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Who speaks first in your project meetings? Whose opinion carries the most weight? More importantly, whose knowledge never reaches the decision? A team can appear collaborative while important risks, alternative perspectives and emerging concerns remain unheard. Inclusive leadership helps project professionals close that gap. In this interactive session, Madison will examine why inclusion is not only a matter of culture or representation, but an essential project leadership capability. The session will explore how hierarchy, bias, meeting design and delivery pressure affect who participates and who influences the outcome.

Projects depend upon people being willing and able to share knowledge, question assumptions and raise concerns. Yet the presence of a diverse team does not automatically mean that every individual has an equal opportunity to influence the work. Hierarchy, professional status, confidence, established meeting practices and delivery pressure can all affect whose voice is heard and whose insight remains unspoken.

This interactive session will explore inclusive leadership as a practical project-delivery capability. It will consider how project leaders can create environments in which different perspectives are respected, constructive challenge is welcomed and participation results in meaningful influence.

Participants will be introduced to the VOICE framework. Through practical examples and an interactive project scenario, attendees will apply the framework to common challenges involving governance, planning, risk management, stakeholder engagement and team decision-making. The session will also examine the relationship between inclusive leadership and psychological safety, including how leaders can enable candid discussion while maintaining clear standards, constructive challenge and accountability.

The presentation will conclude with a focused 3-2-1 reflection, helping each participant identify practical opportunities and commit to one immediate inclusive-leadership action.

Benefits of attending

Attendees will:

• Develop a clear and practical understanding of inclusive leadership in a project context.
• Understand the distinction between diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging.
• Recognise how power, bias and everyday working practices can affect participation and influence.
• Explore the relationship between psychological safety, constructive challenge and project assurance.
• Learn how exclusion can contribute to hidden risks, incomplete information and false consensus.
• Gain a memorable framework for leading more inclusive discussions and decisions.
• Identify practical changes that can be made to meetings, governance, risk reviews and stakeholder engagement.
• Leave with an individual action that can be applied immediately within their own professional environment.

Organiser:  APM South Wales and West of England Network

CPD:  2.00

Ticket prices:

Student member: Free

Associate member: Free

Member: Free

Non-member: £20

Corporate Partner/Affiliate employee: £10

Programme:

Programme subject to change

17:45 – Doors open, registration and refreshments

18:00 – Networking

18:30 – Presentations

19:30 – Q&A

20:00 – Close

Target audience

No prior knowledge of inclusive leadership is required. The session is relevant both to people with formal leadership responsibility and to those who lead through professional expertise, facilitation, influence or collaboration. 

Speaker:

Madison Hughes, Project Manager, National Armaments Director Group - Linkedin 

Madison Hughes is a Project Manager and Certified Scrum Master who is passionate about people-centred leadership and creating environments where individuals can thrive. Alongside delivering complex projects within the National Armaments Directorate Group, Madison supports mentoring, wellbeing and leadership initiatives, and is an active member of the APM community. She believes that the best project outcomes happen when people feel able to bring their whole selves to work, share their ideas openly, and know that their voices matter.