Housing associations play a vital role in communities across the UK, supporting people with different backgrounds, experiences and needs. That makes inclusion central to both the experience of residents and the culture you create for colleagues – from senior leaders and office-based teams to housing officers, customer service colleagues, repairs teams and contractors.

Delivering that consistently isn’t always straightforward. Teams can be spread across different locations and roles, while frontline colleagues are regularly navigating complex situations and conversations with residents. Managers need the skills and confidence to respond appropriately, challenge inappropriate behaviour and create environments where people feel respected, heard and able to speak up.

At Mix, we help housing associations turn their commitment to inclusion into everyday behaviours and experiences. Through practical, evidence-led training and consultancy, we can help you build confident leaders and teams, strengthen workplace culture and deliver more inclusive experiences for the diverse communities you serve.

"When we brought Mix into Lidl, I suppose we didn’t know what to expect, but what Mix did for Lidl was change our culture"
"All sessions created great engagement across our business, but the leadership session was one of the most insightful I’ve been part of. Our leaders didn’t just show up, they leaned in. They shared personal stories. They asked tough questions. They were willing to sit in uncomfortable moments (including a couple of role plays!) because they know avoiding these conversations causes far more harm."
"I just wanted to say thank you for an excellent training session. It was really engaging and you naturally captured the attention of everyone in the room! Feedback has been really great and there is a lot of follow up action happening already with our leadership team."

Learning for Every Role

Flexible solutions that reach boards, managers and dispersed frontline colleagues.

Get in touch

Why Partner With Mix

Inclusion that works in practice – across every role, team and location

 

We understand that inclusion needs to work across the whole organisation – from the boardroom to frontline services. We’ve supported housing associations at different stages, helping them build shared understanding, strengthen leadership and give managers and colleagues the practical skills to turn inclusive intentions into everyday behaviours.

Our approach recognises that different roles face different challenges. A board member, housing officer and repairs operative won’t need the same learning experience, but each plays a part in shaping culture and the experiences of colleagues and residents. That’s why our support can combine leadership and management development, consultancy, train-the-trainer programmes and MixLEARN digital learning to reach dispersed and field-based teams.

Most importantly, we focus on what changes in practice. We help people understand what they can do differently, building confidence and capability that translates into more inclusive experiences for colleagues, residents and the communities housing associations serve.

61%

of social rented households had at least one household member with a long-term illness or disability in 2024-25 (MHCLG Housing Survey 2024-25)

9%

of the housing association workforce reports having a disability or long-term health condition, compared with 29% of residents (National Housing Federation, Dec 2025)

44%

- the percentage of women on Housing Association boards (National Housing Federation, Dec 2025)

What You’ll Get

Build confident leaders, capable managers and more inclusive experiences for residents and colleagues.

 

Every housing association is different, so we’ll shape our support around your people, priorities and the change you want to create. That could mean building a consistent understanding of inclusion across a dispersed workforce, developing confident managers and leaders, or giving your teams practical tools they can apply in their everyday roles.

  • Bespoke learning solutions – tailored programmes designed around the roles, challenges and priorities within your organisation.
  • MixLEARN – short, engaging digital learning that colleagues can access wherever they’re working, including on personal mobile devices.
  • Bespoke eLearning – digital learning developed specifically for your organisation, helping you create relevant and consistent messages at scale.
  • Leadership development – practical programmes that help leaders shape culture, create accountability and turn inclusive intentions into meaningful action.
  • Board and executive briefings – focused sessions exploring senior leaders’ role in creating an inclusive organisation and driving behavioural change.
  • Management development – equipping managers to lead diverse teams, navigate difficult conversations and respond confidently and consistently when issues arise.
  • Train-the-trainer programmes – building internal capability so learning can be shared consistently and sustainably across your organisation.

Whichever combination is right for you, our focus is on practical change rather than awareness alone. We’ll help people understand what they can do differently and why it matters, creating learning that works from the boardroom to frontline services and makes a meaningful difference to colleagues, residents and communities.

Build Stronger Communities Together

Equip leaders and frontline teams to create lasting organisational culture change.

Talk to us

Mix Solutions

Flexible learning that brings inclusion to every level of your organisation.

 

We offer practical, flexible inclusion and leadership solutions designed around the realities of housing associations. From board and executive workshops to management development, inclusive customer service training and MixLEARN eLearning, we can support senior leaders, managers, resident-facing teams, frontline colleagues and contractors across your organisation.

Our programmes can be delivered face-to-face, virtually or through hybrid and blended learning solutions, helping you reach people across different roles and locations. We also offer bespoke eLearning and train-the-trainer programmes, giving you the flexibility to build shared understanding at scale and develop internal capability for the longer term.

Whether you want to strengthen inclusive leadership, give managers greater confidence, support positive resident interactions or create more consistent behaviours across your workforce, we’ll shape the right combination for your organisation. Get in touch to discuss your organisation’s specific needs.

"The training that we have rolled out has significantly helped the confidence of our managers. It was a topic that a lot of people were afraid to go into before we started on this journey."
“Collaborating with Mix Diversity has been an extraordinary experience, defined by their deep expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion and their profound understanding of the professional services sector...the partnership felt like a seamless extension of our team”.
“It didn't feel like an off-the-shelf diversity and inclusion development offer. It felt like something they'd really faced into our challenges and our opportunities.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Consistency doesn’t mean giving everyone exactly the same learning. A board member, housing officer and repairs operative will experience different situations, so the learning needs to be relevant to their roles while reinforcing the same organisational expectations and behaviours.

