Diverse Programming – Sustainable diversity

Nadine Andrews explains how, in order to be truly sustainable, diversity needs to be an integral part of an organisation.

It would be pretty remarkable these days for any organisation to be unaware of the diversity agenda; unless they want to become totally irrelevant to contemporary society, they will be engaging with it in some way. Most could probably describe the possible benefits of diversifying their programming  new audiences, more audiences, different types of audiences, audiences coming more often to different things. But how to do this in a sustainable way is quite another matter.

Avoiding incoherence

Without a clear, shared understanding of what diversity means to the organisation, it is easy to get sucked into trying to do all things for all people and to adopt off-the-shelf definitions of diversity from funders, without further thought as to how they apply to the organisations individual circumstances. We shouldnt be surprised if this leads to incoherent and inconsistent messages being sent out  not the best way to inspire confidence or avoid accusations of tokenism. With this in mind, and informed by the considerable body of knowledge generated from research into change management, Arts About Manchester and a small team of consultants and researchers carried out an action research project with five arts organisations in North West England over eight months in 2006. Our task was to help these organisations understand what they needed to do in order to diversify their programming in a way that was sustainable to them, and wherever possible to help them do it. This meant placing or reaffirming diversity in their missions, and ensuring they had the organisational capacity (for example, skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, workload and finances) to support activity in fulfilment of the mission.

Motivation

A strong motivational drive is essential, not just at the top, but elsewhere in the organisation. An understanding of the purpose and validity of diversity and of the cost of doing nothing is the fuel that feeds momentum and focus and keeps people going when things get difficult. Sustaining motivation is a challenge in any change programme. Understanding the change process, the emotions likely to be felt and the underlying needs that may drive people to resist change helps considerably. Pockets of motivation need to be located in various parts of the organisation so that the energy generated can ripple out and bring other people on board. Otherwise it will be difficult to get the project off the ground and make significant progress.

Quick wins with tangible outcomes are useful, not just for those directly concerned but also for the wider organisation, as people gain a better understanding of what it is all about and what is possible. Outcomes could be anything from positive new relationships with a particular community, to shifts in attitude in a colleague, to new activities and programmes of work. Consistent and on-going public statements of commitment from senior management are very important, but words, of course, are not enough; non-action on an identified hot issue can seriously damage staff motivation.

Developing understanding

Communication is a critical factor in developing a shared understanding of what diversity means to the organisation, and widespread discussions are needed. To enhance internal communication in our participating organisations, we requested that all of them created project teams comprising members from across their organisations, led by a project champion with authority, but preferably not the director so there could greater ownership of the project by staff.

The challenge for organisations is to knit together the highly complex nature of diversity and the different interpretations of it that people will have to create a workable definition of diversity and programme of action. Exploring the issues and developing definitions requires space and time for discussion and reflection. We discovered it takes organisations about two or three months to get things off the ground and figure out their own workable definition of diversity and what actions the organisation should be taking in order to achieve this. Those involved need to know that this is an acceptable and necessary use of organisational time, and not be required to justify it continually to line managers.

Integration

Diversity can be embedded into organisational structure by defining the minimum responsibilities of each individual and department, and including the relevant requirements in all HR processes and documentation from recruitment and induction to appraisals. Engagement with diversity can then be included in assessments of individuals contributions to organisational achievement. In these ways, action on diversity becomes a key performance indicator for individuals and organisations. Other critical actions include embedding diversity work into business plans and personal plans, and integrating it with other initiatives such as race equality and quality assurance schemes.

Commitment to learning

In our action research, we provided the conceptual framework  the scaffolding  for the project and left space for the project teams to find their own solutions. We sought to guide and support rather than tell. In this way participants could take responsibility for their own learning and have ownership of the project. With this approach, results emerge from the process and cant be predicted so it required participants to trust the process. This was more difficult for some than others, but learning in this way was necessary if it was to be embedded and therefore more sustainable. Likewise, the period of uncertainty that occurs at the start whilst staff wrestle with meanings can be disconcerting and uncomfortable, so it is worth remembering that this is to be expected as a normal part of the learning process. It can be very helpful at this stage to network with other organisations to be reassured that you are not alone as well as to get advice on how to get past these initial difficulties. Understanding how diversity relates to ones own job is critical for the way it has a bearing on a persons attitude to learning.

Key risks

We found that the issues identified as most risky by the organisations at the outset, such as workload, lack of finance and lack of support/internal resistance, either did not arise or had little impact. The project teams realised many actions could be undertaken with little or no extra finance required, and that they could manage their workloads by changing their current ways of working rather than adding to them. However, complacency and attitudes of we are already doing this and we know best, turned out to be more damaging than anticipated, contributing to a loss of momentum and creating major obstacles to learning and development. Follow-up evaluation indicated that key on-going risks to sustainability are loss of momentum, changes in personnel, roll-out across the organisation and diversity still being regarded as an add-on.

Organisational culture

Organisations that review current activity with an open mind, accept challenges to commonly held perceptions and invest sufficient time to work on diversity are best placed to a sustainable diverse programme. They also acknowledge difficult truths and problems and act decisively to resolve them, have diffuse models of leadership and are inclusive in their approaches to programming decision-making, seeking opinions from others. They recognise and celebrate the successes, rewarding staff and making them feel valued and appreciated. It also helps if they have a degree of financial stability, which allows for greater risk-taking and may enable them to bring in an external person to hold a mirror up to the organisation and challenge its thinking.

As researchers, we sought to understand the factors that influenced the organisations ability to diversify their programming. The issues and findings that emerged have enabled us to describe the conditions that, if present, would make this work more sustainable and successful by embedding it into the core of the organisation where it is no longer a project but a way of thinking and of working. It is not just about doing new things but about doing what you do differently.

Nadine Andrews is a Creative Management Consultant & Researcher.
e: [email protected]

The full version of this report is available from Arts About Manchester. With thanks to Penny Marrington, Charles Lauder, Robin Asby and Ivan Wadeson.