employee resource groups business disability forum webinar

Employee Resource Groups or Networks are at the heart of disability inclusion in a growing number of organisations. They are key in enabling disabled people to bring their whole selves to work and in driving change that is based on lived experience. But how do you keep networks not just alive, but flourishing whilst working remotely? In this webinar, Business Disability Forum Taskforce Manager Lucy Ruck will be joined by Kate Nash OBE, Creator and CEO of PurpleSpace, the world’s only networking and professional development hub for disabled employees, network and resource group leaders and allies.

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Lucy Ruck 0:06

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another business Disability Forum webinar, which during these times we're offering people read for free, which is always fantastic, who doesn't like a freebie. So I'm Lucy rock. I'm the task force manager at business Disability Forum. And I'm delighted to be your host for today. I'm also delighted to be joined by Kate, but I shall introduce her in a moment. What I would say is,

Unknown Speaker 0:34

I'm sure you'll have a few in the chat, that would be great if you could just post those in there. We do also have closed captions available for today's webinar, which are provided by my clear text. And you can choose this by clicking on the closed captions button at the bottom of your screen, which is next to the chat, which you should all hopefully be experts in zoom by now, I think. If you need to adjust the caption size, click on the arrow next to the stop start at the video settings. And there's an accessibility button there where you can go and adjust those settings. I think that's the technical stuff done. So we should move on to what today's session is all about. So we're talking about employee resource groups and or networks, which are at the heart of disability inclusion in a growing number of organizations. They're key in enabling disabled people to bring their whole selves to work and in driving change that is based around that very important lived experience. But how do we keep these networks not just alive, but flourishing was working remotely? So to answer that many more questions that we have for you today, I'm delighted to be joined by Kate Nash, ob he, the creator and CEO of purple space, the world's only networking and professional development hub for disabled employees, network and resource group leaders and allies. So hello, Kate. Hello, Lucy. What a treat. How are you? Yes. All Very good. Thank you. Yes. All ticking along, adjusting to the new world we find ourselves in and just off.

Kate Nash | OBE Creator and CEO of PurpleSpace 2:08

Yeah, very good. Very good. The team are good. The community is good. The sun is shining. So hey, what's not to love? Excellent,

Unknown Speaker 2:17

excellent. You're obviously not in the northwest of England then because it's anyway. So um, I'm sure many of our listeners and people connecting up to us today already know a little bit about UK. But for those that don't, can you tell us a few things about yourself? So I've got three things I'd kind of like you to cover if that's okay. Tell us about you and what you do, why this community is so important to you? And what led you to creating this wonderful thing that is purple space?

Unknown Speaker 2:45

Okay, right. Well, look, let me keep those three questions in my mind and do my best to answer and if I go off at tangents, Lucy, you know me well enough to to drag me back in? So in terms of who I am, you know, it's really hard, isn't it to describe who one is, you know, in a short few words, I suppose I'm most known for being an impatient agitator. Yeah, that's, that's, that's what I do. And, you know, obviously, I have the very great privilege of heading up purple space. And what we do is obviously encourage employers to, to, you know, first notice, and then do something about the most effective way of delivering culture change, which is, of course, learning directly from your own people. But ultimately, what I'm known to do is to accelerate change, you know, not not to go the wrong way around not to go the allegedly route. But to start to think as an employer, what do you need to do differently and better to ensure that they're building inclusive workplaces? So that's what I do. I suppose in a practical sense, what purple space does is, you know, delivering leadership know how for network leaders, resource group leaders to be able to both build and then sustain these wonderful vehicles have changed or they're not destinations, they're not service agents, they are these these communication Vehicles for Change. In terms of your second question, you know, why is this community important? To me, I think it is because they are me, is because I am them, you know, that lovely expression that personal is political, you know, and I suppose after a, you know, a lifetime of living with and learning about how to flourish at work as a disabled person, and then been very instrumental in supporting the UK to deliver legislative change, you know, pre 1995 and then I suppose, my skill set, which is, you know, it's about learning, you know, a few stocking trade skills about how you get stuff done, you know, so So why is this community important, as opposed to just wanting to be helpful and useful in Helping this army of network leaders, these just amazing change agents to, you know, corral and harness their own frustration, you know, their own helpful impatience. And yeah, they are some of the most imaginative, creative, innovative individuals with proper jobs. You know, for all of you DNI managers who may be listening in, forgive me, you get my drift, but you know, these are individuals who come from the business, and choose to deliver their passion, and then know how to drive change. So that's, that's why they're important to me. And then your third question was, what Lucy? What led me to this?

