Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI)

The BALI programme was designed to explore the obstacles and barriers facing aspiring Global Majority* leaders and give them the knowledge, skills and strategies to overcome them. BALI is a Global Majority only space to ensure that all participants are afforded a safe environment to consider how personal and professional experiences of covert, overt and institutional racism impact upon them.

*Global Majority – refers to people who are Black, Asian, Arab, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south. We recognise people will identify with a plethora of terms, we at TSC use Global Majority due to its all-inclusive and powerful statement of who we are collectively. We therefore see the term Global Majority as an antidote to potentially negative and disempowering terminology normally associated with minoritised groups.

BALI Cohort 15 in London with associates Meera Spillett, Jennifer Williams and Nadine Boyne.

We aim to:

  • Provide strategies to help participants overcome barriers and enhance their skills to be able to thrive as Global Majority leaders.
  • Renew self and group confidence, which is often depleted by every day racism.
  • Enable participants to learn about and try out for themselves different leadership approaches and understand how these relate to their own values and principles.
  • Ensure participants develop their own personal learning plan in order to help them progress in their careers.

Programme Content

Prior to each programme content is reviewed taking into account recent developments or particularly challenging issues both in the UK and globally.

  • BALI explores the founding sociological, psychological and other theories that underpin much of the professional training across the public sector and critiques’ these from a Black perspective. Reflecting on some of those theories that contain implicitly racist assumptions.
  • BALI takes account of the more recent rise in Ethnocentrism, challenges arising from the Black Lives Matter movement (globally), the inequalities highlighted as a result of this movement and the COVID-19 inequalities experienced within the UK.
  • Participants learn about the concept of Multi-Dimensional racism and the importance of strategic partnership working to address these issues organisationally, for Black staff, practitioners and diverse communities.
  • Discussion about the barriers, obstacles and opportunities of gaining and thriving in senior leadership position are explored, illuminating the difference between a ‘Black Leader’ or ‘A leader who happens to be Black.
  • Participants consider how individual values, principles, goals and missions interact with, and are, or are not, reflected in personal leadership styles. Exploring compelling narratives for self-development. 
  • Learning about how the Cultural Competence framework and materials can be used for self-reflection and improvement. Exploring how white colleagues react to discussion about what it means to be white in an organisation, and assessing their own competence and where they judge their own organisation to be on the Cultural Competence Continuum.
  • Successful leadership styles and features of good and great leaders are explored to enable participants to consider their own leadership style.
  • Black and Global Majority leadership paradigms are examined including Ubuntu, Seva Centric and Mauri leadership in order to explore how Black Global Majority leaders can bring additional value to organisations, partners and communities with whom they work.
  • All participants undertake a 360- degree feedback exercise designed to support them in developing and achieving their personal learning plan.
  • Working with recruitment consultants, participants experience a session on how to prepare for taking their next career moves with confidence and knowledge. This includes practical advice and guidance on the end-to-end recruitment process and how best to navigate the process successfully.
  • Various management scenarios and exercises from real life situations help participants get a feel for the kinds of issues they will need to deal with, how to prioritise issues, use the frameworks within organisations, including responding to critical or sudden untoward incidents.
BALI Cohort 19 with facilitators Louise Christie
and Jennifer Williams.

Bespoke BALI for Adoption England with facilitators Christine Wint and Nadine Boyne alongside Inclusive Team member Tatenda Jambwa

To find out more about BALI and BALI related sessions, please download the below pdf.

The Story of BALI

Get Involved

Join the BALI Network now or get in touch with our team to find out more

Testimonials

BALI Ambassadors on their experiences of inspiration, growth and transformation

BALI Events

Upcoming
All

27th March 2024

BALI Network Webinar: Personal Development Planning with Jeffrey Wotherspoon
This 90-minute interactive session centres around crafting your Personal Development Plan to enhance your career growth. The aim is to heighten your awareness of your skills, provide a clear sense of direction, and empower you to adopt a proactive stance in steering your career. Additionally, the session delves into alternative career development strategies beyond traditional progress and promotion, recognising that these approaches may not always align with individuals’ preferences or circumstances.

24th April 2024

BALI Network Webinar: Strategies to harness and leverage personal power with Morvia Gooden
None of us operate in neutral spaces, and each of us bring elements of ourselves by choice, in every given situation. We respond or not, to situations as part of our socialisation, lived experience, upbringing, influences around us and personal learning. That which we give meaning to and implement matters in how we and others see and experience us. In this session we will explore the concepts and notions of power and how they inform our practise with strategies to harness and leverage your personal power. Let’s together explore what this means for us individually and collectively operating within a system

29th May 2024

BALI Network Webinar: Defining compassionate leadership or is it leading with compassion facilitated by Chris Murray
Through this session, we aim to explore the approaches to compassionate leadership through the lens of the global majority and allies.

Other Programmes