Positive thinking

There are two diversity issues which come up in every intervention or conversation we have with clients: how to reflect local and national diverse communities in both employee and customer or audience profiles; and positive discrimination. Moving towards positive action nearly always creates a sense of injustice among existing staff and customers, though this may not be expressed out loud. There is also often a lack of accurate information about, and communication of, diversity initiatives, along with the prevalence of some enduring myths. Once recognised, these issues are easily addressed. If the leaders of our organisations can ensure that all managers, staff and especially those at senior levels with a diversity portfolio, understand these barriers and why they need addressing, support for the overall plan and subsequent diversity outcomes will follow. Generally speaking, arts organisations perceive themselves and their audiences to be more liberal-minded than the general run. However, this mind-set may require examination.

The right qualifications
It has long been established that the key requirement or goal of any equality and diversity programme is to broadly reflect the staff and customer profile of the communities the company wishes to serve. The first issue relates to both recruitment and customer profiles, and goes something like this: “We don’t care if people are white, blue, green or purple; we employ anyone so long as they are qualified to do the job.” This is then followed by: “Of course we would offer any suitably qualified person a role, but they just don’t apply.” Sometimes this reflects a view that diversity is only about colour (though not white colour), or race and ethnicity.
Many people consider that the ‘Golden Rule’ means treating people the way you would like to be treated. This assumes that everyone knows about your company, product or service equally, and has equal access to and experience of it. This approach served us quite well for a very long time. Or did it? Not so very long ago the acceptable norm was to keep people with disabilities, ‘unwed mothers’ and gay people out. ‘Different’ needs were far less of an issue. There are recognisable symptoms of our unease during our adaptation to change, and they are often seen in defensive responses.

Baa baa rainbow sheep
Addressing equality and diversity often creates a backlash. It’s sometimes quite mild, but we are often asked to help when the backlash has grown and distorted the issues. After a while it becomes easy to spot the symptoms. We need to develop intelligent responses to well-meaning comments such as: “You can’t say ‘black’ bin bag; it’s a refuse sack”, or “Don’t say ‘brainstorm’ – someone with epilepsy might object,” or similar half-serious quips about ‘political correctness gone mad’. Unfortunately, this attitude can act as a red herring, throwing people off the trail of what equalities and diversity really mean, and at worst can be a persistent barrier to progress. Unless employees in particular are very confident, such symptoms will undermine the great work we invest in.
We must also comply with the law, by avoiding institutional discrimination and upholding human rights. This means a duty of care to protect staff from manifestations of casual prejudice, but that can open up a range of very tricky issues including what is or is not offensive, and potential censorship.

The plus side
Challenge number two is positive discrimination. Will a company which has established that it is currently ‘under-representative’ in either one or both areas (employees or customers) now be expected to ‘positively discriminate’ against white candidates in favour of Black or Asian candidates? In fact, this is illegal, and would be poor practice even if it were not. It is unfair to all the relevant parties, and especially for the successful candidate, who then has to deal with the assumption that ‘they only got the job because...’ The key is not positive discrimination, but positive action.
In fact, most companies are already carrying out considerable positive action. They are responsible, forward thinking and ethical. Regularly working in schools in outreach programmes; mentoring women on a fast track into senior management; advertising apprenticeships through networks used by underrepresented minorities; offering free use of space to community organisations they wish to attract; ensuring that local businesses get fair access into their supply chains; having key meetings at accessible times; undertaking equal pay reviews; visiting community venues and speaking to prospective audiences about what they would like to see and so on. It’s usually only when diversity or the phrase ‘positive action’ is mentioned that the drawbridge goes firmly up.
Ask yourself this: Is our culture one where we treat people the way we want to be treated, or do we treat everyone according to their individual need? If it’s the latter, ask yourself: how do we know what it is that people need? Is your organisation one where people are allowed to be themselves, regardless?