Unknown Speaker 5:39

Yeah, I think,

Unknown Speaker 5:42

basically, a lifetime of work, you know, worked for many years in the NGO sector, and, you know, learnt quite quickly that philanthropy will only get you so far. And, you know, having worked for BDF, you know, great, fantastic organization is, you know, runs in my veins. And, you know, many years ago, the third associate, to be appointed to BDF, the fourth member of staff, many, many years ago in 1993, or 94. I can't recall. And I suppose, you know, having worked with many panels, parliamentarians to support the process of getting legislative change, it was me noticing then that how, how are we going to start to see sustained change how we're going to make manifest that legislation? So? So, yeah, that's where I got involved. Basically, that's, you know, noticing that networks, you know, my prediction was that networks were going to be a very important contribution to driving change. noticing that networks did two things, one, they help to business at the top of the shop, you know, proving that level of being disability confident, or disability smart, as you so splendidly call out, but also their role in helping individuals to develop inner confidence. And so yeah, gave up Pay As You earn in 2007. set up my own freelance business, Kate Nash associates, what was 300 companies over a 10 year period, and then wrote secrets and big news, the book that meant led to purple space. And it was through the requests after the messages in the book, for many employees, which we share, you know, many of our members are members of yours, and vice vice versa. We do very different things. But it was it was those network leaders that say we'd like a low cost, elegant way of sharing best practice, and starting to think about how we can how we can be helpful and useful. So yeah, we set up 2015 have one or two members, I think it was barkhuizen, Fujitsu. And now of course, five years later, 110 plus organizations with 600 members together reaching 450,000 to disabled people. So yeah, that's about Lucy. And I

Unknown Speaker 8:05

think it's really interesting as well, because I think networks I mean, I actually ran, I chaired a network. When I worked for a local authority about 15 years ago, I remember them sent me a copy of your you've offered to chair Lucy, we needed someone feisty, not quite sure what they meant by that. But I should take it as a compliment. And I think sometimes it's very difficult because it becomes, you know, you can lose your professionalism, because it becomes very personal because about personal story. So I think some support there from an organization like purple space, direction, their drive and their vision, and understanding what other people are doing because you don't necessarily know what other employee resource groups are up to because they're not within you know, your organization's I think mission sharing is absolutely critical and quite unique. I think probably as well.

Unknown Speaker 8:52

Here it is Lucy, and you know, you go back to your own personal story, it's very common, isn't it when, you know, we want to be helpful and useful. We want to apply the knowledge that we have gained along the way in terms of managing disability and impairment, and want to help those that are coming behind us. So yeah, so what we do is, is trying to support individuals to corral that feistiness that very helpful feistiness and then deliver skills training and leadership training, both in terms of soft and hard skills. So yeah, that's what we do. Excellent. Thank

Unknown Speaker 9:27

you for that, Kate. So obviously, things have changed somewhat in the last few months for all of us in lots of different ways. I think that's fair to say. But what are the trends or the issues that you've seen in Employee Resource Groups right now that you can share with us?

Unknown Speaker 9:42

Is this what I would call the enduring change? So the kind of pre COVID trends so let me share with you three of those with you and then and then pick up in terms of so what are we seeing now, in terms of the enduring trends? I think what we've seen over the last five years Yours is a really big push from employers to ensure that their network or their resource group is an integral part of how they deliver systemic change. And what I mean by that you don't have to look too far back, where you saw networks sometimes sort of grow up in isolation. You know, they, they start with fresh air and enthusiasm, they wouldn't have too much budget. They'd be noticing what the strategic drivers were, what the strategy was in terms of either diversity or disability. But they didn't always have a governing role, if that makes sense. They didn't always work in with hand in glove with the business. And I think one of the strong trends that we're seeing now is almost universally across our community is that that has changed. So now businesses are very much working hand in glove with their networks and resource groups, to both scenario scan what's coming down the track, but of course, then two cents, check as to whether the strategy is right. So that's, that's a very important trend. I think. Secondly, the other thing that we're picking up, and it came from that impact report, so our impact report is a free resource on our website, if anybody's interested. And we're very lucky to get the support of Barclays. But in this input pin impact report, we're seeing Lucy a, one of the things that's really happening now is that networks are becoming either they're becoming less involved in some of the hygiene factors, or they're choosing deliberately to push back the responsibility of those things to the business. And what I mean by that, of course, it's wholly proper for networks and resource groups, to have a view about, say how elegant and efficient and visible the workplace adjustment processes as one of many examples. And of course, it's proper for the business to ask that network what their view is, and how they can improve it. But over the years, there have been occasions where networks are almost solely responsible for calling out the inadequacies of that process. And a strong trend coming through is networks feeling able, they feel they have the permission to say Actually, that's not our role. Thank you very much back to you to improve that. And instead, we'll get on with our main work, which is about delivering a more meaningful narrative about how how it is to live with disability, and to build a more sophisticated understanding about that lived experience. And then the third, I think the third big move that we're seeing is,

Unknown Speaker 12:40

I suppose, enabling

Unknown Speaker 12:43

disabled employees to notice what they can do to support change, you know, what is it about that, you know, having skin in the game that can support a business to move forward? You know, we've, in the past seen organizations spend, you know, the majority, I would say, have their disability budget on those people who are least impacted of disability. So the biggest spend online managers, the biggest spend on policies, practices, and procedures, and you know, if you spend the majority of your budget on training others, to get better at including disabled people, what you do is to suppose lose sight of some of the things that we can do to be our authentic selves to lean into our careers. So we're starting to see a trend where it's not just about getting in to work, but it's about getting on, you know, how do I notice the soft bigotry of low expectation? Now, what do I do about that as a human being? And I'm not, in all of this, I'm not suggesting it's about fixing disabled people, you know, learning the lessons of the women's movement, not about fixing people, but it is about noticing, what do we need to do differently and better to deliver well in, in our work? So yeah, the big trend there is employers starting now to invest in personal development courses, mentoring programs, coaching programs, storytelling programs, you know, quality lived experience program, to really surface that.

