Established in 1998, Autism Foundation Finland (Autismisäätiö) has been a source of support for individuals on the autism spectrum. With operations in 18 locations and a team of 400 professionals, their mission is to deliver independent and meaningful living for everyone they serve through daily activities, vocational activities, coaching, and supported living. The foundation’s commitment is to create and enable “omanlaista, samanlaista arkea” or “uniquely ordinary everyday life’”.
Partnering up with Inklusiiv
To support laying out a strong foundation and path forward for their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work, Autism Foundation Finland asked for Inklusiiv’s support in planning how to get started.
“We chose Inklusiiv for their long-standing expertise with DEI matters. It was clear in the first interactions, that their methods are firmly grounded in the latest DEI and change management research, making us feel confident that they can deliver the results they promise.” – Arja Behm, CFO, Autism Foundation Finland
How Inklusiiv’s collaboration with Autism Foundation Finland got started
The journey began with a sparring package to identify ways Autism Foundation Finland could get started. “Already in these first calls, Inklusiiv’s experts were extremely generous with their expertise. That’s why we knew we wanted to continue the collaboration with them by our side,” says Linda Sjöholm, HR Specialist at Autism Foundation Finland.
To ensure all the subsequent DEI actions that followed had the necessary buy-in, Inklusiiv first held a training for Autism Foundation Finland’s senior leadership team. This session defined the strategic direction for all the upcoming DEI work.
To continue building awareness and buy-in across the organization, Inklusiiv also trained all of the Autism Foundation’s unit managers across Finland on the foundations of DEI. The training increased their understanding of DEI matters and provided a means to get feedback from across the organization on what the priorities for DEI action should be.
To ensure DEI knowledge and buy-in was established across the whole organization, Inklusiiv created facilitation guides so every unit lead could conduct DEI awareness sessions within their own teams. “It shows Inklusiiv’s expertise, that they can break down complex DEI topics and exercises into a practical and easy-to-follow facilitation guide that gets teams talking and sharing ideas!” says Linda.
To turn all the dialogue into action, the collaboration rounded up with an interactive workshop for their unit leads to workshop tangible actions and establish their own approach to advancing DEI.
A whole organisation approach efforts pays off
Inklusiiv’s approach built both awareness and engagement with DEI topics across the entire organization, despite geographical separation.
The collaboration kickstarted a series of important DEI discussions across the organization and as a result, Autism Foundation Finland was able to uncover where they should turn their attention to in order to make practical and timely changes to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Working with Inklusiiv has been impactful and eye-opening. They were able to bring these issues clearly and effectively to the attention of our entire organization, filling the gaps in our organization’s knowledge. We appreciated that Inklusiiv suggested having various session types to ensure the prioritization of DEI was not based solely on a small group’s views – instead every team member had their voice heard. As a result of Inklusiiv’s approach, it has allowed us to extend our commitment to ‘uniquely ordinary everyday life’ to all our own employees. Our collaboration truly exceeded my expectations.” – Arja Behm, CFO, Autism Foundation Finland
Find out more about Inklusiiv’s services here! Ready to jump straight in? Reach out to: consulting @ inklusiiv.com