INCLUSIVE CULTURES
Shifting Cultures. Embedding Behaviours that Stick.
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Most inclusion initiatives focus on awareness.
We focus on behaviour.
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At BARDO, we co-design bespoke culture programmes that reshape how people lead, decide, collaborate and respond under pressure. Not through slogans — but through applied neuroscience.
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Because culture changes when neural pathways change.
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Bespoke Means It Starts with You
Our work begins with a conversation, not a sales pitch.
We take time to understand your goals, your data, your people, and your pace of change. Then we co-design an approach that combines cultural diagnostics, strategic insight, and behavioural tools to deliver real results.​​
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Our Signature Difference
What Does a Programme Look Like?
Each client programme is bespoke, but typically includes:
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Strategic diagnostic and behavioural mapping
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Leadership masterclasses
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Immersive decision simulations
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Embedded habit creators inside systems
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Behavioural toolkits
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Reinforcement and measurement loops
We don’t deliver one-off sessions.
We build sustained behavioural ecosystems.
CASE STUDY
BRAINS THAT WIN
Client: UK University Faculty
The Context:
The Faculty wanted to strengthen its culture around respect, collaboration and professional conduct — particularly within parts of the student cohort where competitive, high-status dynamics could sometimes tip into exclusionary or misogynistic behaviours.
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Rather than isolate or label individuals, the Faculty chose a different route:
Raise the bar for everyone.
The Design:
“Brains That Win” was positioned as a performance-enhancement programme — not an inclusion intervention.
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It focused on the psychology and neuroscience of high performance:
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Building a winning mindset
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Mental toughness without hostility
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Status through competence, not dominance
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Relationship intelligence as a professional advantage
The masterclasses explored how elite performers — in sport, engineering, entrepreneurship and leadership — build credibility through respect, emotional control and diverse collaboration.
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Inclusive behaviours were woven throughout as core traits of high achievers.
No moralising.
No finger-pointing.
No “you must.”
Students were invited into a narrative of excellence.
Integration
This was not a one-off training session.
There was no click-and-forget module.
No compliance framing.
No new policy rollout.
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Instead, inclusive behaviours were embedded through:
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Repeated social cues
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Visible leadership alignment
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Peer influence
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Environmental signals
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Positive reinforcement
Students experienced it as an enhancement to their professional edge.
Role Models & Social Signalling
Technicians, professors, lab leads and influential PhD students were equipped with practical role-modelling toolkits.
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These gatekeepers reinforced the same themes:
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Calm authority
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Respectful challenge
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Collaboration across difference
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Professional language in high-pressure environments
Visual artefacts were embedded across labs and studios:
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Quotes about mastery, discipline, and respect
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Hero profiles of engineers known for integrity and collaboration
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“Winning mindset” prompts in shared spaces
An online presence reinforced positive affirmations and micro-reflections aligned to engineering identity.
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The messaging was consistent:
This is what excellence looks like here.
Reinforcement & Reward
The Dean introduced visible recognition for:
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Demonstrated collaborative leadership
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Respectful team behaviours
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Professional conduct under pressure
Competitions and awards linked “winning” to mindset and conduct — not just grades.
Inclusion became associated with status.
Impact
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Improved classroom climate reported across cohorts
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Increased willingness to challenge inappropriate behaviour peer-to-peer
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Stronger cross-gender collaboration in group projects
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Higher engagement from students who previously disengaged from diversity conversations
Most importantly, students described the programme as helping them:
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Develop confidence
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Build stronger teams
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Present themselves professionally
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Think about leadership differently
They were not treated as problems to be corrected.
They were invited to become high performers in a faculty that defines excellence broadly and confidently.
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“Brains That Win” reframed culture as a competitive advantage.
And students chose to step into it.
Why Neuroscience?
Because culture is built one brain at a time.
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Every policy, conversation, and system within your organisation is processed through a brain full of shortcuts, habits, emotions, and biases. If you want genuine change, you need to understand how those brains respond to identity, safety, trust, and power. That’s where we come in.
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We use the latest behavioural science and neuroplasticity research to design interventions that rewire outdated mental models and support sustainable, inclusive systems, from leadership and governance through to everyday habits and decision-making.
Let’s Build It Together
If you’re looking for an inclusion partner who’ll go deeper than slogans and surface-level training, you’ve found us.
We bring the science. You bring the context.
Together, we build change.