Unknown Speaker 14:15

And I know, we did a liberal development course last year, which was really good. I know, that I think, for friends has developed over many years. And I think that's hugely beneficial. You know, you do that, as you say, for the female movement. And I think it's very important as well, because it is a it's life changing disability, isn't it? And I think that needs to be recognized and supported and nurtured.

Unknown Speaker 14:35

Yeah, very much. So Lucy, you know, and congratulations to BDF is shining a spotlight on that need and you know, in delivering that type of practical training, you know, Phil is best in bees. Well, actually, there's quite a lot of best in biz, she said, and if you're listening for it, yes, of course, we have a huge love of what you've done, you set the pace and the pattern and the standard by which Employees can deliver that personal development. But it's it is great. And the fact that PDF calls it out and encourages, you know, your members to notice the huge value is is very important. I think Lastly, coming back to trends, Lucy, you know, as you say, we're living in the most extraordinary times in all of our life history. And I think what we're seeing many of the many of the trends are now well documented. And again, big high five, to PDF, for supporting your own members and others and making freely available resources and know how and collateral to, to help employers to manage this process. But one of the things that we asked is, I won't, I won't rehearse all of that which you've splendidly done. I think the one thing that I would highlight in terms of a trend around networks and COVID, is that although many, many of our members, for example, have been working by virtual and digital means for many years, and that's simply the case, it's been a much more helpful and practical way of bringing together disabled people, not just in terms of geography, but when budget is tight, you don't want your people either coming into London or any other headquartered office in different global businesses. So so now they're just, they're doing that in spades. Now, they're just doing more of it. So you've got your virtual coffee mornings, and your virtual get togethers. And I think, you know, the trend that we all see, and what we're picking up, and I would say this is in the last four weeks, is, as employers, wherever they're based, not just in the UK, but across the pace, you know, you have many global members, and therefore, their their easing of lockdown varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. But I think given that disabled people are more likely to be the last to return to work. So whether they're shielding or deep self isolation, you know, what we're hearing is that network leaders are encouraging their employers to hear that they don't want to lose some of the gains that we've secured in this supercharged digital era. So a lot of work to start to think about and surface. What have been some of the positives it could have got to be, there has to be, we should be we should be lambasted if we don't choose as individuals to notice some of the positivity that has come from this. Does that make sense to you? Lucy, do you? Yes,

Unknown Speaker 17:29

yeah. Yeah, completely. So and I think, given that, okay, I've got another question I'm going to move on to so I'm thinking, can we talk a little bit sort of about public space and how it came about and sort of the momentum behind that when it when it first started, it was sort of one of the slightly crude terms like gapping, the market if there was an inch there, and someone needed to support those groups? And what in your experience, are the main drivers for starting a new employee resource group? I would want to sorry, carry on Lucy, there was a pause, say that again, sorry. The joy of homework and and connectivity? Yeah. So what do employees want to get out of it, they're their resource groups.

Unknown Speaker 18:14

Think through

Unknown Speaker 18:18

three things. One, they want to be helpful, and useful in being in this, what we would call the sweet spot, you know, networks, they do two things, they're often supporting the organization to do differently and better in learning directly from their own people. So enhancing the development policy and practice procedure, based on the direct lived experience of disabled people. I think, and secondly, then encouraging individuals, I think, particularly those who have acquired their disability through the course of their working life, you know, as we know, 83 plus percent of all disabled people are those individuals who acquire that human experience through the course of their working life. So so so the driver is often having experienced some challenges in not maybe securing a workplace adjustment or having a lack of self esteem or not alone, leaning into your career or not, being who you are, being your best, brilliant self at work, and wanting to be helpful and accelerating, you know, the speed by which others that come behind us can do that. So that's the first driver. I think the second drivers they will accelerate change. You know, if you keep on doing what you keep on doing, you'll keep on getting what you keep on getting so you know, if you can be useful to apply your skill and your experience in your know how to accelerate change within the business. That's a very key driver. I think that that passion and energy. And then lastly, many of the network leaders and their committees, their steering groups, they simply want to apply their skill. To the process of change. And of course, we're talking about people who come from any, any part of the business, they might come from communications that come from facilities, they might come from it, they might come from product development, they might come from marketing. And these are individuals who are highly trained experts in their own right. And they want to apply that to support in that process. Those are the three key drivers, I would say.

Unknown Speaker 20:26

I've just remind people as well listening in, please do post any questions you've got for Kate in the chat section. And we'll come to those at the end of the session. So please do do ask those tricky questions. Let's put Kate on the spot a little bit. I know she won't mind too much. Love it. What do you think networks should be doing? And how can they be most effective in influencing change in the business? What are some of the key things you've learned? Firstly, they

