Equalities, diversity and inclusiveness has gained prominence over the last year with the Black Lives Matter agenda. There is also much talk of community focused, inclusive, bottom up, co-production, and person centred approaches in service design and delivery, whether in the statutory or voluntary sector. This issue also applies to how organisations are run and managed.
Some simple questions to pose for service providers include:
- Are beneficiaries of services consulted?
- Are beneficiaries involved in the design of the service?
- Is the service reaching all those who could benefit from the service?
- Is the service meeting actual or current needs?
Simple questions in the running of an organisation:
- How diverse is our governing board /management committee?
- How diverse is our workforce?
- Do we look after the health and wellbeing of our employees?
- Do we have an inclusive approach with all staff in decision making and management of the organisation?
These are some of the questions that need to be posed for any organisations delivering effective and relevant services. Without understanding or involvement of beneficiaries, services delivered will be less effective and worst case scenario irrelevant. In terms of organisational management, a rigid hierarchical organisation with a lack of diversity and inclusiveness will result in less cohesive workforce and poor service delivery.
Sobus is in the process of developing training modules to address these areas and we welcome any feedback that will go towards the design and delivery of such training. Please forward comments or feedback to shad.haibatan@sobus.org.uk