Tag: Training

Think Outside the Box – Leading Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace

Diversity & Inclusion Book Cover

I am delighted to announce that following on from my previous book ‘Leading Equality, Diversity & Inclusion – A Practical Guide for Managers’,  my new book ‘Think Outside The Box – Leading Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace’ is now available as a hard copy,  paperback book on amazon.co.uk.

The origins of this book come directly from this very blog and I will be sharing aspects of the book over the coming weeks. However, in the meantime, if you are involved with workplace diversity and inclusion then please take a look at the book; it has a range of proven strategies that will help build an inclusive culture in your workplace.

The books blurb goes something like this. ‘In practise, equality, diversity and inclusion can sometimes be perceived – quite inaccurately – as political correctness or an exercise in government ‘box ticking’. Yet, in recent years, organisations have become increasingly aware of the business case for being a fully inclusive workplace, where employees feel valued, opportunities are available for all and diversity is celebrated.

In this case, diversity and inclusion initiatives become less about compliance with legislation and more about leading change, improvement initiatives, engaging, motivating and improving the potential of staff.

‘Think Outside The Box – Leading Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace’ provides an up-to-date source of diversity and inclusion best practice for workplace leaders and gets to the heart of the diversity issues facing the UK workforce with clear strategies and practical guidance to creating a fully inclusive workplace.

Author – John Duncan – is a Diversity and Inclusion specialist leading on strategy and policy development with over 15 years substantial experience of providing advice, support and training within the public sector. ‘

JD

 

D&I Training – Know Your Audience

I am not a fan of the word training, especially as a diversity and inclusion trainer. Too often, when staff hear that they need to undertake compulsory diversity and inclusion training eyes roll, shoulders shrug and attitudes drop. It’s not rocket science to know that we mustn’t regurgitate the same old, tired equality training; instead we should be training for what staff actually need. However, that’s much easier said than done; clearly organisations will need to survey staff to find out what would actually benefit them in their day to day jobs rather than impose generic training content. In larger organisations, especially the public sector, staff surveys are common practice but good practice is to ask staff to self-identify a matrix of development needs where specifics can be recognised and acted upon.

For instance, the LGBT+ community are statically more likely to suffer from mental health difficulties – and those from the Trans community even more so. As such, would front line, clinical, mental health staff in the health care sector benefit from – for example – an awareness of the use of ‘pronouns’ for the LGBT+ community or the importance of not ‘dead naming’ Trans patients. They might benefit from this training but, on the other hand, if they are already aware, they might not need this. Fundamentally then the key thing to effective equality training, where staff are receptive, even evangelical, is not to repeat content, not to provide unnecessary content but to take the time to ask staff what would actually benefit them.

As a diversity and inclusion specialist, I am more interested in what support managers and staff actually want rather than simply putting on training for the sake of it. That support I also write down and publish in this blog on the diversity and inclusion challenges faced in the UK workforce. Though, in a ‘practice what you preach’ moment, I examined which of my diversity and inclusion articles were being read (and which were not) whilst exploring what people who search for diversity and inclusion information online actually wanted.

theequalityblog.co.uk has had over 1000 referrals from Google, Bing and other search engines, with the most popular search terms being ‘equality in faith schools’ and ‘equality protected characteristics’. By itself, it gives a strong indication as to the actual concerns (and the needs) of workforce staff have regarding equality. Specifically, in this case, a need for information  on how faith schools can demonstrate equality whilst being selective in their recruitment and how the protected characteristics, as defined by the Equality Act 2010, impact on staff and what managers need to know to support staff with protected characteristics. Interestingly, the most visited article on the website is Ramadan Mubarak – How to Support Employees Observing Ramadan, which again highlights the support needs of workforce managers in supporting staff who observe Ramadan. Subsequently, in the knowledge of what my audience are actually seeking I can tailor diversity and inclusion articles accordingly. In this way the information is relevant and what people actually need to help them in their day to day operations.

JD