Unknown Speaker 20:54

their lack of supporting role, you know, when an actor or an actress wins the Oscars? And we're often reflected that, yes, they might deserve that. But it's often the supporting actor, an actress that can often enhance the delivery of that storyline. What do I mean by that? I think the key thing that a network or resource group can do is to notice where they fit within the strategy. They have to trust and accept and notice that they you know, their DNI colleagues and professionals are choosing deliberately to create a strategy that's going to work well for that business. And, you know, for Apple, whatever frustration or lack of budget or not enough time, and there's all of the above in terms of running a network, the most important thing you can do, I think, is to notice how you're going to support the delivery of that strategy. So what two or three things could that network do to enhance the delivery of that strategy? And again, at a very practical level, so what does that mean? So, for example, a business shows choosing to shine a spotlight on the workplace adjustment process, and to do a drains up and say, This is not good enough. And, you know, it's taking six months just to deliver an ergonomic mouse. And, you know, it's about saying, what can we do to support the business to reduce the delivery time of that, etc. So that's the first thing is really embedded, I think the second thing they can do is to not fall into the trap of delivering value by the next Awareness Day. You know, what I mean, by that, you know, awareness days can be very helpful instrument to shine a spotlight on particular parent groups. But I think, you know, when networks occasionally, because they're busy, and they don't always have the time to think about this, they can sometimes fall into the trap of delivering what they do, based on the next impairment that is going to be. So making sure that you don't fall into the trap, you've got your own strategy, rather than just what's, what's current, what's popular, what's, what's the talk of the town. And then lastly, what they can do is see themselves as a vehicle, not a service. You know, I talk about this a lot on platforms, loosely. But if I had a pound, for every network, we've come across who, you know, feel quite burdened by having to deliver what I call like a service vehicle agent, rather than see themselves as a vehicle for change. A communication exercise, that's one of the most important things that a network leader can do is to notice that they can use humor, they can they can, they can, they can follow their nose, they can be innovative, they can say what's coming down the track, what do we want to be known for in three years time. And, and and usefully apply that skill rather than the daily grind at the service.

Unknown Speaker 23:59

And I think you'll probably find within those groups that people can be more imaginative, more creative, is that humor, I think is really important, the business might not think of using the humor. But as individuals, we all know, disability does have its funny moments, or you can kind of take the Mickey out of stuff a little bit and bring humor into these things. And the business wouldn't think about doing it in that way. But actually, will that touch people a lot more by using those tools? And I think that's a really interesting one. Yeah, you're right,

Unknown Speaker 24:26

Lucy, you know, this, as we know, this is a human experience that can derail us as individuals for a period of time or a or a very long period of time or sometimes a lifetime. And therefore, there's a degree of challenge in in, in accommodating and assimilating that human experience as individuals, and therefore that can become highly charged for our non disabled allies, who you know, who want us to succeed and want to do well, who who want To be an ally, but but feel caught up in that challenge. So, yeah, it can be too earnest and humor? Yeah, it's a great thing to use in terms of driving change.

Unknown Speaker 25:12

Yeah, absolutely. And, and thinking about it from the other side of the coin, almost. What can businesses do to nurture the network? So we've talked about, you know, the network supporting the business and helping to drive the agenda a little bit more. But what can business do to support the network's

Unknown Speaker 25:30

a range of things, I think the first is to notice the loneliness of the long distance network leader. For those of our listeners, your listeners who remember that wonderful field many years ago, the loneliness of the long distance runner can be incredibly isolating, choosing to set up a network to sustain a network or to lead a network, you know, to, to help support the legacy of a network that was may have been running for 10 years, it's really, really isolated, because you're not a functional responsibility in the business. And disability may not be your primary skill, you know, you may, you may be very passionate about it, you may have some personal experience of disability, but you have absolutely no experience of running a network. And therefore it can be incredibly isolating. And yes, of course, you can learn from network leaders who may be running gender networks or bane network, or LGBT plus networks, or faith network, or religious networks, or working families, you know, all of those, you can learn a lot. But ultimately, this is about delivering an improved story of change for disabled employees. And so what a business can do well, they can help those individuals to connect with others, invest in them, support them to reach out to others within the purple space community. You know, learn from others share notes, swap notes, generously share resources about what works and doesn't work. So that I think is really important investing in their delivery. And then I think the other thing is to deliver quality feedback about how the network is doing. And to treat it as a as a as you would with any other function, where you do a 360 appraisal, when you're, you're working closely with a network leader to say I love what you have done this year. I like the way you did x and y and Zed. However, that other thing didn't work, and what can we do to support you to deliver well, so is that is that noticing, and giving quality feedback that I think is so important.

Unknown Speaker 27:39

Please, thanks, Kate. And we've got some questions coming in. So we've got slightly distracted by those. But we'll come on to those later on in the session, if that's okay. So when we think about networks and resource groups, we often think about physical meeting or the getting together. So how do we keep networks not just alive, but flourishing? What will work remotely as you say, some people have been working remotely for a while, but how do we how do we flourish those networks? Kate?

Unknown Speaker 28:04

Yeah, you're absolutely right. We did a little piece of research three years ago, to look at the ways in which different networks work, its agenda networks, by networks, LGBT disability, etc. And we noticed Even then, that disability networks, were some of the more prolific users of tech, in order to deliver their networks. So it was not uncommon that they would be doing virtual coffee mornings, it was not uncommon that they, you know, routine, maybe quarterly meetings or monthly meetings, whatever the pattern is, would be done remotely. And that was for two reasons. One, because disability networks are behind the curve. That's partly because of the legislation and the cadence of equalities, legislation, not just in the UK, but globally. So you notice, and they were a bit behind the curve, that has meant that they have often had less budget, and therefore have had to be much more creative. Plus, if you add to that, you know that the the actual topology of individuals that we're talking about may have a greater need in terms of traveling, for example, that you know, some of the discomfort that would take an individual to travel from one part of the country to another, to rock up at a routine meeting. So, so they're just supercharging. Now, the other thing that we see great use of is internal network insights. So the yummers, the Facebook sites, the intranet sites. Again, disability networks, I think, have been ahead of the curve on this, let's say, and now they're just even better. So the ways in which they're delivering advice about how you can drive change and how you can bring members together through digital virtual means is just going through the roof, you know, and we really hope that that's not lost, you know, of course, as human beings want the world to recorrect itself. But if we don't take forward some of the lessons learned from this period, then yeah, you can feel the irritation. So yeah, it's, it's that supercharge bring in large numbers of people together in order to drive change, you know, some of the things that companies are doing externally, you know, that wonderful global webinar that Microsoft put on recently, just fantastic. It's just fantastic. So good use of technology.

