ABOUT THE SEACOLE GROUP
The Seacole Group is the national network of Black, Asian, and other Ethnic (BAE) Non Executive Directors in the NHS and wider health system. It was formed in November 2019 to initially serve NEDs in the London region but the network became so popular, it expanded to become the first national network for NEDs from diverse racial backgrounds in the NHS.
Our mission is to strengthen Black, Asian, and other Ethnic (BAE) NED representation, voice and effectiveness on Boards. We encourage members to utilise their skills and experience to help deliver the Seacole Group objectives:
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Contribute and sustain a NED support network in the NHS
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Strengthen the BAE pipeline for Chair and Vice Chair roles in the NHS and ICS through supporting potential applicants
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To improve the effectiveness and board performance of BAE NEDs
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Provide a closed network for NEDs to share common concerns and best practice
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To act as an Advisory Group offering expertise and solutions on how to reduce health inequalities that adversely impact the BAE community and workforce
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Influence governance structures so that public leadership is more reflective of the communities they serve
The group does this by:
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Providing mutual support through networking activities
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Sharing best practice and provide insight on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
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Acting as a ‘critical friend’ to our strategic partners and stakeholders
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Offering practical support to aspirant NEDs e.g. through our mentoring programme
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Providing support to BAE NEDs applying for Trust Chair vacancies
Why is this important?
The 2018 NHS provider board membership and diversity survey found that though the national BAE profile is 14% of the population, individuals from Black, Asian and other Ethnic backgrounds made up only 7.7% of NHS provider boards meaning that the percentage of BAE non-executive directors continues to be low.
Our Behaviours and Values
We are:
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Collegiate in our approach, aiming to bring stakeholders along the ethnic diversity journey
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We build bridges with all stakeholders across the health system even if it requires us to slow down to speed up the achievement of our goals
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We coach our stakeholders to truly believe in building diverse organisations, understand how to build them and champion for diversity across their professional and non-professional communities .
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We are active in our engagement, always prepared to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in, leading the way forward where necessary driving involvement to build momentum and ensuring we are building on existing foundations.
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We encourage all that benefit from our counsel, coaching and active engagement to ‘pay it forward’ so we can grow and sustain a progressive community of race champions
We can sustain our core behaviours because we uphold the following values:
We are
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Trusted to do the right thing
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Energised to make positive change
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Empowered by empowering others
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Honest because we say it as we see it
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Tenacious in all our pursuit of race equity and ethnic diversity at board level across the health system
PARTNER WITH US
You can partner with us in two ways:
1) As a Full Member...The Seacole Group is open to all Non-Executive Directors and Chairs from NHS organisations who identify as BAE. Join Now
2) As a subscriber - if you're a Non Executive Directors from other backgrounds who are interested in learning about and supporting the objectives of the group, please subscribe to our mailing list. See below left.