When we consider organisational culture change, there are several methodological stages we go through.
When creating work around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), it’s common practice to review statistical data from groups, gather qualitative data through consultation, and develop an action plan to address the challenges these groups face. There are a few problems that arise from this approach: scope, misaligned value, and contextual drift.
All of these are important.
When we create work without a defined scope, it becomes overwhelming and unachievable, leaving people frustrated and burnt out.
When we treat EDI as a separate task and don’t tie it into the areas the organisation already values, it becomes much harder to get buy-in. We can end up spending more time getting people to do things than actually getting anything done.
When we don’t design for context, we miss the root cause of the problem. We stay busy delivering activity, but fail to see meaningful results.
The problem is not the work, it’s how we organise it.
We need clear points of understanding that allow us to create work that limits scope, aligns with value, and is grounded in context.
We do this through a system that outlines the overall approach, the inputs we focus on, and how we structure outputs.
The FIELDS system is structured as follows:
Approach
We start by clearly explaining how we approach EDI: through a lens of Fairness, Inclusion, and Equity.
- Fairness focuses on how people feel they are treated. These perceptions shape behaviour, including how people respond to EDI work.
- Inclusion considers the barriers to participating and contributing.
- Equity considers how people can be better served by the organisation.
A clear approach helps manage scope by focusing effort on what matters most.
Inputs
We then focus on three input pillars: value, context, and co-production. These guide how we collect and use information.
- Value: we understand what the organisation is trying to achieve and what it prioritises.
- Context: we look at what shapes behaviour in practice, including structures, resources, pressures, and root causes.
- Co-production: we involve people in designing solutions, not just collecting information from them.
This ensures the work is relevant, grounded, and informed by those affected.
Outputs
We then define a clear set of outputs.
- a strategy that shows how decisions have been made, and what we will and will not do to manage scope
- an action plan that provides a pathway to delivery
- a governance plan to support accountability
- a communications plan that explains what is being done and why
This system, which we call FIELDS, enables you to create work that is effective, manageable, and defensible. It helps you set realistic boundaries, build buy-in through value alignment, and understand the constraints and opportunities within your context.
Often, the key to success in EDI is not doing different work; it’s about doing the work differently.
Note: We use Fairness, Inclusion and Equity (FIE) in our practice because its evidence-led and we are clear on what each term means and why they need to be applied in that order. We use EDI terminology here as it is more widely recognised.