Unknown Speaker 30:40

And I think there's something quite nice about doing these video conferences that we're all are doing, especially when you've got cameras on. And I know, that's not always possible for everybody, for numerous different reasons. But you still feel connected. It's lovely to see a familiar face nice when we dialed in this morning, Kate, okay, how you doing? It's nice to see people that you know, you still sort of feel connected, don't you? And I think it does add value, it's, it's not quite the same as being in the room. And the little side conversations don't happen in quite the same way. But it's still, it's still really important to connect, isn't it? And I think that we mustn't lose sight of

Unknown Speaker 31:12

Yeah, you're so right, Lucy. And I think this type of connection is, of course, it's different. And I think the question mark that it leaves us is, is it of a lesser quality? Because I think so many of us have fallen into the trap of analyzing this level of connection and thinking it's of less quality. And one of the things I've noticed, you know, many of our members or global businesses, what I've noticed is, so many of our, of our global colleagues have been doing this anyway. And they've learned all of the norms to make this connection. As, as personal as it can be. So yeah, lots of learning,

Unknown Speaker 31:51

lots of learning. And

Unknown Speaker 31:54

I don't know if anyone's thinking about this at the moment, but what would you say to someone who's thinking, actually, we don't have a network in our organization at the moment, when really, we maybe ought to think about starting one is now a good time or a bad time? What would your thoughts be on that case? I'd say Just do it.

Unknown Speaker 32:11

You know, there's never a good time to have to go on a diet, and boy, do I need to go on a diet? Yeah, I haven't, in my 15 plus years of working with companies in the UK and globally, to set up, sustain, and deliver the most imaginative networks that are routinely now being called out as the most important systemic driver to deliver inclusive workplace practices. I have never once ever been told by Chief exec, or a disability champion or data network leader that they've regretted doing that. I have hundreds of stories about how it's exhausting, and how hard it is, and how you know, when you're working at midnight, because you've done the day job, and you've put the kids to bed, and you've got to do an hour's work on the network. So, you know, we hear of those difficult stories, particularly those that are not applauded and thanked warmly and regularly for the extra that they do on top of their day job. But what would I say to those that do it, you won't regret it. You know, there crudely, there are two people in life. They're your starter wrappers, the people who get things going, they don't only worry about the constitution or the terms of reference, they know that over time, it will change. But they they're they're what they bring to the world as they start things up. And then the other type of sustainless, the improvers, those people that enjoy maintenance. So if you're a starter rapper, and you're thinking about it, stop thinking about it, just do it.

Unknown Speaker 33:51

Excellent. I won't mention that you're sponsored by a chain of sportswear who just do it. But one of the things that I think you're also sort of quite quite known for is the phrase of bringing your authentic self to work. And I think it's a fantastic phrase. And I think, you know, we should all be authentic in whatever we are. I'm sometimes accused of being a little too authentic, but we weren't. It's very important in terms of identity and energy and productivity, and of course, openness. But now we're all working from home and working in different ways. What does that mean in terms of bringing ourselves to work? And how can we do this? Kate?

Unknown Speaker 34:32

Wow. Well, I think I think the first thing I mean, obviously, I'm network leaders that a good a good majority are people with lived experience of disability, but 80% I suppose about 600 leaders have a disability and the others are just incredibly skilled, passionate, brilliant allies, you know, all of them deliver an amazing contribution. And there's no lack of quality within either that group. They're just splendid. You know, in terms of being authentic as a leader or as a disabled person at work, I think I think we're, I think the first thing to notice is that we are all of us on a journey of understanding what it means to be authentic. And a bit like when you choose to sort of change your style of clothing, you know, we've had, most human beings do that at some stage within their lives. But you know, when you try on a different style for the first time, you know, you're not quite sure if it fits, or it suits you. And, and I think that there's a lot of resonance in that in terms of how you choose to share your story of disability, whatever the impairment, whatever the date of onset, whatever the severity, whatever your personal circumstances, you know, whatever your own inherent level of resilience is, or how lucky you are and having individuals around you, that can work with you on that whatever that is, we are always on a forever journey of understanding how we display that level of authenticity. And whether you choose never to or bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, sometimes it's a little bit too much. And you might draw back from that. It's about recognizing the art of perfecting had to be who you are preserving and protecting your, your strength and your power and your brand. So I mean, I in terms of think weirdly, the the medium of tech can sometimes be almost a more powerful instrument and be inauthentic. When we hear stop hearing stories again and again, from our network leaders, how line managers who are bringing together their teams are having to deliberately ask of course, how are people feeling right now. And sometimes they have to slow down and encourage someone who may not have experienced a mental health challenge before, but completely challenged, and completely isolated or struggling to work and look after the children and homeschool them, you know, or have partners who may be working in trades where they're on the front line. We are all of us as individuals deeply challenged differently by what's going on. And in the context of work. It is a requirement now why managers to surface the stories. And I think where a lot of disabled people have a role to play in is how they can encourage others to do just that. Because they're more practice.

