Co-production · UKRI Future Leaders Fellows development programme
Influencing for Inclusive Institutions Toolkit
““There is something about the power of being in a room together that is just incredible.” - expert interview participant”
The challenge
People doing inclusion work needed tools that took institutional power, resistance and personal risk seriously
Advice on institutional change often focuses on communication skills, leadership style and individual resilience. That can ignore why change is resisted, who carries the risk of speaking up, how racism and other inequalities are reproduced through ordinary systems, and how people sustain themselves when institutions absorb or neutralise critical work.
What we did
Expert interviews, critical literature and co-design turned experiences of change into practical exercises and tools
Open Routes Research worked with the project team to develop the Influencing for Inclusive Institutions programme. We drew on interviews with people involved in anti-racist, decolonial, activist and institutional-change work, alongside critical literature on power and leadership. The material was translated into practical resources on reflexivity, accountability, shared leadership, building relationships, sustaining change and navigating institutional constraints. A peer network created space for Future Leaders Fellows to test these ideas against live challenges.
What changed
The toolkit reframed inclusive leadership around power, collective support and accountable action
The resources move away from the idea that institutional change is mainly about becoming a more persuasive individual. They invite users to identify where power sits, whose labour remains invisible, what alliances make change possible, when compromise becomes co-option, and how to protect energy for work that matters. The programme also created a peer space where researchers could compare strategies and learn from one another.
Outputs
Influencing for Inclusive Institutions toolkit; practical exercises; expert-interview synthesis; peer-learning network