Partnering with ABC
ABC is a not-for-profit social enterprise that aims to connect, support and promote the Asian and wider communities. Since 2009 they have established themselves as the go to representative body for the Asian business and wider community across the North of England working in partnership with Yorkshire & North West Asian business associations and nationally with the All Party Parliamentary Group for BAME Business.
ABC has been championing and supporting inclusion for the last fifteen years, including hosting the ABC Awards, the most inclusive awards ceremony in the North East region.
In 2020, ABC launched the #InclusionByDefault campaign with the aim to make the North East the most inclusive region in the UK by 2025.
The 'real' problem:
For many organisations, being inclusive has become a box-ticking exercise: adding a rainbow to their logo for pride month; ensuring that employees undergo unconscious bias training once a year; and choosing diverse models for their marketing campaigns.
Though none of these things are bad, ABC became aware that meaningful inclusion has become buried under actions such as these.
ABC’s ambition to make the North East the most inclusive region by 2025 required a model for championing real inclusion that could be implemented across organisations of all sectors, size and type.
The solution:
Working with ABC, Yohlar used our proprietary innovation methods to develop the Inclusive Innovation Framework (IIF).
Based on Yohlar’s own Power of 3, developing the toolset, skillset and mindset, the IIF will enable organisations and individuals to harness the power of innovation when exploring and embedding inclusive practices - helping them become more inclusive in a holistic and sustainable manner. And in parallel, help innovators adopt and adapt inclusive innovation practices when innovating to help underpin existing innovation frameworks - Technology Readiness Level, 10x Thinking, Blue Ocean, Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, McKinsey 3 Horizon.
In order to help share this framework with organisations across the North East, ABC and Yohlar have teamed up to deliver their Inclusion By Default Conference.
Attended by representatives from some of the region’s most influential organisations and stakeholders, the Inclusion By Default Conference will work with attendees to help them understand the IIF and begin to plan how to embed it within their own workplaces to create real, impactful inclusion.