EDI NEWS AND ADVICE FROM NCFD

Our thoughts on how FREDIE should be used to affect a positive and measurable outcome for the Governments new plans for SEND in Schools.

The organisations that thrive today are those led by individuals who understand the power of culture, competence, and connection. Based on our work with leaders across sectors, here are the five critical factors of truly inclusive leadership.

This piece explores FREDIE—Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement—not as an HR initiative, but as a core leadership and governance framework. It outlines why Chairs and CEOs must move beyond mere compliance to embed these values into the very systems, decisions, and culture of their organisations.

A new year always arrives with a familiar promise: this time, I’ll do better. Better habits. Better balance. Better choices. But what if “better” didn’t just stop with us as individuals?

For too long, workplace diversity has been treated as a nice to have — a moral gesture, a compliance exercise, or a communications issue. More latterly, diversity is a word that people are shrinking away from right at the time when we need to celebrate it the most – at a time when far right thinking is disproportionately loud and getting silly.

As Chairs and CEOs, we are ultimately accountable for the culture, integrity, and sustainability of the organisations we lead. While strategy, performance, and risk remain central to our role, there is one issue that increasingly underpins all three: how fairly and inclusively our organisations operate in practice.