Co-ordinating diversitymanagement efforts
Once all these stages have been completed, it is essential to inform all staff and departments about the institutional policy and action plan in order to ensure their co-operation and to co-ordinate concerted and adjusted action.
Communicating the commitment to acknowledging diversity
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•• Statement by management at a meeting •• Introductory speech at an awareness-raising session/training workshop •• Written statement communicated through a letter, the in-house journal, the intranet, posters, etc.
The success of an organisational strategy and the introduction of new practices often depend on consulting and gaining the support of the players concerned. Failure is often the result of decisions taken in isolation and in ignorance of the impact of an adaptation measure on all players. This is why it is important to listen to, inform and train staff through the chain of command established by the new practices. It is important to take the time to listen to the doubts, obstacles (real or perceived) and questions put forward by the people concerned, in order to eliminate any constraints on implementation and avoid acting too hastily. It is also in the institution’s interest to establish a pool of resource persons and bodies to provide additional expertise or come up with innovative approaches.
Introducing organisational strategies
One way of introducing organisational diversity-management strategies is to set up a committee and designate a department or a person responsible for policy implementation and coordination of work. This group or person will be responsible for identifying problems experienced by staff members, assisting people, directing them to the right resource persons and making sure that the action plan is indeed followed, making recommendations where necessary. 33
Example of good practice
In Lyons, the Equality Task Force is an integral part of public policy and cuts across all municipal departments.51 It provides support for these departments and local initiatives as part of the fight against all forms of discrimination. It develops and strengthens anti-discrimination measures. The Equality Task Force is an operational task force: it pursues an integrated, crosscutting approach to meet the needs of people on the ground as closely as possible. Its action programme is based mainly on two fields – employment and housing – in which it carries out awareness-raising, training, improvement/adjustments where there is a risk of discrimination, etc.
51 For more information, see: www.polville.lyon.fr/polville/sections/fr/les_thematiques/ la_mission_egalite (in French only), accessed 8 June 2011.
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