Creating an inclusive culture

Three years ago, the Wellcome Trust launched a bold new programme which made diversity and inclusion central to the foundation’s work.  As the world’s fourth biggest charitable foundation, the organisation was ready to think big. It wanted to help science become more inclusive, to promote diversity among the science workforce and to lead by example by overhauling its own approach to diversity and inclusion.

With some great work in hand and a baseline from which the organisation could measure its progress, Lauren Couch, Wellcome’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion, approached Lucent to help the team connect better to the whole organisation and tap into the energy for getting diversity and inclusion work right.

Creating a movement for inclusion

“We had always been committed to including diversity and inclusion as part of what we do, but we had tended to focus on the internal piece when actually we needed to reflect back and develop a high level vision for the team,” explains Lauren Couch. “We were interested in creating a movement and mobilising people around a vision for what diversity and inclusion could deliver.  We always knew that lay at the heart of our success but we didn’t have the methodology to achieve it.”

Through a series of workshops, Lucent helped provide a roadmap to take them forward.

A process for change

“Katherine is an intuitive facilitator, and brings together the strands of information that others can’t see. She helped us realise that strategy isn’t about producing a beautiful document, it is much more about the process.”

 A key part of Lucent’s work was helping the team to role model the behaviour and ways of working that are needed to create a more inclusive Wellcome.

“Katherine was keen to focus on us ‘being the change you want to see’. She helped us to reflect on ourselves as a team and ask ourselves ‘do we really know what inclusive practices are?’” says Lauren.

Confidence and trust

As a result, the team has grown in confidence and developed new skills.

“We have all learnt such a lot and can now apply different facilitation models and processes. Working with Lucent has given us the confidence to try new approaches and to be more creative and trust ourselves to use different methods and tools,” Lauren adds.

With the coronavirus pandemic having such devastating impact globally, the Wellcome Trust has responded rapidly with investments in vaccine development, providing a respite centre for NHS staff and helping with COVID-19 testing. Lauren feels that the work with Lucent means that her team is well-placed to ensure that inclusive practice informs Wellcome’s response and is at the heart of its future strategic plans.

And what’s the key learning from the team’s work with Lucent? “For me the central achievement has been how to build insight with others. Change happens through people and people can change processes. We are more confident now in how we can work alongside others to make positive change happen.”

And with that as a basis for future work, Lauren is confident that the Wellcome Trust is well placed to remove barriers to science and to enable anybody with a great idea to thrive.