Hi, welcome to this training and learning session, which is being delivered by LEx Scotland. It is an introduction to lived experience leadership.

Before we kick off, I want to make sure that you have everything you need. So, wherever you're watching this recording, make sure you're comfortable. Have drinks and snacks if you want them. The upside of a webinar is nobody's watching you, so make yourself as comfortable as you need to.

We have a scheduled break about halfway through this. It might seem odd in a recorded session, but we really want to encourage you to take a break. Go stretch your legs, have something to drink, let your brain decompress a little bit. Even if you're watching this in one go, we suggest taking a break in the middle. You're more than welcome to watch this in short chunks and come back to it.

You'll need a pen and paper or another way of making notes. Throughout this session, we’ll ask you to do some small exercises and jot down notes. These will help with your own learning and will be useful when we come to the live Q&A session. Please keep hold of them.

Feel free to pause the recording to get settled before we move on.

This feels a bit strange—I usually do live webinars and workshops. So, this feels very strange, talking into the void. I'm currently looking out my window, chatting to a transit van and a hedge! But I have faith that you're all out there, and I hope to meet you at the Q&A session.

My name is Maddy. I'm one of the directors of LEx Scotland, a community interest company set up to promote, support and advocate for lived experience leadership in all its forms. We do this through training and consultancy, working with both organisations and lived experience leaders—what we call LEx leaders.

I myself identify as a LEx leader. I’m neurodivergent, queer, and disabled. I use that lived expertise in my work and may share bits about it during this session.

You can find out more about me and the team at LEx Scotland on our website.

Session Objectives:

Today’s session is to help you understand key ideas around LEx leadership:

• What lived experience leadership is and why it’s important.
• The challenges and barriers to LEx leadership.
• How you can support and encourage LEx leadership in your work or organisation.

What is Lived Experience Leadership?

Let’s start with a small exercise. Please jot down three words that describe what you think lived experience leadership means. At the end of the session, we’ll ask you to do this again to reflect on your journey.

Definitions (inspired by Baljeet Sandhu's work):

• Lived Experience: Everyone has lived experience, but in this context, it refers to people whose experiences of a social or human issue have had a direct impact on them.
• Lived Expertise: The knowledge, insights, and understanding developed from lived experience.
• LEx Leader: A changemaker who has activated their lived expertise to inform, shape, and lead social purpose work—often in combination with learned and practice experience—to benefit their communities.

Why It Matters:

LEx leadership brings:

• Purpose, passion, empathy, compassion.
• Equity, justice, authenticity, accountability.
• Connection to communities often described as "hard to reach."
• Innovation and insights developed through lived and professional experience.

Barriers to LEx Leadership:

Individual:

• Marginalisation, mental health challenges, trauma, instability, non-recognition of qualifications, lack of confidence, and more.

Organisational:

• Lack of genuine commitment, poor line management, exclusive culture, inaccessible policies, and practices.

Wider Context:

• Structural racism, hostile environments, intersectional disadvantages, poverty, housing insecurity.

What Helps:

Take 5 minutes to jot down ideas that could help you or others overcome these barriers. Reflect on your own or others’ experiences.

Key strategies:

• Listen to lived experience voices—and let them lead.
• Integrate lived experience into job descriptions, recruitment, internal training, policy-making, strategy, and processes.
• Provide tailored professional development and emotional/mental health support.
• Create inclusive workplaces and events.

Action Planning:

Use SMART goals to identify challenges and actions. Involve LEx voices early. Ensure outcomes are focused on supporting Lex leaders.

We offer a Lived Experience Leadership Action Plan resource with sections for:

• Leadership skills & development
• Board & trustee roles
• Organisational support
• Sector-wide influence

Final Exercise:

Write down:

• A few key takeaways from the session.
• One commitment you’re making today to support lived experience leadership—big or small.

We’ll ask you to share this at the live Q&A to help keep each other accountable.

Closing:

What are your next steps? Review your notes, explore the resource list, and continue learning. Don’t forget to revisit your three words from earlier and compare them with your three words now.

Thank you so much for watching. If you’re a LEx leader yourself—thank you for your leadership. If you want to find out more about us, visit our website.

We look forward to seeing you at the Q&A session!