experience as an NHS leader with a deep understanding of NHS governance, strategy, staff experience, quality assurance, regulation and data analysis and business planning.  I've worked in acute and mental health providers in the North East of England and London. My NHS career highlights included collaboratively developing a strategy for a large Mental Health Trust, being part of a provider Gold Command team during the pandemic and supporting a large trust achieve an 'Outstanding' CQC rating. 
• I understand NHS systems and relevant NHS priorities such as health inequalities and the role of anchor institutions.
• I am an expert in leadership, with a MSc in Strategic leadership from Newcastle University and an academic interest in inclusive leadership, compassionate leadership and belonging at work. 
• I am an evidence-based,  qualified Executive Coach, trained at Henley Business School. I am appropriately insured, work to the ICF Code of Ethics, receive coaching supervision and an a member of EMCC. I also hold a counselling qualification and have volunteered experience as a non-religious chaplain working into an older people's mental health inpatient unit.
• I am a values-led, compassionate, inclusive leader with significant experience of leading teams and working with Trust boards, governors, regulators and commissioners. I sensitively handle issues and can manage complex relationships across all levels of the organisation.
• I am an LGBT, neurodivergent female leader with lived experience of burnout and use trauma-aware, neuro-affirming approaches.

Testimonials available on request.

Pricing

The base cost of this package is £4,500 per annum.

This is based on ten specialist coaching or mentoring sessions, one motivational talk and one day consultancy work.

Note that all services provided are online. There may be opportunities to work in person at locations in the North East of England, in this instance the pricing would be adjusted to take into account travel time and costs.