Achieving culture change: growing positive working teams

Nurjahan Ali Arobi, National Workforce Delivery Lead, Skills for Care discusses how to support positive cultural change in social care nursing and the purpose of the Global Majority Nursing Network.

Social Care is delivered by varied organisations of which there are 19,000 across 42,000 different settings. Skills for Care data tells us that 52% of the nursing workforce are from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities, however, colleagues from these communities experience less access to learning, personal and professional development, and promotions.

Skills for Care established a Global Majority Nursing Network (GMNN) for Black and Asian nurses and nursing associates in 2025. The Network is also open to National Midwifery Council (NMC) registered support workers who are working in the sector with an active NMC PIN but unable to gain employment as a registered nurse.

The aim of the network is to provide access to peer support, personal and professional leadership development, and an opportunity to influence national solutions to improve the experiences of Black and Asian nursing colleagues.

At one online session, colleagues who were enabled to invest in themselves, shared ideas for personal and professional development for their peers. This peer support and building of others is exactly what we aimed for with the Global Majority Nursing Network.

National network

The value of being part of a peer network is well known. It provides nuanced peer support and networking opportunities.

However, only a small number of organisations have established their own networks for Black and Asian nursing colleagues. That’s why the need for a national network was identified. The value of a national network is that it not only provides peer support and growth for staff but additionally enables organisations to demonstrate their allyship, enabling their staff to support solutions for their peers.

The Global Majority Nursing Network, which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, has the unique opportunity to galvanise the wider adoption of solutions that some organisations have already established.

These solutions are based on the positive working environment of their organisations and will help other organisations to achieve culture change. Supporting this sector-wide change will be an achievement for those organisations that have supported their Black and Asian nursing staff to attend the Global Majority Nursing Network.

Coaching and confidence

Coaches and mentors can also be a useful tool in supporting progression for people from a global majority background.

Coaches can help build resilience, influence confidence, strengthen the ability to challenge unfairness, and support career progression.

Coaches and mentors don’t need to share the same background as the people they are working with; simply understanding and supporting are key.

Impact of culture on care and support

Workplace interactions often mirror care quality. A poor workplace culture affects the care and support delivered.

Cultural clarity, firm but polite communication, and redesigning care packages help to improve quality and safety for those who draw on care and support.

Challenging behaviour is not limited to negative colleagues; it can come from people who draw on care and support too. Peer support is essential in coping with daily difficulties.

Addressing challenges

To positively achieve race equality and reduce systemic barriers limiting Black and Asian nursing development, discrimination and racism must be addressed.

Open, honest exchanges about culture, equality, diversity, inclusion, belonging and social justice should be part of daily staff interactions. Really getting to know each other is essential. Social justice should be embedded in foundation-level curricula for nurse training. Senior leaders should reflect community and staff diversity and provide values-based leadership.

Supporting colleagues to join the Global Majority Nursing Network will firstly enable personal development and peer support and secondly enable your staff to influence national dissemination of experience-based solutions for culture change.

This access to personal and professional growth will empower staff, supporting belonging and retention.

A positive working team is fundamental but an aspiration for many Black and Asian nursing staff as many lack the confidence to challenge colleagues, managers and systems without network support. Therefore, deep, meaningful, values-based culture change is needed at training, organisational, and system levels to ensure positive working teams and quality care and support.

Find more support and resources for race equality in social care on our Race Equality Week webpage.

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