Next week is Race Equality Week, an annual UK-wide movement uniting hundreds of thousands of organisations and individuals to address the barriers to race equality in the workplace.

In November I wrote about how, at Transformation Partners we recognise the importance of continuous improvement. Our aim is to continue transforming our workplace into a truly inclusive environment, where diversity is celebrated, and racial equity is not just a commitment but a lived reality for all staff.

I’m thankful that we are already reasonably inclusive, but like many companies we need a better racial balance in senior roles. My leadership team and I have committed to change this, and it forms part of both our corporate strategy and action plans.

Aligned with this year’s theme of #ListenActChange, I want to share three key learnings from my own equality, diversity and inclusion journey that give the context to my approach at TPHC:

• When the conversation gets tough it can be tempting to back away – especially if you feel threatened, overwhelmed by guilt, or face fear of getting it wrong – it’s so important to “stay in the conversation”

• Saying it isn’t enough – it requires action

• EDI isn’t one person’s job – we all need to own it. As Lily Zheng puts it “we need to create an orchestra”

Race Equality Matters resources and activities

Race Equality Week provides a very tangible and public focal point – and the Race Equality Matters website has an array of resources you can use to get involved.

At TPHC we are participating in the five-day challenge, a series of five different activities each day over fjve days, helping employees reflect, and more importantly, take action to drive Race Equality. Each morning next week a member of my senior management team will lead that day’s activities and encourage all employees to take part and share their thoughts and reflections. At the end of the week, I’ll encourage those who have participated to make a Big Promise.

I encourage all health and care organisations to seek out resources and activities to support your own journeys, such as those from Race Equality Matters, and crucially, to hold yourselves to account – what’s important is that your journey leads to action.

We can all make change happen, as Barack Obama once said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”