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Diversity
So what is diversity really all about?
Diversity is not a new concept - equal opportunities has been around for decades. However as populations become more diverse and technology speeds up the pace of globalisation, the importance of developing a culture that embraces and encourages diversity is becoming more and more relevant for organisations today. Recent government initiatives and international legislation have raised the profile of the diversity agenda still further.
Originally diversity was simply another word for variety, but has now become a specialised term to describe that includes people from various backgrounds and cultures. It is one of those "buzz-words" that everyone talks about, but few consider themselves experts - possibly because many "experts" seem to delight in making the topic complicated and mysterious. Well we're here to show you that it is not.
Pearlcatchers get back down to basics and take diversity out of the domain of academics and social scientists by relating their work to "real life" and creating practical 'how-to' steps for developing and maximising a culture of diversity, both as individuals and organisations.
So, let's dispel a few myths. Firstly, diversity, as we see it, is not just about working in multi-cultural organisations, although this is one key aspect. Diversity for Pearlcatchers is all about recognising that a successful organisation is made up of people from a diverse range of backgrounds - in terms of age, gender, ethnic origin, religion, educational background, interests and abilities. To us, diversity is simply about us all respecting each individual and the skills and abilities they bring.
Secondly, diversity is not just about implementing policies and procedures to encourage diversity. Obviously, equal opportunity policies and the like are a key part of it - but if your diversity programme starts and ends with policies you will never reap the benefits that this approach can offer on many levels.
We see diversity as much more of a cultural change, which involves focus on both the physical representations of culture and the beliefs and attitudes of employees. This may seem like a mammoth task, but we have the tools and expertise to help you on your journey.
Thirdly, diversity is not limited to the way in which you and your employees behave towards each other. To operate in a truly diverse culture, it is essential that these beliefs and attitudes extend to everyone you touch in your working life - your customers, partners and suppliers. Our expertise in the customer service arena gives us a unique ability to tie together these essential aspects into a holistic programme of activities and learning.
So how can Pearlcatchers help?
As a one-stop shop for all your event and training needs, Pearlcatchers can coordinate a wide-ranging programme of activities to assist you in managing and embracing diversity within your organisation and your life. Some examples are provided here below ...
Coordinating a Diversity Programme:
- Define what you mean by diversity and explore its potential benefits for individuals and organisations.
- Understanding the link between culture and diversity.
- Planning and implementing the 4 key phases for developing a culture for diversity.
- Changing attitudes and behaviour - treating people as individuals.
- Encouraging inclusion, openness and fairness.
- Helping people to contribute, develop and learn within an integrated workplace.
- Creating a culture of high standards of management practice.
- How to recognise and appreciate the diversity of your clients.
- Provide consultancy and support on any aspect of change planning and implementation.
- Equip your change managers / internal consultants with the skills, tools and knowledge to effectively implement change, through a tailored / modular programme of activities.
Culture Change:
- Run workshops to show key personnel how to both assess and design culture and recognise the physical. representations that need to be considered before culture change can be embedded.
- Design and run roadshows to help people embrace change and the new culture of the organisation.
- Provide consultancy and support on all aspects of planning and implementing a communication strategy.
- Ensure appropriate links between the main programme, the communication stream and the desired culture.
- Create and deliver a "values-based" development programme, which gets people to become aware of their own beliefs, filters and thought processes and question their assumptions about diversity and different groups of people.
- Use drama interventions to provide a safe environment to explore views about diversity.
Building a Diverse Team - Many of our teambuilding activities focus on recognising and utilising the different skills and strengths that each individual brings to a team. These concepts are easily "expandable" to incorporate the benefits of different backgrounds and cultures in strengthening the overall ability of the team.
Opportunity Knocks - This is our unique series of interactive sketches which deal with the issues of diversity and equal opportunities in today's workplace. The sketches follow a group of college friends and their experiences of equality of opportunity as they move into their working lives. The group encounter many forms of discrimination (positive and negative) based on their gender, race, sexual orientation, disabilities and even their age. Each sketch deals with a different aspect of diversity and is supported by facilitated discussion and course notes.