Unknown Speaker 37:35

Yeah, absolutely. We've kind of learned the hard way. I think in some ways, maybe haven't we? I think we have Lucy? I think we have Yeah. Interesting, this is something that you touched on earlier on is about network can often just focus on awareness days if we're not careful. But they are also a really useful and important tool. And when we can't physically get together, how do we go about doing that. And of course, it's not just about preserving those for the sake of it, but they often play a key role in driving forward a lot of the topics and the agendas that the network's want to talk about. So if you've got any examples of innovation, around those sort of awareness days that you can share with us.

Unknown Speaker 38:21

Yeah, and you're right, this is such an important vehicle for spotlighting on specific impairments, I suppose and helping the business to think differently and better about how you help people secure the workplace adjustments that they might need, etc. so that they are an important part of the calendar, I think of a network or an organization. And the best types of innovation are those that are choosing to think once and notice where they might have a homegrown person who can talk about their own lived experience. So if you're talking about cancer awareness days, or dyslexia days, or mental health days, etc, you know, working with not in real time, not a nanosecond before, you know, not even a month before but if your identity if you're able to look out over the course of the year and say we're going to, we're going to spotlight on say these four awareness days this year, is to work far out in front with an individual who might be prepared to share their story might be prepared to you know, to be their authentic self as we've just discussed, but to work with them in a way that lands, the purpose of the story. And we talk about TFD at purple space TFD What do you want an audience to think, to feel and to do as a result of sharing your story? Because as we know, Lucy if we look back at our former selves, you know, you talk very openly and beautifully and in a way that leads to learning about your own experience with your you know, your prosthesis and the accident you had, you know that is very real. And it is, you pull out the useful nuggets in terms of how you share your story. So the innovation in the networks is those networks are prepared to work with an individual's got something to say. And to help frame that story on the TFT. What do you want an audience to think, to feel and to do? Not a cathartic story? how helpful is that? It's not helpful. It might help us to better articulate and get over some of the sadness that we might have. But it's not going to help a business. So yeah, that's the biggest innovation, we're seeing. very deliberate storytelling. That's

Unknown Speaker 40:39

great. And I think storytelling is so important as well, isn't it because we can read lots of documents and understand why I mean, the obvious, it's a legal requirement and everything else, because those things are very important. But they don't bring it to life. It's not Dave, who I see who I know, has dyslexia who uses different software, and then everything works well for him. Or if he didn't have those things, and they put a nice bit of software in and it can't work with his tools that he has, then he's unable to do his job. And it's, it's that realization of the impact of the decisions we make and how we can help those people. But it's that person at the center of it. That's the important bit. And I think that's where their stories are really useful.

Unknown Speaker 41:18

It's so true, Lucy, I mean, again, coming back to you, the blogs that you have written in the past, where you have, you know, you've you have taken that courageous, and, you know, I say that disabled person to say it to the person, you know what I mean by this, it takes courage to share story of sadness, and disappointment, and to reflect that life as taken on a journey that perhaps you wouldn't have wanted for yourself, and then what you've learned for yourself, and therefore, how you would help a business to do differently. Anyway, I could talk for midnight, but I won't. We've got other questions as we

Unknown Speaker 41:59

get to a couple of questions that we've had from people joining us today. So how do you balance being critical friend versus being an adversary, we find a lot of resistance to recognition of issues, and subsequent failure to act, often disabled people who have a voice across being overly bolshie, despite the very real concerns, especially against legislative requirements on business? It's quite a long question, though. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 42:26

Is it is? And it's a great question. I can I can feel I can feel that question. I think, um, how would I answer this, I think, on occasion we teach, we teach Listen to me, we encourage our network leaders to notice the qualities of good leadership. And one of the things that comes with good leadership. Well, one of the characteristics, one of the traits of really good quality leadership is to choose deliberately to notice and understand and feel that the world is unfolding as it should. And what I mean by that is, sometimes you have to trust that you are working with in an organization that wants to do his very best by disabled people, even and this is something that we actively encourage our network leaders to do, even in the face of evidence to suggest otherwise. So let me just say that again. So it's about choosing deliberately to trust that you are working for an organization that wants to do well by its people, even in the face of counter evidence. And what I mean by that, that means it allows you to keep calling out constantly and persistently, and with kindness and with love, those things are really getting in the way. And, you know, we see, often there are great examples across the world right now about how hard it is for individuals who are oppressed. And yet great, great leadership requires the art and the gift for persistently calling out what those struggles are. So it's hard and it's not for the faint hearted. And it does take time. But you know, it's about you've got a table thump we often say so that feistiness and network leader has both got to table thumb, as well as be a collaborator. How can we help you the business to do what we think you probably want to do? And then enough silence to allow that business to respond. Yeah. helped me to unseres a great phrase helped me to understand why we're still allowing the process whereby somebody who needs a mouse that costs 10 pounds, to wait for 10 months, as I can't understand how that's acceptable. And then Leave the silence enough silence to hear an answer.

