Inclusion isn’t failing, it’s under-resourced

You know the feeling. You're full of intention, you’ve been working on a few inclusion initiatives at work, but things don’t seem to be changing. There’s staff turnover whispers, morale dips, and small incidents are escalating. Your inclusion strategy is under-resourced.

Intent is great. Intent makes people try. It sparks curiosity, gets them to sign up for inclusion training sessions, but here’s the catch: good intentions and initiatives without structure are useless. You can want inclusion all you like, but if your team doesn’t have the time, guidance, and tools to act on that intent, things slip through the cracks. And when things slip, inclusion fails.

This is not a lack of intention, it’s a lack of capacity, framework, and actionable practices. The good news? It’s fixable, once we stop confusing hope with strategy. Mid-sized organisations and schools often care deeply about inclusion, but they’re stretched thin. They’re small enough to care personally, big enough to have layers of responsibility, and too lean to do everything alone.

Often, one person is tasked with HR, compliance, staff wellbeing, and inclusion. They end up responding to fires and checking boxes rather than taking a bird’s-eye view, developing a strategy, and allocating resources to inclusion. When your inclusion lead is stretched this thin, it’s hard to get inclusion right. The intention is there, but the capacity isn’t, and that’s when inequities creep in.

Informal inclusion practices, those things you hope people “just get”, often backfire. Assumptions are made, staff feel unsupported, microaggressions go unnoticed, and organisational risk grows. When inclusion work is ad hoc, the gaps aren’t always obvious. Good intentions alone isn’t enough, it fails when people are left unsupported.

Using shared tools and systems can hugely support your inclusion work, frameworks, toolkits, and repeatable processes are your secret weapon as they:

·       Create consistency: everyone is on the same page, literally.

·       Reduce burnout:  inclusion doesn’t rest on one heroic individual.

·       Mitigate risk:  policies are backed up by action and guidance.

·       Build capability: staff have a point of reference and know what to do without guessing.

When everyone has access to practical, actionable guidance, checklists, conversation prompts, mini-frameworks, etc., teams stop relying on heroics or goodwill and inclusion becomes woven into the everyday working practices. Inclusion is a tool for retention and morale. It protects against reputational and operational risk and drives sustainable culture change. The good news? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Organisations and schools with practical, accessible resources often see faster, more consistent results than those relying solely on hope and heroics.

Think about the EDI leads you know, perhaps you are one. How much mental bandwidth do leaders, managers, or teachers spend figuring out what the “right thing” is in any situation? Imagine freeing up that space while also reducing risk and building confidence across teams. This is exactly why we created tools and frameworks that teams can return to over and over, resources that take good intentions and turn them into repeatable, sustainable action. It’s a strategy with a built-in support system that actually works.

Key takeaways:

1.          Intent is great, but insufficient. Always build infrastructure.

2.          Lean teams need support. One person cannot carry inclusion alone.

3.          Informal approaches carry risk. Policies without practical guidance leave gaps.

4.          Shared resources and systems equal sustainable change. Frameworks provide real support.

We have to approach inclusion smarter and give our teams the clarity and confidence to act, rather than relying on intention alone. With practical tools and resources, inclusion becomes a natural part of everyday decisions.

Rebekah Hayward (The Inclusion Editor)

Founder of The Inclusion Edit