I’m not racist, but…

Written by Kaia Vincent
Connect with Kaia on LinkedIn –

Happier, Healthier Businesses – as standard.

That’s Brevity’s vision for British Business.

But we need leaders, HR teams and managers to help us get there.  Are you in? 

What’s needed is more knowledge about how we can all work (and play) more effectively together.

There’s a plethora of trouble in our society. Most of which occurs simply because people don’t take the time to understand each other’s differences.

A good place to start is to recognise that regardless of your race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age or social status etc… we ALL carry around unhelpful biases and fall into the trap of labelling, stereotyping and prejudice.

Why bother with having EDI training and gaining more EDI insight?

EDI stands for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Some behaviours and communications that fall into labelling, stereotyping and prejudice are subtle or passive aggressive (like the title of this blog). Others are more hateful and acted out in physical, violent and/or frightening ways.

Let’s focus on some of the more subtle areas of EDI.

Think about some very simple stereotyping. For example, if you had to draw a picture of a person in power, such as a CEO, would it resemble an older white man wearing a suit?  If you think of a lesbian, what vision does your mind give you?  If you see a person wearing a burka in your local town – what does your brain think? At the local shop, you see a group of young people with hoodies – how does that make you feel?

Thoughts or feelings you may get from scenarios like these may be based on unhelpful biases stored in our brains.  Our EDI workshop will provide insight to understand why this is happening but more importantly give you the tools to help you challenge that ‘voice’ or ‘vision’ in your head to think differently if needed – so overtime any biases dissolve.

A large proportion of people in the UK – over the age of 45 – will have grown up in times when frictions and conflicts between different cultures, religions or other groups were rife. Where gender roles followed traditions.  Where social mobility and higher education opportunities were limited for people brought up in working class communities and only had access to state education.  Where people didn’t feel they could be honest about their sexuality out of fear of stigma and ridicule.  That people with a physical disability found it challenging to traverse the world.  Where menopause, neurodiversity and mental health were never spoken about to family and friends, let alone at work.

Millennials and younger people will have picked up ways of thinking from previous generations as well as how the media and entertainment industry still portray many stereotypes and more serious extremist views which can be found across the internet. So negative beliefs and behaviours still actively flow through our society.

Happier Healthier Businesses – as standard.  Happier Healthier Communities – as standard.  If that’s the goal, then each and everyone of us have an obligation to do our bit.  Get ourselves some tools to start challenging our thinking and change those unconscious biases in our head.

Register for Brevity’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion training if you would like insight and a range of tool to challenge that thinking. The insight and tools that will allow you to make better judgements – and overtime change any outdated thinking and narratives in your head which are unhelpful for society and hinder the vision of happier healthier businesses as standard.

• Wednesday 14^th February – Worting House, Basingstoke https://www.tickettailor.com/events/brevitymarketing1/1109356
• Thursday 14^th March – Basingstoke  https://www.tickettailor.com/events/brevitymarketing1/1109299