Unknown Speaker 45:04

Yeah. And silence is so powerful, I think, isn't it? Yeah. Brilliant. And then another question in around what? Sometimes with employee resource groups, you can find that you get one or two people who just want to moan about the car parking or the negative things, or something that's just purely impacting on them. How How do you turn that around, so that they don't drain the group and you keep that positivity. And you keep that as a positive channel to move forward? What's your advice for those groups?

Unknown Speaker 45:37

Depends is doing the noticing around how those beheld behaviors are not being very helpful. You know, ultimately, you know that some of the great networks have been enabled to have what I call a relative level of freedom to operate. You know, those DNI managers, those wonderful DNI managers who allow that they adore openness, that total openness they liberate, and they allow, and they enable network leaders to maybe break a few rules and make a few mistakes, and to have that energy to set up a deliberate plan or an activity plan. So it might my answer is predicated on who's noticing maybe some of those behaviors are not very helpful. If it's, if it's a if it's a DNI manager who's noticing that maybe somebody keeps going on about their personal story, simply a quiet word. To do that, you know, we, as allies, we need from our allies helpful feedback about how our behaviors are helping or hindering change. And I think it is within a committee again, that's, you know, slightly different, but there are things that can be done. But yeah, it's it, it's nonsense to think that you just have to rely on one story within a committee that's not helpful at all. We have to subrogate sometimes our own personal challenges. Well, let me rephrase that we have to solve our personal challenges. If we're not getting the workplace adjustment that we need, we need to find a way of ensuring that that is delivered. But it's not proper, I think to keep rehearsing rehearsing that story, in terms of your leadership, of heading up a network.

Unknown Speaker 47:20

So I've got a good question here. It not my words, I will read this out because there's some I can say interesting language, but I gotta tell you, right. So humor really is an amazing tool, one of my favorite opening lines, when I give talks on Disabilities, engaging children have asperges. And yes, I was bullied at school. Because of course, there's a serious point being made. But it's also important to be open. And I find that having that one early moment of laughter makes people think, feel more comfortable about asking questions they might think are inappropriate, when in fact, many others are thinking exactly the same thing. And I think this is really good about breaking the stigma, and people's anxieties about that exists around disability. And I think I obviously didn't deliver the line very well, but I'm sure that he would deliver it much better. But I think it's a really interesting one.

Unknown Speaker 48:06

Yeah, no, it's great. It's great. And, you know, it's it's important that we noticed that, you know, judicious use of humor can be one of the most important drivers for change and making people feel comfortable, dare I say in your presence, is a very important precursor for then developing a better conversation about what needs to be done. And again, go back to the earlier question, I, you know, I wouldn't want to suggest in terms of answering that earlier question. That that not playing out your personal story is not important. It absolutely is. As you know, my opening gambit, the personal is political. From time to time, I will choose to give a sniff of my story. But But making using that story to help people feel comfortable in your presence, so they're better ready to receive difficult information is, is very important. So I love it. Whoever does it. Hi, five. Well done. Keep doing.

Unknown Speaker 49:02

Absolutely. Okay, I've got to go back to a couple of questions. I just sort of pre prepared and I wanted to talk to you about our purple lighter, hashtag purple light up. I'm gonna talk about the camel casing that quickly. So it's purple with a capital P, light with a capital L and then up all one word. So we're making sure that works well for screen readers and people with disabilities. And I believe that's now going to be in its fourth year. Can you tell us a little bit more about what your plans are? And how you might go about running that remotely daresay if it's not, things haven't settled down. We're not allowed to meet up again by December. And you tell us a little bit about that. Please cake.

Unknown Speaker 49:44

Yeah, of course. This is so quick reminder pepper light up is a global movement that has now been running for four years. And you know, purple space didn't invent the connection between purple as a car. Hello, and disability, it's now synonymous not just in the UK but across the world. And we don't know how we don't know why we've certainly done a very helpful job in, in amplifying that, because, you know, like how LGBT plus colleagues are so skillfully done in terms of using the rainbow flag that is not emblematic of the struggle that LGBT plus people so to has it become a real driver for change. So purple, like there is a real purpose behind purple light up. And it's why we choose to lead it. So purple light up is simply a movement, it's not campaign doesn't have a start doesn't have a middle, it doesn't have an end, it's a movement, we've lost control beautifully. And it's about celebrating the economic contribution of disabled people around the third of December each year. And it's our mark of respect to the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. So our members like your members, vusi will often do a something around the third of December, but has been many years been incoherent and consistent, not joined up. So what purple light up, it was an invitation. So three, four years ago, when I put a straight tweet into the world, it was it's the time now right? To connect networks across the world, to start to think about how we celebrate the day in, day out economic contribution of disabled people into the tax coffers of governments around the world. This is not just about getting in. This is about getting on and celebrating. So that's what it's all about. So this year, yes, is going to be entirely digital. I mean, it just so happened, of course, we would bring our network leaders together and and disability champions and chief execs, you know, for many different businesses that are at a party in London, but no, those days have gone. This is going to be a digital party, the lasting 24 hours across the world. It's still in plans, and we would love to share more with you, Lucy and you know, we've enjoyed your quiet support in the past, and we would we would love that again. So yeah, it's gonna be a digital download January a party across the world. I was

Unknown Speaker 52:14

very excited about the work he did last year traveling around in the taxi in the purple taxi. I thought that was brilliant. Okay, so yeah, I love watching what new ideas you guys have.

