Where to begin?
In this post on the topic of diversity I am drawing on the work of other researchers and EDI experts in this area, colleagues in higher education, in the UK predominantly. A lot of EDI work flows from business and the recognition that diversity in the workplace is a benefit for many reasons (like profit and adaptability to markets for a start – see McKinsey & Co 2015 why diversity matters) not only a moral issue (social justice) or tokenism (political correctness).
As a public involvement advocate, it interests me how organisations can make better use of diversity through inclusive approaches to public engagement and PPI (patient and public involvement) – From what I have seen diversity is like supercharging the power of the public.
There is a huge amount of research, guidance and policy on EDI, but I have collected some practical ideas about EDI that organisations can learn from:
1. Think about what diversity means in your context by - thinking about the reasons for wanting to improve diversity and put them up front in any work you are doing.
Consider the reasons why diversity matters, for example:
1. Productivity - greater ideas generation, problem solving, creative thinking, seeing gaps in thinking or priorities
2. Understanding – seeing people as people not labels, societal issues, global/world views, co-creating understanding
3. Perspective – seeing things from a new viewpoint, gaining inspiration or insight through plurality of perspectives, seeing the bigger picture, relating or grounding research in life experiences
4. Acceptance – creating cultures of openness to difference, ability to adapt, flexibility and change, possibilities to develop and practice compassion, transparency in decisions, building trust
5. Richer life experiences – enhancing involvement through variety and vibrancy in relationships, more possibilities to create, multidimensional/multimodal outputs, culturally/socially relevant outputs, social utility of decisions/research
Which of these strengths of diversity do you/your organisation want to maximise/focus on? If it is all of them, you will need a range of different strategies.
2. Think about the definition of ‘diversity’ you we be working to – e.g., develop it from a broad definition like “the presence of a wide range of human qualities and attributes, both visible and invisible, within a group, organisation, or society”. Which are the specific qualities and attributes that should be represented within your organisation and its respective groups/department/sections or teams - why? For example, the Equalities Act, moral reasons for inclusion of citizens, mission, values and outcomes frameworks, representation of key end user groups e.g., people with experience of health and illness, or experience of caring for someone with a specific health condition.
3. Give some special thought to - How does recruiting underrepresented or underserved groups fit with the above understanding of diversity? e.g., the reasons in 1. This will shape approaches to inclusion and specific positive actions that you invest in.
4. Some basic principles - Your chosen/developing approach to strengthening diversity should recognise that –
a) People in the organisation and its stakeholders and users are already diverse. The aim is to strengthen diversity for the reasons identified above. There is no 'deficit' that needs to be filled with a certain type of person – this is a tokenistic view of diversity based on a simplistic assumption of representation.
b) Existing staff/members are the biggest asset in extending diversity. They understand what is required/going on in the organisation, they are networked into organisations and communities, and can put forward names of individuals 'at the edges of organisations' who could contribute if they were included.
c) Diversity needs to be valued generally in the organisation to enhance diversity. The best way to do that is to talk about diversity in terms of the reasons for wanting to improve diversity (1) and the desired outcomes – The 'pro-social' messaging needs to be shared internally and with the public more widely (e.g., in any promotional work). Diversity it is not about being the ‘politically correct’ thing to do, it adds serious value to organisations and impact.
d) It is fine to use a whole range of positive recruitment, mentorship/buddy-systems, and action to support diversity, and so on – but it needs to align with the reasons for diversity you define. For example, “We want to strengthen the productivity of our organisation by increasing the diversity of ideas, problems and creative thinking”. Even better build diversity into your values and objectives.
5. Next, think about the link between diversity and inclusion:
a) There are lots of great ideas for ‘inclusive technologies’ and ‘inclusive frameworks’ and ‘inclusive processes’ – but these will need to align with the types of diversity you are aiming to strengthen. Think about inclusion in practices or processes across the whole organisation (e.g., commissioning processes) and from concept to review (the start of an idea to the end evaluation).
b) Bring ‘selected’ approaches to inclusion together in an inclusion framework that is specific for the organisation's mission, but that is flexible and can change over time and use new and innovative methods for inclusion e.g., digital technologies like apps and big data on user experience.
c) Recognise inclusion relates to people’s ability to be involved – i.e., there is a reason that schools have Parent Teacher Associations and Student Councils – they are both inclusion structures but operate in different ways so that different groups can be involved. Other cross-cutting structures are needed to allow representatives from various inclusive groups to work together e.g., newsletters or showcasing events (preferably ways to enable interaction and shared learning).
d) Inclusion cannot directly involve everyone, but it can reach groups/individuals by creating ‘indirect inclusion methods’ for communication – e.g., advocacy is needed e.g., parents and guardians must be the advocates for very young children and babies. In the case of very ill or frail people - carer involvement and advocacy is often the main or only possibility for inclusion. Technologies and direct communication, can be used to reach very busy people like professionals and university students. ‘Good’ inclusion frameworks extend far beyond direct involvement.
6. The other part of the EDI triad is equality (or equity if you are in the USA). It is important to dig into this a bit more, and not ignore it. Make the connections between:
a) Diversity and ‘equality of opportunity’ – which means citizens having the right to a say and get involved, shape organisations (especially publicly funded) and benefit from the process of involvement (a social justice argument). It is important for organisations to think about what types of barriers/boundaries/limitations are reasonable for diversity – e.g., how far can you extend into regional/national/global issues and public/profit/personal spheres as well as complex issues or new fields outside of your existing remit i.e., what is the scope that is appropriate for the organisation and is possible to be equitable about.
b) Diversity and equality of outcomes (making sure that end-users get to benefit in equal ways). There is lots of talk now of equality of outcomes in relation to health inequalities (and discrimination) and the potential for organisations to add to existing social inequalities because of their focus on specific issues or priorities. It is incredibly difficult to show and operationalise equality of outcomes, so it is important to make a link to organisational mission.
c) Diversity of staff. There is a link between the diversity of people running and organisation and the diversity of people who become involved. If one goes up the other goes up. See the paper I wrote for the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education on Why ethnicity matters in higher education leadership?
d) Sustainability of equity – as things get more diverse, how can you sustain and grow further diversity? – i.e., You need to recognise in your work and efforts to enhance diversity that there is no end point to diversity. Diversity is not finite (intersectionality just touches on this point). This means that any organisation must put down its own reasonable (legal and ethical) markers to judge whether it has (a) become more diverse and (b) utilized diversity effectively (e.g., EDI performance indicators) (c) learnt about the actions taken to strengthen diversity (i.e., what has worked for you and why).
Diversity could easily be tokenistic if the meaning of diversity is decided by the few who are already included.