We can combine bespoke learning, MixLEARN, management and leadership development, and train-the-trainer programmes to reach people in different roles and locations. MixLEARN is particularly useful for dispersed and frontline teams because colleagues can access short, engaging learning wherever they’re working, including on personal mobile devices. Get in touch to discuss your specific requirements.

Awareness is useful, but the real test is what people do differently as a result. That’s why our programmes focus on practical behaviours and real-world application, helping colleagues understand what inclusion looks like in their role and how their actions can affect the experiences of others.

For housing associations, that means looking beyond whether people have completed training. The bigger question is whether leaders, managers and frontline colleagues have the confidence and capability to put that learning into practice, creating positive experiences for both colleagues and residents.

Knowing the theory doesn’t necessarily make a difficult conversation any easier. Our management development and resident-facing training focuses on the situations people may encounter in practice, helping them build the skills and confidence to navigate sensitive conversations, respond appropriately to incidents and make inclusive decisions.

We can tailor learning to different audiences, so it reflects the challenges people are likely to face in their roles. This helps managers and frontline colleagues understand not just what’s expected of them, but how to respond consistently and confidently when situations become more complex.

For housing associations, inclusion isn’t only about workplace culture. Housing officers, customer service teams, repairs colleagues and other frontline teams interact with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, often at challenging points in their lives.

Our inclusive customer service and resident-facing training helps colleagues understand different perspectives, communicate effectively and approach sensitive situations with greater confidence. The aim is to turn inclusive principles into practical behaviours that can help strengthen interactions with residents and support more positive experiences.

Creating lasting change takes more than a single training session. We work across different levels of an organisation, from board and executive workshops to leadership and management development, frontline learning and MixLEARN, helping create a shared understanding of what inclusion looks like in practice.

We can also build internal capability through train-the-trainer programmes, enabling learning and key messages to be shared consistently across your organisation. This gives housing associations a way to keep developing knowledge and capability over time, rather than treating inclusion as something that begins and ends with a course. Get in touch to discuss your specific requirements.

We can deliver inclusive leadership content as a keynote presentation to hundreds or even thousands of leaders. This can be a great way to launch a new initiative, build momentum or inspire action.

If your goal is deeper reflection, discussion and personal development, smaller group sizes are often more effective. They create space for honest conversations, peer learning and individual exploration, allowing our facilitators to work more closely with participants and help them develop their own inclusive leadership practice.

We’ll always recommend a format that best fits your objectives. Get in touch to discuss your specific requirements.

One of the things that sets Mix apart is that we’re not just a training provider. We’re also a consultancy with more than a decade of experience supporting over 300 organisations around the world.

That experience means we’ve seen a huge range of approaches to inclusion and leadership. We’ve learned from organisations that are leading the way, and we’ve also seen what happens when initiatives don’t deliver the desired impact. In fact, we’re often brought in after a previous programme hasn’t quite achieved its objectives.

Our experience across different industries, cultures and geographies means we’re able to get under the skin of your organisation quickly. Rather than delivering generic content, we design learning experiences that reflect your context, challenges and ambitions.
For us, success isn’t about knowledge transfer alone. It’s about helping leaders make meaningful changes in how they lead, creating a lasting impact for their teams and the wider organisation.

Case Studies

Training, consultancy and expert guidance – all in one trusted partner

 

We’re proud to work with organisations across both the public and private sectors, including many FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and Fortune 1000 companies. The case studies below offer a snapshot of the work we do and the impact it has for our clients. To discuss your specific needs and goals and find out if we’re the right fit, get in touch or book a free 15 minute consultation call.

No two organisations are the same. Some are at the start of their inclusion journey, beginning to explore how bias and stereotypes may be affecting their culture, policies or processes. Others have already made significant progress, with initiatives such as flexible working, mentoring programmes and employee networks firmly in place.

Wherever your organisation is starting from, we’ll support you – as partners, ‘critical friends’ and allies – to help you create meaningful and lasting change.

Case Study: Specsavers

We partnered with Specsavers to deliver a truly bespoke, globally relevant inclusion and wellbeing programme for both operational managers and senior leaders. Our collaboration focused on aligning values, challenging assumptions, and tailoring learning to different cultures and territories, ensuring practical impact across eleven countries.

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Case Study: Brewers Decorators

Brewers Decorator Centres partnered with Mix to strengthen inclusive leadership across the business. Through tailored training for managers, inclusion became part of everyday leadership conversations – building confidence, improving effectiveness, and supporting Brewers’ mission to be a great place to work.

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Case Study: Two Circles

Two Circles partnered with Mix to take a thoughtful, structured approach to DEI during a period of rapid growth. Through audits, leadership engagement and active employee networks, inclusion has become more visible, more consistent and more embedded – with a clear commitment to keep moving forward.

Read case study

Thought leadership

Expert insights, tips and resources for a better workplace culture

View resources
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Case Study: Building Inclusive Leadership Across 11 Countries

Specsavers, one of the world’s largest optical and audiology businesses, partnered with Mix to build inclusive leadership capability across its global workforce. Together, they created a bespoke programme that challenged assumptions, supported cultural change and aligned with company values, then scaled it globally through localisation and a train-the-trainer model.

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Case Study: Two Circles

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Inclusive Leadership | 22 February 2026

Psychological Safety Isn’t ‘Soft’ – It’s Foundational

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Inclusive Leadership | 16 February 2026

A Bold Blueprint for an Antiracist Society: Why the World Should Watch Wales

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