Unknown Speaker 52:23

And listen why. I mean, my question to you dare I say, why did you enjoy that? What was it about that that

Unknown Speaker 52:28

was important. It was really visual. And it was a purple taxi stands out, I think as well. And it was the people jumping in and out. I thought it was very sort of, I know, it wasn't spontaneous. I'm sure a lot of planning went into it. But it just sort of felt quite natural. And I like that. I mean, you've always got a very natural tone to you anywhere. But I feel like we're just having a chat here. There's no one else here where this really caters just you and I. And I think there's a little chat in the back of the taxi that you do so well, which is really nice. And I think that relaxed atmosphere and everything just works really well.

Unknown Speaker 52:58

It's really helpful to hear I appreciate that. And who doesn't love purple, especially a purple is quite a hard color to wear. I'll say no more

Unknown Speaker 53:10

maybe people might light up their houses purple if you know we're all still at home are we going to be like ordering in November like purple lights for the house, maybe

Unknown Speaker 53:19

things I Love Lucy about purple light up. And yes, some companies can choose deliberately to light up buildings, etc. But that's not the purpose. And while we love it, and we applaud it. And we notice that those companies choose to do it, or simply display in their ally ship to disabled people. They're saying, our people really matter to us. And they usually use it as a hook to describe something that they've achieved over the course of the year, or something they're looking to achieve. So it's very real. But I also love the quiet stories, you know, an individual who choose to wear a purple t shirt, and they take a selfie. And they just tweet about it. And it's their way of saying, I'm part of this community, this community matters. And I want to celebrate and applaud the amazing talent that many businesses choose deliberately to employ and deploy.

Unknown Speaker 54:08

Thank you, Kate. We're going to be rounding up next week. We've only got a few minutes left. But what I wanted to ask you about what positive change can we take from this period? And especially obviously thinking about the networks that we can look to carry forward to say we we've learned some lessons, what do we not want to lose? I was gonna say when we come out of this, I'm not sure it's not a clear line in the sand for this one is it but one of the things that have worked while that we kind of think, right, we need to hang on to that.

Unknown Speaker 54:38

There's so many different ways I could answer that Lu su but let me try this. Very quickly. I think, you know, we have to notice that this experience has floored the best of us, you know, COVID-19 and this you know, we're talking about staged and staged approach to lockdown and things will ease but pandemic is something that we're going to have to live with for many years. And I think life has changed fundamentally for so many of us for many, many years. So the legacy, I think, for me is about us, as disabled people, people with mental ill health, people who have experienced accident or injury or trauma is to notice that that human experience has kind of can derail us. And over time, we develop a bit of scar tissue, what I call scar to an emotional scar tissue. And sometimes that can make us a little bit brittle. Sometimes that can make us a little bit brittle. And I think what we've experienced all of us over this is how we feel when we lose control over our life. How do we really feel when we lose control? And therefore what can we bring to supporting all of us to notice the things that we can do on a daily basis, in order to regain a little bit control? And to feel good and confident that our life path is going in a way that we would like? So? Yeah, there was lots of practical things about remote working and but you you at BDF have amplified those so superbly. And you know, as I say, huge congratulations to you and your colleagues, Lucy, for how you're supporting businesses over this period. So they must do everything that they say that you tell them to do. She said that for me, it's about noticing, how do we want to be in this? What is the truth that we want to learn? And how can we support others to notice that truth, when we might be a little bit more practice, about how to do things when we lose control?

Unknown Speaker 56:41

Yeah, I think we have some of that inbuilt resilience, and we've had to overcome different issues already. So thank you ever so much for that, Kate, that's fantastic. As always, we do have a lot of information available. Already on our website, we we do have our COVID-19 toolkit that you can freely download for anyone, we have our fantastic Advice Service for our members and partners. So please get in touch with us. We are still open, we're working remotely, but we are available to help with your queries. And I still continue to you know, we still continue to deliver task forces learning and development and networks and so on. So all that is still happening. Thank you ever so much, Kate, for joining us today. As always, it's been fantastic to have our little chat with no one else in the room. This webinar will be available on our website within a couple of days for people to view and download. And we also have in the chat box. I don't know if people have seen it. But we've got links to the purple space website and have signed up as members to them. And also Kate's fantastic book secrets and big news, which kind of escapes already mentioned really triggered this community and there was the kind of the one of the main reasons that pepper spray started is freely available to download. Kate, I believe that because I've said it.

Unknown Speaker 57:59

We've made it freely available. So in that chat box and in the follow up collateral they There's our new promo and the secrets and big news. So yeah, do encourage you to watch and download.

Unknown Speaker 58:10

Lovely, thank you ever so much. So that just leaves me to thank those of you who've joined us today or on the webinar. And Kate for joining us. We will be back next week. We've got a webinar on communication difficulties that Diane likes that he thinks that we'll be delivering for us. So thank you ever so much everyone, Kate as ever an absolute pleasure. You make my job too easy. And everyone take care and we'll hopefully see you again very soon. All the best

Transcribed by https://otter.ai