Justin:

Hello and welcome to your equity, diversity, and inclusion course. I’m Justin, one of the team from ted Learning who’s presenting this course, and you’ll meet more of my colleagues later.

Now I’ve been delivering equity, diversity, and inclusion training for over 15 years, and it’s a real passion of mine to help organisations and individuals be more inclusive and compassionate towards other people. Our job today on this course isn’t to tell you what to think or what to believe. You’re entitled to your beliefs and opinions. Our role is to explain what’s acceptable behaviour at work and how we create cultures that enable people to feel safe and respected. We want people to be able to be their authentic selves.

We’ll also talk to you about the individual roles in being allies to other underrepresented people, making sure that sometimes we’re their voice where needed, because if we don’t create a positive culture, it can have a big impact. Have a look at this.

Ben:

I can’t walk down the street without somebody having a problem with me or someone having something to say or feeling that they can express their feelings, and that’s quite a sedate version of the worst versions of what can happen to you.

Simon:

A couple of times when I’ve been out with my partner and we’ve been perhaps at a counter order some coffee or something, and I have had the classic, “Would he like sugar?” To which my partner takes no prisoners. Louise, bless her, she takes no prisoners at all, and she just looked this woman coldly in the eye and said, “I can’t remember, ask him.” And that got the message across.

Leon:

One of the ones is the age-old one, when you walk into spaces, particularly shops, and you suddenly get followed around the shops. You’re literally just going in there to look at things. I’m coming to buy something. I mean, I’m in a supermarket, I’m coming to buy things, and then immediately … It happened just yesterday. Immediately as you’re walking around, the security person, they want you to know that they’re there, or sometimes they like to hide, play hide and seek with you. So, I sometimes play hide and seek with them. So, I’ll walk around to different aisle. I’ll wait for them to appear. I’ve actually gone up to security and been like, “If you want to make yourself useful, could you please at least hold my basket as we go around together, please.”

Justin:

Ben, Simon, and Dave, and Danny and Leon are some of the people you’ll meet on this training who’ve experienced discrimination. As a resource, alongside this course, you can watch interviews with people who’ve shared their lived experiences of discrimination due to a protected characteristic, so you can learn more about people’s experiences that are different to your own.

Now, you might be completing this course because you’ve been asked to, directed to, or wanted to. Whatever your reason for being here, we appreciate your time and have structured the course to be interactive, engaging, using drama-based experiences.

You’ll see the impact it can have on others when we aren’t considered in what we say or how we behave. Now, we recognise that sometimes people might be a little bit cynical. They think, “Is it going to be a long list of what you can and can’t say? Is it going to be very woke? Is it going to be a tick-box exercise?” And actually, it’s not. The reason that businesses often invest in this type of training is twofold. Number one, because it’s an important thing to do. Organisations like yours want to create inclusive places to work. They want people to come to work and be able to be themselves.

Secondly, though it’s not a legal requirement to take such training, it’s increasingly commonplace in the workplace as employers look to create a harmonious working environment, and to be able to demonstrate to your own customers and clients that you take this subject seriously. So, our job on this course is not to give you a long list of what you can and can’t say. Being inclusive is not about stopping anyone from having fun at work. It’s to make sure that we understand sometimes the impact we have on others at work might not be what we intended it to be. 

Justin:

We’ll be doing this through listening and watching real life people’s experiences and drama scenes based on workplace case studies. Here’s a taste of what’s to come.

Drama scene: 1

I really enjoy my job and I enjoy being a mother too.

Drama scene: 2

Might just be a clash of personalities.

Drama scene: 3

We want to make sure that our residents feel safe and heard, but…

Drama scene: 4

What about the stuff?

Drama scene: 5

If someone’s a weak link, then maybe they should go.

Drama scene: 6

Skylar’s always dropping new things to me via email or Teams chat, or in the corridor. Then she wonders why I haven’t done it.

Drama scene: 7

Aren’t you scared you might lose your job? Or even worse, the respect of the team?

Drama scene: 8

My sexuality is not my personality.

Justin:

Let’s look at what you’ll be able to do by the end of this course. You’ll have an understanding of the Equality Act law. You’ll be able to identify how others’ lived experiences, perhaps different from your own, can impact perceptions, views, and behaviours. You’ll be able to identify the impact that your own behaviour can have on others. You’ll develop self-awareness to become more consciously inclusive, and we’ll explain the steps that you can take to support an inclusive environment at work.

Now, with this course, you don’t have to complete it all in one go. Your progress on the course will be saved and you can come back to it later and you’ll get little nudges from the system until you’ve completed it. Through the course, there’ll be drama scenes and case studies, and we’ll be asking you questions to find out what you already know and your opinion on the scenes you watch. Finally, we’ll get you thinking about what steps you can personally take to support an inclusive environment at work.

When you have watched the full video, click the Mark Complete  button below. The button will be greyed out  until the video is watched in full. You cannot progress until the video has been watched.  When you are ready to progress click the button and you will be taken to the next lesson.

You may revisit this module at any time. You may also find the additional learning resources of help in recapping key points covered.

Don’t forget, you can also Take Notes using the  button at the bottom right of the screen. You can view and download your Notes here or from the Notes tab on the top of the course page