Diversity Management, Equality, Equal Opportunities, Affirmative Action, News & We The People!

I was at a seminar today; the group were functionaries from around town discussing “Generating Growth via Integration and Diversity.�? Impressive.

The overwhelming majority of the participants about a hundred and ten plus were from major public sector organisations with a smattering of private and voluntary sector folk. All the presenters and speakers were members of the local over-represented group.

As the afternoon went on and the self congratulations and back patting mainlined, I watched the two handfuls of underrepresented minority group members leave one by one twos and threes until I was one of a very small handful left. I thought this rather interesting and I wondered if the main group even noticed!

Why did they leave then, did they have pressing appointments, all of them?

Why was I personally feeling uncomfortable and isolated and thinking of leaving too I wondered?

I know myself to be battle hardened, I have been around this profession for near twenty years and I have been around a large variety of groups discussing diversity management.

The presentations and discussions to me seemed to be focused on exploiting diversity OK. “Look at the different initiatives we have coming up to “Fix�? those underrepresented folks.�? And “look even a few more here on how we can extract from those initiatives.

Sure good stuff, what about the modification of structures and systems and professional practice within the organisations themselves, adapting the environment to truly servicing the needs of ALL stakeholders?

I wanted to contribute my near twenty years expertise in the field to those just starting out, past the single question I asked all afternoon in order to understand the contents of a self congratulatory advertisement I could not see on the acetate up front.

I kept quiet in the main because I got the distinct vibe in the place that my meaningful contributions would be unwelcome, I had raised my hand several times seeking space and I felt that I was roundly ignored by the moderator for example.

Without doubt I was the most experienced person in the room by far, this was known to the moderator and several participants I had met previously at other events.

Did I feel ignored and unwelcome? Yes I did.

Is that reasonable that I felt that way?

Yes I think so. Let me be clear here, I have the circulation list and can contact individuals with my own tailor-made message so I am not feeling putout because I did not get an opportunity for self promotion or something; I am not shy and am well studied in chipping in with any information I see appropriate at these events.

I simply felt that the issue of effective diversity management that meets the genuine needs of ALL stakeholders was so near yet so far!

The event, the folks, the presentations the orientation all followed the same old tedious established lines. The over-represented participants discussing with delight the possibilities of exploitation associated with the under-represented participants. Real benefits to under-represented groups came way down the list.

Structural changes to their organisations to modify the working environment so as to produce the genuine diversity they alluded to was off the list all together as far as I got and they planned the event, not I.

The tendency to allow the underrepresented groups less access to the “discussion.�? was tantamount to overt exclusion, as this could have been planned for. Only one attempted to pose a question then left shortly after, I was not satisfied with the answer he got to his question though I must say I did not hear every word of it.

I cannot say that the event’s planning allowed for any reasonable amount of exchange between participants as a whole or between the floor and the panel in the allocated times.

At the coffee break I noticed how difficult it was to make contact with anyone. Was it I? I don’t think so, I am normally a very communicative type and I only had two brief conversations, one with a person I had met previously in the space of fifteen to twenty minutes. I did not take a single business card.

It seems to me that if one is seriously seeking to install effective diversity management process and procedures etc in one’s organisation one would actively seek to genuinely involve the diverse groups involved and enable them ALL to “own�? that installation too!

Lets face it, otherwise; All you will ever hope to have is a potential public relations headache and even disaster further down the timeline as people vote with their feet at the very time you don’t need it. You will not make long-term realistic diversity management goals.

Those who have to live with daily unlawful, immoral and dangerous discrimination are “experts�? in how it is NOT DONE and what people do when they are not doing it and trying to pretend that they are. They can spot a phoney exploiter at many paces and will tell their friends and they will leave where they are not welcome, be that physically or otherwise.

I wanted to say a few words in the more than widely spoken local second language that all professional here know as I communicate best with that and the first language is a bit hard for me to follow sometimes so I did miss a lot at this diversity management seminar and I think that was unfortunate.

I was ignored until the end and I left immediately, feeling really disappointed with the afternoon though I would have liked to have had a chat with specific individuals. I can’t remember the last time I did that at a seminar, I am known to be the last one to leave these events; I love to meet other participants to chat review and network.

The moderator actually said to me privately at a previous event in response to my contributions asking questions that required considered answers; “You are not here to teach anything!!”

I feel that was a shame.

Why else do we attend seminars if it were not to exchange information and knowladge?

Diversity must in fact exist in order for it to be exploited!

Is anyone listening?

A company CEO mentioned in my “DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK,�? whose business had experienced a 250% growth during the eighties because of their diversity management minded culture had the following to say on the issue:

“If you want to get from here to diversity, you have to seek out, at every level of employment, the people who have new and different stories to tell. And then you have to make real room for them; you have to learn to listen closely to their stories. It accomplishes next to nothing to employ those who are different from us if the condition of their employment is that they become the same as us. For it is their differences that enrich us, expand us, provide us the competitive edge.�?

All commentary and utility welcome.

Floyd Campbell is Principal of
CAMPBELLCONSENT DIVERSITY
Specialist in Diversity Management
Consulting, Training, Research & Marketing
http://www.campbellconsent.com