In May, our team delivered a workplace inclusivity training session with AEI Music Ltd, an organisation famous in the music industry for its creative and dynamic environment. This session was designed to address all the aspects that underpin inclusivity: empowerment, respect, diversity, and equality. Unlike other inclusivity workshops, our approach is bespoke, tailored to the specific needs and challenges faced by AEI Music Ltd, ensuring practical and impactful outcomes. We have previously delivered a similar session to the leadership team of AEI Music, and we returned to deliver this bespoke session to the whole team.

We emphasised the importance of empowering employees to voice their opinions and share their experiences. We also looked at how respecting those different experiences and opinions is vital to inclusivity and understanding how the impacts of language and behaviours in the workplace can have consequences despite good intentions.

We also looked at how achieving diversity is not an end goal in itself but a way to achieve a variety of perspectives and experiences within the workplace. We informed staff that without giving diverse opinions the safe place to be heard, diversity becomes a tickbox exercise.

We went through some examples of barriers to an inclusive workplace:

Mansplaining: We discussed how condescending explanations can undermine colleagues, particularly women, and provided strategies to counteract this behaviour.

Gaslighting: This manipulative tactic was examined in detail, with emphasis on recognizing and addressing it to protect the psychological safety of employees.

Dominating Conversations: We highlighted how certain individuals dominating discussions can stop diverse perspectives from being heard and provided useful techniques to ensure a more balanced participation.

Interrupting Others: The impact of frequent interruptions on disempowering individuals was explored, and we offered practical advice on fostering a culture of active listening and respect.

We have been working with AEI Music Ltd's management team and subsidiary The Halley to identify specific issues within their organisation. This collaborative approach allowed us to tailor our content to address these unique challenges directly, making our session highly relevant and actionable.

We facilitated interactive discussions where participants unpacked real-life scenarios they had encountered whilst working for AEI Music Ltd. This exercise helped in identifying and unlearning negative cultural practices within the music industry. By addressing these issues head-on, we aimed to foster a culture of continuous improvement and genuine inclusivity.