Chris Allan
Chris is Director of Your D+I. He is a dedicated and qualified Diversity and Inclusion practitioner with a mission to support businesses by making inclusion become embedded in thei...
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If we don't have a D&I strategy, where do we start?
If you don't have a DNI strategy, the best place to start would be to engage with a diverse inclusion consultancy so they can come in with an impartial view of your business and can do a full assessment of your business and create a strategy that reflects what's actually going on within your business. Sometimes you're too close to what's going on within the business to see the full picture when it comes to d and with the consultancy, have that conversation, make sure we've got the right people involved. Get the buy-in from the senior leadership team and get full engagement from the team.
Who's responsibility is D&I?
This is a question I get asked quite often. Diverse inclusion is everyone's responsibility. A lot of the time it stops with middle management or it stops with people, team, or HR teams. It should cascade all the way from the CEO at the top all the way down to those junior positions or entry level positions within a business. Everybody should have the opportunity and should be part of the conversation when it comes to diversity and inclusion.
How do we ensure our D&I strategy is effective?
By ensuring that your DNI strategy is effective, I would say alongside your strategy set clear and achievable objectives. Sometimes we get caught up in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 year objectives. My advice would be to start with six month objectives that align with your strategy to make sure that everything you want to achieve within your strategy is going to be attainable and achievable. Having the right people involved, having your diversity inclusion council or employee support group or resource group involved is really important as well to make sure that the strategy works and is effective within your business, and also get the senior leadership involved if you can align their objectives with the strategy and align the business's objectives with the strategy as well to ensure that it's successful. I would always review your strategy as a business. You're going to change over the next six to 12 months, so make sure that your strategy also changes with the way the business changes as well.