The Inclusion Imperative: On and Off the Pitch - A conversation with Jatin Patel, Inclusion & Diversity Director at England Rugby

Finding Your Collaborative Edge

What does it take to truly collaborate?

How can leaders create environments where diverse perspectives are valued, trust is nurtured, and meaningful conversations drive innovation?

Finding Your Collaborative Edge™ is a podcast for leaders, teams, and professionals who want to unlock the full potential of collaboration in their organisations and lives.

Hosted by Anni Townend and Lucy Kidd, co-founders of Collaboration Equation™, this show explores the essential elements of psychological safety, inclusive dialogue, and diversity of thought and feeling—helping you cultivate a mindset of curiosity, care, and courage.

Each episode delves into real-world leadership challenges, expert insights, and powerful stories from those who are finding their Collaborative Edge™. Whether you’re a senior leader, team manager, or someone passionate about creating human-centred workplaces, this podcast will inspire you to build connections, embrace difference, and lead with authenticity.

Join the conversation and start your journey towards more impactful, collaborative leadership.

Find out more at: www.collaborationequation.com

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

In this episode we are delighted to be in conversation with Jatin Patel, Inclusion & Diversity Director at England Rugby, the governing body for grassroots and elite rugby in England.

Together we explore:

• The role of healthy team culture and collaboration in sport
• Why inclusion has to come before diversity with collaboration as a key enabler
• The need to get curious about the underlying beliefs shaping our behaviours
• Recognising how it feels to meet our own edges and what we need to venture beyond
• How encouragement from others feeds our confidence, courage and self-belief

Jatin’s three encouragements to invite more people to find their Collaborative Edge™:

1. Start with yourself and seek to understand beyond what you think you already know
2. Don't underestimate how important being a good listener is to really know the issues deeply
3. Find the courage to be yourself and let that shine through

ABOUT JATIN:

Jatin has spent 15 years working in the inclusion and social equality space. With a focus on inclusion first – adapting behaviours, decision-making, and ways of working to develop cultures which allow diversity to flourish – Jatin has driven impactful and sustained change in a multitude of sectors. This includes developing policy positions on behalf of charities working to improve education and employment outcomes for young people from low-income backgrounds, embedding systemic focus on social mobility at KPMG UK, to designing and delivering international staff engagement programmes at DLA Piper.

Jatin is presently the Inclusion and Diversity Director at the Rugby Football Union and a member of the organisation’s Leadership Team. In this role, Jatin’s strategic focus is on the improving the experiences and representation of under-represented groups participating across the grassroots and elite end of the game, embedding inclusion into leadership structures in rugby, working with commercial partners to establish collaborative approaches to scaling inclusion and diversity ambitions, and evolving the organisation’s employee life cycle. Outside of Rugby, Jatin is a Non-Executive Director at Sussex County Cricket Club.

Connect and collaborate with Jatin Patel:

LinkedIn: Jatin Patel

Learn about England Rugby: www.englandrugby.com

Thank you to you, the listener and viewer. And a huge thank you to Brown Bear Studios for the production of our show, and to SHMOGUS MEDIA for the marketing of it.

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