After conducting 1-2-1 and group workshops with the REM community, we found that a majority of ethnically diverse employees felt that a lot of organisations have not taken meaningful steps to truly create change, despite saying that they will.

Similarly, where organisations, leaders, and allies appear to ‘take action’, too often the reality is an undertaking of ‘tick box’ exercises that have little real impact for those they are trying to reach.

Common issues encountered include:

1. Virtue signalling.
2. Paying lip service.
3. A lack of executive buy-in or sponsorship.
4. Stating ‘we can/will do better’ without implementing concrete or measurable activity.
5. Unfairly placing the responsibility for creating solutions on ethnic minority colleagues and, recently, black employees.
6. Focusing on what is easiest, cheapest, and most convenient as opposed to what will have an impact.
7. Introducing tick box exercises, such as unconscious bias training and ‘lunch and learns’, and assuming the job is done.

In response to what we found, we collaborated with the Race Equality Matters community, The Governance Forum, and Dr. Karl George MBE. Together, we identified promises that are measurable, accountable and transparent. They are Promises that will create meaningful change.

With The Big Promise, organisations and leaders adopt promises that will turn their words into actions. When organisations and leaders take part, they show their peers that they are serious about becoming drivers of change.

Sharing a Big Promise shows your colleagues and peers your personal commitment to driving change.

With the Big Promise, what you promise is measurable and can be held accountable. This is a way to make sure the commitment you have made is serious and that action will be taken.

When organisations and senior leaders take part in The Big Promise, it makes colleagues feel that their organisation is serious about tackling racial inequality, and it attracts talent who want to join an organisation that isn’t just words and no action.

Making a Big Promise is guaranteed to have an impact, so if you are serious about change, this is the solution for you!

To help you make that commitment, we have identified seven meaningful promises for each group:

• Board, ExCo and C-Suite.
• Senior leaders.
• Allies.
• Ethnically diverse colleagues.

These promises have been developed specifically so that each will have a real impact on race inequality in the workplace. They also form a bridge between lived experience, investment, and decision-making.

From the bespoke list of options, each person will select a minimum of one promise that they promise to commit to, measure, and share.

With the influence of social media, helping us be transparent and accountable, unity we can really drive change.

If not now, then when?